views. The intermediate section represents this process of dissolution.
1
I used to love!
It is an old story, for all men tell it thoughtlessly. But, when I say that I loved, I mean something more than most men mean. I used indeed to love. In those old days I ate and drank love. Perhaps the diet was a sickly one, yet it was enough for me. Nay! I could not do without it. People had whispered to me tales of change and treachery and falsehood: but did such things trouble me? I was set far above the little things that make earth wretched. She and I were like gods. For us there was nothing false or vain. I was once grieved with myself because a doubting fancy floated lightly across a dream of mine. Any kind of doubt seemed sacrilege. It stained the purity of my faith and her trust. I had no aim save love. I thought only of her: and she, I was persuaded, thought only of me. How could such true passion lead to anything save happiness? And how
