_March, 1843._
I was as tired as if I had walked four or five leagues, but the fatigue
was so agreeable that I should like to repeat it. All was so successful,
that while I am accustomed to the success of a well-arranged plan,
nevertheless I share your astonishment. To be so free, and so far away
from the world, and that, too, by making use of the benefits of
civilisation, is it not amusing?
Do you know why I took only one blossom of those pretty white hyacinths?
It was because I wished to save some for another time. What do you
think of that? Besides, after consulting my map, I discovered that we
had mistaken the distance, and were about a quarter of a league out of
the way. We ought to have gone farther on, but we need regret nothing,
and next time we shall know better. For the first time it was not bad.
You were charming. You told me nothing I did not know in saying that you
returned to me what I had given you; but to hear you say this is a joy
to me, for it proves that you did not mean the cruel things you said on
one of our ill-omened days. I have forgotten them all to-day. Will you
not, also, forget my anger and my rudeness?
You ask whether I believe in the existence of the soul. Not altogether.
Nevertheless, when I reflect upon certain things, I find an argument in
favour of that hypothesis. It is this: How can two animate substances
give and receive a sensation by a union which would be insipid but for
the sentiment attached to it? This is an extremely pedantic way of
saying that when two lovers kiss each other the sensation they receive
is altogether different from that felt in kissing the softest of satin.
But the argument has its value. We will discuss metaphysics, if you
like, next time I see you. It is a subject which I find very
interesting, because it can never be exhausted. You will write to me,
will you not, before Monday to say where we shall meet? We must be there
on the hour, not on the half hour. Be sure and remember it;
consequently, we must start on the half hour. This is clear, is it not?
It is half past four, and I must rise before ten o’clock.