According
to his art of reigning, I thought he could not but show himself
magnanimous on this occasion, and that being so in fact was not
above his character. I thought a mean and easy vengeance would not for
a moment counterbalance his love of glory, and putting myself in his
place, his taking advantage of circumstances to overwhelm with the
weight of his generosity a man who had dared to think ill of him,
did not appear to me impossible. I therefore went to settle at
Motiers, with a confidence of which I imagined he would feel all the
value, and said to myself: When Jean-Jacques rises to the elevation of
Coriolanus, will Frederic sink below the General of the Volsci?
Colonel Roguin insisted on crossing the mountain with me, and
installing me at Motiers. A sister-in-law to Madam Boy de la Tour,
named Madam Girardier, to whom the house in which I was going to
live was very convenient, did not see me arrive there with pleasure;
however, she with a good grace put me in possession of my lodging, and
I ate with her until Theresa came, and my little establishment was
formed.
Perceiving at my departure from Montmorency I should in future be
a fugitive upon the earth, I hesitated about permitting her to come to
me and partake of the wandering life to which I saw myself
condemned. I felt the nature of our relation to each other was about
to change, and that what until then had on my part been favor and
friendship, would in future become so on hers.
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