"Internal politics: articles by Francis Charmes, Anatole
Leroy-Beaulieu, d'Haussonville on the Czar's trip to Paris. Look, a
study by Avenel of wages in the Middle Ages. And verse, verses of the
young poets, Fernand Gregh, Edmond Haraucourt. Ah, the resumé of a
book by Henry de Castries on Islam. That may be interesting.... Take
what you please."
Joy makes people amiable and M. Le Mesge was really delirious with it.
A puff of breeze came from the window. I went to the balustrade and,
resting my elbows on it, began to run through a number of the _Revue
des Deux Mondes_.
I did not read, but flipped over the pages, my eyes now on the lines
of swarming little black characters, now on the rocky basin which lay
shivering, pale pink, under the declining sun.
Suddenly my attention became fixed. There was a strange coincidence
between the text and the landscape.
"In the sky overhead were only light shreds of cloud, like bits of
white ash floating up from burnt-out logs. The sun fell over a circle
of rocky peaks, silhouetting their severe lines against the azure sky.
From on high, a great sadness and gentleness poured down into the
lonely enclosure, like a magic drink into a deep cup...."[17]
[Footnote 17: Gabrielle d'Annunzio: _Les Vierges aux Rochers_. Cf. The
_Revue des Deux Mondes_ of October 15, 1896; page 867.]