

FRENCH AUTHORESSES. 2Q1 



" Some love-pang, I suppose?" 



ff Yes, an absurd passion has been the cause of my sufferings, ; but 

 I compressed it in my bosom, and have forgotten it. But let us talk 

 of you, I wish to know you better ; what I have heard of you piques 

 my curiosity ; rely upon the young Tony, he stands in need of a 

 knowledge of life, reveal yours to him, you are a peculiar person 

 they say ; can you tell him if happiness exists, and if the wise man 

 may attain it." Surprised at this strange question and language after 

 the escapades of the preceding moments, subdued by the tones of 

 that voice which was not that of a woman, nor yet that of a man, 

 sounding sweet and caressing like the evening breeze, Horace caught 

 the hand of his young companion, and pressing it in his own, 

 " Youth," said he, " what mysteries would you pierce, and why seek 

 from an humble and erring individual like myself, the solution of a 

 problem debated since the commencement of the world. Happiness, 

 a word without meaning, an image profaned by the passions in the 

 intoxication of an hour, the capricious meteor that flies as you approach 

 it, " 



" And you, too," said Tony, with a sigh ; " you so calm, so firm, 

 so reasonable ; you so superior to yourself, a philosopher amid the 

 delirium of youth, provident in the midst of prosperity; you who 

 walk amid precipices without shuddering or stumbling." 



" Hold ! I know not who may have drawn a portrait so strange, 

 and so unlike, Tony ; I am the most suscepeible of men, the easiest to 

 be led astray, the least powerful over myself. Set me not up as a 

 type of wisdom, and do not despair of happiness because I have not 

 found it " 



"What,'' said Tony, " have not those passions which you say you 

 experienced, given you days of bliss, transient indeed, but pure and 

 delicious ? what then has man receeived from God to compensate for 

 the evils that compose his pitiable existenc ? 



" I am an exception, Tony ; my passions have made me unhappy 

 it is my fault but you will know the blessings that I have been 

 unable to appreciate ; you will love and be loved. All the happiness 

 that is allowed to man " 



" And have you never been loved ?" said Tony, with vivacity. 



" By some friends especially by one. Doubtless, a friend is a 

 great blessing, and I have no reason to complain." 



" But by a woman ?" resumed Tony, with emotion " by a wo- 

 man ?" 



" I believe not," said Horace, with some bitterness. All have the 

 pretence, few have the faculty of loving." 



Tony became thoughtless. Horace, too, was pensive. " Let us 

 push on," said he, after a long silence, " perhaps they are waiting for 

 us. Oh, they have arrived already," said Tony, " and believe that 

 we have done so too." 



" And where do we sup ?" 



" With La Coronari. Before we come into her presence, tell me 

 what think you of her talents." 



" I am enraptured with them. Are not you ?" 



" Oh, I ! that's another matter." 



