This
last appeared to me still more serious, and gave me infinite pain. I
wrote to complain of it, but in so mild and tender a manner that I
moistened my paper with my tears, and my letter was sufficiently
affecting to have drawn others from himself. It would be impossible to
guess his answer on this subject: it was literally as follows: "I am
glad my work has pleased and affected you. You are not of my opinion
relative to hermits. Say as much good of them as you please, you
will be the only one in the world of whom I shall think well: even
on this there would be much to say were it possible to speak to you
without giving you offense. A woman eighty years of age! etc. A phrase
of a letter from the son of Madam d'Epinay which, if I know you
well, must have given you much pain, has been mentioned to me."
The last two expressions of this letter want explanation.
Soon after I went to reside at the Hermitage, Madam le Vasseur
seemed dissatisfied with her situation, and to think the habitation
too retired. Having heard she had expressed her dislike to the
place, I offered to send her back to Paris, if that were more
agreeable to her; to pay her lodging, and to have the same care
taken of her as if she remained with me. She rejected my offer,
assured me she was very well satisfied with the Hermitage, and that
the country air was of service to her. This was evident, for, if I may
so speak, she seemed to become young again, and enjoyed better
health than at Paris.
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