The Lady of the Camellias

at least this much to be said for them: they either kill

alescing very satisfactorily, and we were bound by a firm friendship. I h

ies in abundance, and my friend's window cheerfully overloo

talking by the open window at that hour of the day when

h slumbered beneath the sick man's apparent calm. But Armand, on the contrary, seemed to take pleasure in speaking of her? n

ve been taken by his physical illness, and Marguerite's death had ceased to present itself through the eyes of the past. A kind of solace had come with the certainty he had acquired a

ow his mind to acknowledge any violent emotions, and despite himself the universal j

family of the peril he was in, and when the danger wa

ng in a brilliant twilight of blue and gold. Although we were in Paris, the greenery around us seemed to cut us

a day like today, that I first met Marguerite, ' said Arman

e no

rned to me

urn it into a book which no one will believ

er time, my friend, ' I told him,

' he said with a smile; 'I am not the least feverish, w

so set on it,

in the order in which it happened. If at some stage you do make

d I have scarcely changed a

ing like this! I had spent the day in the country with one of my friends, Gaston R. We had returned

seats and, in the corridor, we saw a tall

ou just bowed t

Gautier, '

r I didn't recognize her, ' I said with a t

e poor girl's not l

s though they had been

rs past, whenever I met her, the sight of that g

he occult, and he would call what I felt an affinity of fluids; I myself believe quite sim

of my friends had seen how I reacted, and they had hooted with l

he shop. For my part, I stood rooted to the spot from the time she went in until the moment she came out. Through the windows, I watched her in the shop as she chose what she had come to buy. I could have gone in,

mbroidered at the corners with gold thread and silk flowers, a Leghorn straw hat and a singl

her barouche

is eyes following the carriage of his elegant customer. I

le Marguerite Gaut

him for her address

from my mind like many other visions I had already seen, and I se

e Opera-Comique. I went along. The first person I saw,

cognized her too, for he sa

at that prett

our direction, saw my friend, smiled at him and

pleasant evening, ' he told me

yself saying: 'You

hat w

see that

in love w

did not know how I stood in the matter,

e, I'll intr

permissio

s no need to be forma

at the thought that I should learn for certain tha

nd of this woman, he feels he has strength enough for any undertaking, the will to conquer all and the courage to do anything. He scarcely dares glance at the slim ankles which she reveals in her effort

, crosses the street a

ptly a love which I should have desired to earn through some long delay or great sacrifice. Of such stuff are we men made; and it is fortunate indeed

', I would have accepted. Had I been told: 'Give her ten Louis and she's yours', I should have refuse

was one way, indeed the only way

oduce me, and I loitered in the corridors, reflecting that any moment now she would see

her in advance the word

me nonsens

, my friend ca

ecting us,

along?'

th anothe

ren't an

o.

's g

de for the t

not that way, '

y some sweets. She

ner's in the galleries o

and was casting round for what could be m

f sugared

ure she li

her kind of sweets, it

out to introduce you to? Don't imagine you'll be meeting a duchess, she's just a kept wom

ollowed him, telling myself that I w

r box, Marguerite was

preferred h

Marguerite inclined her

are my

you

ked straight at me. I low

hing into her companion's ear, and

ss a little middle-class girl, very loving, very cloying, who made me laugh with her sentimentality and sad billets-doux. I realiz

ins without paying any

d had no intention of leaving

Monsieur Duval does not speak to you. You have such an

man came here with you because you

'I would not have asked Ernest to o

a way of putting of

hey take in making misplaced remarks and teasing men they meet for the first time. It is no doubt a way of levellin

Moreover, the idea that I had formed of Marguerite made her jesting seem worse to me. Nothing about this woman left me indif

for me is to ask you to forgive my indiscretion and to ta

, I bowed

urst of laughter. I would dearly have wished for some

o my seat in

ere sounded for th

rejoi

aid to me as he took his sea

guerite say a

o women like that the honour of taking them seriously. They have no idea what good taste and manners are; it's just the

n't ever see that woman again, and even if I liked her before I got

f her box and hear people saying how you're ruining yourself on her account. Still, you

tell you what play was performed. All I remember was that, from time to time, I would glance up at t

that I had both her insulting behaviour and my discomfiture to expunge; I told myself that, even if I had to s

curtain, Marguerite and her

lf, I rose f

leaving?'

es

hy

oticed that the

d, 'and good luck, or

le

I stepped to one side and, without being observed, saw the two women

he theatre, a young servan

de the Cafe Anglais, ' said Marguerite,

the window of one of the restaurant's large rooms: leaning on the balcony

aning over her shoulder a

the private rooms on the first floor, and did

guerite got into her carri

cab and f

topped outside

and went up to he

by chance, but this cha

theatre or on the Champs-Elysees. She was unchangingly g

t my seeing her anywhere. I ran in

is very ill,

e matter w

d, because she lives the sort of life which is not ca

ge thing; I was almo

without signing the book or leaving my card. It was in this way t

d; new intimacies, old habits and work took the place of thoughts of her, and whenever I did think back to that first encounte

f Marguerite since the time of her departure and, as I have explained to you, when she pa

ver many veils she had been wearing, I would not have needed to

ears spent without seeing her, together with the effects which this separation seeme

b