Being very timorous,
she took great care that we should both sleep in the same chamber; a
circumstance that usually produces some consequences between a lad
of twenty and a girl of twenty-five.
For once, however, it went no further; my simplicity being such,
that though Merceret was by no means a disagreeable girl, an idea of
gallantry never entered my head, and even if it had, I was too great a
novice to have profited by it. I could not imagine how two young
persons could bring themselves to sleep together, thinking that such
familiarity must require an age of preparation. If poor Merceret
paid my expenses in hopes of any return, she was terribly cheated, for
we arrived at Fribourg exactly as we had quitted Annecy.
I passed through Geneva without visiting any one. While going over
the bridges, I found myself so affected that I could scarcely proceed.
Never could I see the walls of that city, never could I enter it,
without feeling my heart sink from excess of tenderness, at the same
time that the image of liberty elevated my soul. The ideas of
equality, union, and gentleness of manners, touched me even to
tears, and inspired me with a lively regret at having forfeited all
these advantages. What an error was I in! but yet how natural! I
imagined I saw all this in my native country, because I bore it in
my heart.
It was necessary to pass through Nion: could I do this without
seeing my good father? Had I resolved on doing so, I must afterwards
have died with regret.
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