his grasp at the very moment he made sure of his prey.
XLIIMarie, my white hind, I am grateful to you for keeping a brave heart during these days of trial. Quite indifferent to danger, you played between your suitor's snares and my meadow. He threatened and he tempted, but just as he thought that at last you were caught in his toils, you would hurry away to eat out of my hand.
Did you feel any remorse or anxiety, I wonder, over your double-dealing. I am sure you did, when you were away from me. Indeed your letters told me so. You bade me set you free. Or you bade me command you to let him go. But once you were safe in my home, with your head resting on my knee, all trouble and terror were banished from your soul. Here was peace, here you felt with a blessed certitude was the only happiness on earth. We two alone. We missed nobody, cared for nought else. What mattered the rest to us. Let them fight and struggle in the world, let them laugh or cry, let them wear themselves out with hatred and despair.
Here was a holy place, an hour of bliss, shining through this vale of tears.
But I remember, too, Marie, how you would shiver and tremble as you left me in the dark night. I remember the lingering glance of mute despair with which you used to say good-bye to my rooms.
