The Inferno

re. The husband was coming. I gathered that from what t

, then dined, as in a dream, a

to enter. Calm, simple, care-free people,

s set in front of her and she held a little dog on her lap. His head reached over the edge of the marble

nterest. She saw I was not wa

ver to me with a smile. But no! I was simpler than that. If love tro

ave a dream greater and s

, and so are outside of nature. The simple, the weak, the humble pass carelessly by what i

I wanted to steal. I wanted to liv

punishment would fit my crime. I was destined to undergo the infinite misery I read in the ot

h infinity as with a theatrical costume. But infinity resides quietly in that man who is just passing by on the street. It resides in me, just as

rong, that great misery of mine, the tragedy of striving for the impossible, redeemed me.

duration. I had to go on looking. I was losing time in the world ou

.

le days, watchi

ceeded, not without difficulty, in gaining a few d

prisoner. I walked up and down my room a great part of the day, attracted by

in the evening I was worn

.

was there with her husband. Th

em enter. I must h

res were regular and even seemed to show a certain nobility. The line of his forehead was clear cut. Only his mouth and moustache were somewhat coarse. He had

that face, that expression which had lowered and disfigured th

emise. She had come back a bit tired out by the thousands of little nothings she had already done. She had a toothbrush in her hand, her li

with a mixture of odours-soap, face

back again, warm and s

e was all fr

legs stretched out a little, sometimes lo

Bernards have

ed cluck with his tongue, absorbed in this matter that interested him,

ces, phrases that meant nothing to her, that were strange to he

usband continued in his bestial indifferen

th toilet articles spread out before her. Prob

t was still the springtime of the day. She gave herself careful attention and took much time to groom

t a light dress of delicate texture, w

on, then an idea suddenly occ

decidedly n

d looked for another one,

he trimming of roses close to her face in front of th

.

and when he did look at

t happy, and yet I envied him his happiness. How explain this except by the fact that

m together. They would never come nearer again, for between them lay the impassable barrier of love over and done with. This silence and this mut

of indifference. I am sorry for the poor heart that has what it has for so s

cene, I underwent a little of the enormous suffe

.

t, leaving it partly open to show her transparent flesh-co

ain. Was it Amy coming back? No, it was the maid, wh

put the room in order, but

may s

hen he rose and went over to her awkwardly, as though fascinated. A scuffling and an outcry, stifled by a coarse la

Stop! What

thing, but pressed

er blowsy face. He trod on Amy's gown, which had dropped from

do, that'll

and brought his jaw close

o. Stop, I say. What's

d left, laughing a devilish

tinct that was stirring in him. A moment before that exquisite woman had unfolded

I plainly saw that even his eyes did not care, those same eyes which kindled at the

e whom he knew. To have what one has not. So, strange as it may se

es-I understood that many things which we place outside oursel

ow the intricacies unrave

.

fragments of their strange, whispered talk of love. From that time on the meals of the boarding-h

ect resemblances. There was nothing to guide me. I knew them n

ave been an occupant of the Room that night. But a stronger will than mine shut off he

uncertainty, and my fingers pressed the void. My face was there, my face, whi

.

the landlady beside the window. I did not notice he

s, daintily, with a

ounded funny to me. Why did she have that name? It seemed not to suit

lasses were scattered on the table on which a sunbeam shone, mottling the tablecloth and

me Lemercier. She looked at me. I scarcely recogn

and whispered a few wo

elf, and went out of t

o or three people in th

ey were going to d

out. She must have thought that she did not interest me-this woman, w

the table, read a line or two, then f

leaned drowsily on the long, long table, the sunlit table disappearing into infinity, and I m

ar the table and make ready for the evening meal, I lingered almost alone, not knowin

lation he has seen, "The infinite-why, this is the infinite. It is true. I can no longer doubt." It came upon me with force that there is nothing strange on earth, that the supernatural does not exist, or, rather, that

to me! And I dreamed of myself, who could neither know myself well nor rid