love, but still more have I been longing for all the rest that means you, your true heart, your pure thought, your gentle speech, your bright smile, which is my sun in the darkness, your faithful hand which gives me strength on the way.'
But as I tell Marie this, she bursts into tears, because she knows that I speak the truth, and because she is happy.
LXII At this point some one pulls my sleeve from behind. I am sitting with Marie on my knee, and I ask angrily, 'Who dares to interrupt us?'
But a voice whispers: 'I am here as deputy from some of your readers. Your book which began so terribly has now struck a better vein, there are even some of us who feel tears in our eyes. But now we are so afraid that, after all, it will remain depraved. For heaven's sake marry Marie! Remember you have taken her from a man who had the most respectable intentions.'
Have no fear, my implacable censor. Marie, tell the nice lady that she can without scruple leave us alone together.
LXIII The bishop stands in front of the altar, his golden robes vying in splendour with the shining candles. The venerable marble statues in the niches have been washed, and at the organ sits the old white-haired organist with a silk cap on his head and the grand cross on his breast. The
