WOLMAR.

P.S.—­Come, my friend; we wait you with eagerness.  Do not grieve me by a refusal.

JULIE.

FROM SAINT PREUX TO MYLORD EDOUARD

I have seen her, mylord!  She has called me her friend—­her dear friend.  I am happier than ever I was in my life.

Yet when I approached M. de Wolmar’s house at Clarens, I was in a state of frantic nervousness.  Could I bear to see my old love in the possession of another?  Would I not be driven to despair?  As the carriage neared Clarens, I wished that it would break down.  When I dismounted I awaited Julie in mortal anxiety.  She came running and calling out to me, she seized me in her arms.  All my terrors were banished, I knew no feeling but joy.

M. de Wolmar, meanwhile, was standing beside us.  She turned to him, and introduced me to him as her old friend.  “If new friends have less ardour than old ones,” he said to me as he embraced me, “they will be old friends in their turn, and will yield nothing to others.”  My heart was exhausted, I received his embraces passively.

When we reached the drawing-room she disappeared for a moment, and returned—­not alone.  She brought her two children with her, darling little boys, who bore on their countenances the charm and the fascination of their mother.  A thousand thoughts rushed into my mind, I could not speak; I took them in my arms, and welcomed their innocent caresses.

The children withdrew, and M. de Wolmar was called away.  I was alone with Julie.  I was conscious of a painful restraint; she was seemingly at ease, and I became gradually reassured.  We talked of my travels, and of her married life; there was no mention of our old relations.

I came to realise how Julie was changed, and yet the same.  She is a matron, the happy mother of children, the happy mistress of a prosperous household.  Her old love is not extinguished; but it is subdued by domestic peace and by her unalterable virtue—­let me add, by the trust and kindness of her elderly husband, whose unemotional goodness has been just what was needed to soothe her passion and sorrow.  I am her old and dear friend; I can never be more.  And, believe me, I am content.  Occasionally, pangs of regret tear at my heart, but they do not last long; my passion is cured, and I can never experience another.

How can I describe to you the peace and felicity that reign in this household?  M. de Wolmar is, above all things, a man of system; the life of the establishment moves with ordered regularity from the year’s beginning to its end.  But the system is not mechanical; it is founded on wide experience of men, and governed by philosophy.  In the home life of Julie and her husband and children luxury is never permitted; even the table delicacies are simple products of the country.  But, without luxury, there is perfect comfort and perfect confidence.  I have never known a community so thoroughly happy, and it is a deep joy to me to be admitted as a cherished member of it.