Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 3.djvu/173

151 THE ETRUSCAN VASE 151

After reaching home he threw himself on the same couch upon which he had dreamed for so long and so dehciously, and analysed his happi- ness the evening before. His most cherished dream had been that his mistress was different from other women, that she had not loved nor ever would love anyone but himself. Now this exquisite dream must perish in the light of a sad and cruel reality. " I have had a beautiful mistress, but nothing more. She is clever; she is therefore all the more to be blamed for loving Massigny! ... I know she does love me now . . . with her whole soul ... as she can love. But to be loved in the same fashion as Massigny has been loved! . . . She has yielded herself up to my attentions, my impor- tunities, my whims. But I have been deceived. There has been no sympathy between us. Whether her lover were Massigny, or myself, was equally the same to her. He is handsome, and she loves him for his good looks. She amuses herself with me for a time. ' I may as well love Saint-Clair,' she says to herself, * since the other is dead! And if Saint-Clair dies, or I tire of him, who knows? '

" I firmly believe the devil hstens invisible behind a tortured wretch like myself. The enemy of mankind is tickled by the spectacle,