“And then, here are two lovers, who for the first time are flesh to flesh together in that tabernacle of life.  They tremble; but transported with delight, they have the delicious sensation of being close together, and by degrees their lips meet.  That divine kiss makes them one, that kiss, which is the gate of a terrestrial heaven, that kiss which speaks of human delights, which continually promises them, announces them, and precedes them.  And their bed is agitated like the tempestuous sea, and it bends and murmurs, and itself seems to become animated and joyous, for the maddening mystery of love is being accomplished on it.  What is there sweeter, what more perfect in this world than those embraces, which make one single being out of two, and which give to both of them at the same moment the same thought, the same expectation, and the same maddening pleasure, which descends upon them like a celestial and devouring fire?

“Do you remember those lines from some old poet, which you read to me last year?  I do not remember who wrote them, but it may have been Rousard: 

    “When you and I in bed shall lie,
    Lascivious we shall be,
    Enlaced, playing a thousand tricks,
    Of lovers, gamesomely.

“I should like to have that verse embroidered on the top of my bed, where Pyramus and Thisbe are continually looking at me out of their tapestry eyes.

“And think of death, my friend; of all those who have breathed out their last sigh to God in this bed.  For it is also the tomb of hopes ended, the door which closes everything, after having been the one which lets in the world.  What cries, what anguish, what sufferings, what groans, how many arms stretched out towards the past; what appeals to happiness that has vanished for ever; what convulsions, what death-rattles, what gaping lips and distorted eyes have there not been in this bed, from which I am writing to you, during the three centuries that it has sheltered human beings!

“The bed, you must remember, is the symbol of life; I have discovered this within the last three days.  There is nothing good except the bed, and are not some of our best moments spent in sleep?

“But then again, we suffer in bed!  It is the refuge of those who are ill and suffering; a place of repose and comfort for worn-out bodies, and, in a word, the bed is part and parcel of humanity.

“Many other thoughts have struck me, but I have no time to note them down for you, and then, should I remember them all?  Besides that, I am so tired that I mean to retire to my pillows, stretch myself out at full length, and sleep a little.  But be sure and come to see me at three o’clock to-morrow; perhaps I may be better, and able to prove it to you.

“Good-bye, my friend; here are my hands for you to kiss, and I also offer you my lips.”

AN ADVENTURE IN PARIS