The Inferno

tfully warm. At first the sky was grey and rainy. Now September was fl

room and sank into dreamy musin

in, and above the thick yellow and dark-green foliage, a bit of wall and a turret as in a tapestry. A page advanced dressed

.

years before and the present seemed to be that past, as if the glowing hea

Through the double curtains made out of some thin material I saw the

enclosed, bursts of laughter mounted and broke, voices die

I propped myself up against the wall and looked. The door of the Room opened, as if pushed in by the

sitated on the threshold, the doorway making a frame

ctly through the dark red and green spots dancing in front of my eyes, which had been daz

looked at each other in silence

.

oy mu

ène, there is

d to the empty table and empty clothes-rack

e like a leaf. I heard the beating

e. They did

irst time we've ever

always know

tle l

er. They had fled from the others. They had created for themselves the forbidden solitude. But you

.

em stammer and say sad

each othe

essly, groping for words, timidly

to love

ow, which bathed them and veiled the childishness of thei

dream, though they did no

e time that they felt they were alone, although

dship and childhood behind them. It was the first time that desire ha

.

d over them and fell at their feet, revealed their figures, lighted

down again. Everything fell back in

on the banks of the eternal river of the ages. They were Daphnis and Chlo?, under a myrtle bush, in the Greek sunshine, the shimmer of leaves on their faces, and their faces mirroring each other.

y and unhappy. They nestled as close together as they could. They brought to each other as much as they could. But they did not suspect

they did not have. They were beggars. But they asked /themselv

eminine companion, turned, drawn towards her, and hel

d rosy, tinted and warmed by her heart. The skin of her neck, taut and satiny, quivered. Half-blown and waitin

not tear my

.

g silence,

ling each other by

hy

absorbed i

over again," h

ss Janvier?"

this new manner of address, at the word

atingly, "it is as though something

became

s each other

ed, and could n

" she

ms and shoulders and held out their

élène!" ca

the embracer, is it not the tiniest caress and the lea

med to me to b

held hands, their faces joined, trembl

.

emselves from their embrace, whos

lips. About what? About the past

dhood and ignorance. They spoke of a hou

so that from the road all you could see was the tip of the

pra

e were little and

o walk there tha

f the past, behind those walls. She hummed an air she had heard there, and said that music was easier to remember than people

a candle and walked alone through the room

le else. They saw the pool, the shady walk, and the cherry tree, which, in winte

o have grown serious all at once, and they no longer knew how to play. I saw that they wante

t up s

o remember any

d

other any more. I don't want us t

their ey

each other's hands," h

ister-that

idden fruits. They had not belonged to each other before. The

days before, in the evening, it had given them profound pleasure to disobey the

e top of the steps and

r. The dust on the ground was dead. The shadows stole round us so softly that we almost spoke to them. We were frightened to see night coming on. Everything h

arried aloft on a wave of beauty,

e. When I used to say 'Hélène,' I did not know what I was s

ing light of paradise without knowledge. They were as if they did not exist. When-through triumphant curiosity, though forbidden by God himself-they learned the secret, the sky was darkened. The certainty of a futur

rnal drama. By talking to each other as they did they ha

you more. I should li

coul

.

ore words for them. They were completely abs

out of the realm of phantoms, out of the past. She was looking for them as if they had gone astray. She called them in

a kind little laugh. "What are you doin

ed up to her neck. Beside these two, who were preparing for the

r foreheads against her saintly mouth. They

.

ily, as they had come, united now by an invisible and sublime

rted sanctuary, I thought of their glance,

ing lost in the sensation. That is why I saw that glance. They did not know when it began, they did not know that it was the first. Afterwards they would forget. The urge

at do I retain that is of value? The little boy that I was is dead forever, before my eyes. I survived him, but forgetfulness tormented me, then overcame me,

lowing with fresh laughter, this precious song, I take and hold and che