He was seldom
at a loss for money when he knew what purse contained it; yet, was
rather artful than knavish, and when dealing out in an affected tone
his unmeaning discourses, resembled Peter the Hermit, preaching up the
crusade with a saber by his side.
Madam Sabran, his wife, was a tolerable good sort of woman; more
peaceable by day than by night; as I slept in the same chamber I was
frequently disturbed by her wakefulness, and should have been more
so had I comprehended the cause of it, but in this matter I was so
stupid that nature alone could further instruct me.
I went on gayly with my pious guide and his hopeful companion, no
sinister accident impeding our journey. I was in the happiest
circumstances both of mind and body that I ever recollect having
experienced; young, full of health and security, placing unbounded
confidence in myself and others; in that short but charming moment
of human life, whose expansive energy carries, if I may so express
myself, our being to the utmost extent of our sensations, embellishing
all nature with an inexpressible charm, flowing from the conscious and
rising enjoyment of our existence.
My pleasing inquietudes became less wandering: I had now an object
on which imagination could fix. I looked on myself as the work, the
pupil, the friend, almost the lover of Madam de Warrens; the
obliging things she had said, the caresses she had bestowed on me; the
tender interest she seemed to take in everything that concerned me;
those charming looks, which seemed replete with love, because they
so powerfully inspired it, every consideration flattered my ideas
during this journey, and furnished the most delicious reveries, which,
no doubt, no fear of my future condition arose to embitter.
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