Ah! to die from love like
them, to die in the purity of youth at the first kiss of a beloved one!
Felicien had approached her.
"I am the one person who really lives, Angelique, and you cannot give me
up for mere fancies."
"Dreams!--fancies!" she murmured.
"Yes; for if in reality these visions seem to surround you, it is simply
that you yourself have created them all. Come, dear; no longer put a
part of your life into objects about you, and they will be quiet."
She gave way to a burst of enthusiastic feeling.
"Oh no! Let them speak. Let them call out louder still! They are my
strength; they give me the courage to resist you. It is a manifestation
of the Eternal Grace, and never has it overpowered me so energetically
as now. If it is but a dream, a dream which I have placed in my
surroundings, and which comes back to me at will, what of it? It
saves me, it carries me away spotless in the midst of dangers. Listen
yourself. Yield, and obey like me. I no longer have even a wish to
follow you."
In spite of her weakness, she made a great effort and stood up, resolute
and firm.
"But you have been deceived," he said. "Even falsehood has been resorted
to in order to separate us!"
"The faults of others will not excuse our own.
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