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Page:Genlis - The Palace of Truth (1819).djvu/35

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inconstancy of seasons; but day will ever shine thus bright.

So saying, she condemned me to walk with a steady and majestic step over this enchanted velvet fawn for thirty years: at least, said she, according to her usual form, unless one f my lovers should cease to admire me, and should deceive me without my discovering the deceit.

She spoke and disappeared, and I instantly found myself obliged to walk exceedingly slow without a possibility of turning to the right or the left, of hastening or slackening of my pace, or stopping or sitting down to rest.

This obligation of walking always in a right line, and the same slow pace, seemed very painful at the first instant; but I was far from feeling all the horror of my situation. I at first beheld this rich and immense carpet, encircled by a clear and dazzling azure horizon, with ecstacy. Is it possible, that blue and green, the sky and grass, can yield so extraordinary, so magnificent, a picture? But thus do grandeur and simplicity form the sublime.