It was precisely at this time we became acquainted. The mild
character of the good Theresa seemed so fitted to my own, that I
united myself to her with an attachment which neither time nor
injuries have been able to impair, and which has constantly been
increased by everything by which it might have been expected to be
diminished. The force of this sentiment will hereafter appear when I
come to speak of the wounds she has given my heart in the height of my
misery, without my ever having, until this moment, once uttered a word
of complaint to any person whatever.
When it shall be known, that after having done everything, braved
everything, not to separate from her; that after passing with her
twenty years in despite of fate and men; I have in my old age made her
my wife, without the least expectation or solicitation on her part, or
promise or engagement on mine, the world will think that love
bordering upon madness, having from the first moment turned my head,
led me by degrees to the last act of extravagance; and this will no
longer appear doubtful when the strong and particular reasons which
should forever have prevented me from taking such a step are made
known. What, therefore, will the reader think when I shall have told
him, with all the truth he has ever found in me, that, from the
first moment in which I saw her, until that wherein I write, I have
never felt the least love for her, that I never desired to possess her
more than I did to possess Madam de Warrens, and that the physical
wants which were satisfied with her person were, for me, solely
those of the sex, and by no means proceeding from the individual? He
will think that, being of a constitution different from that of
other men, I was incapable of love, since this was not one of the
sentiments which attached me to women the most dear to my heart.
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