and found it charming to gratify them in security
of conscience. My yet inexperienced heart gave
in to all with the calm happiness of a child, or rather
(if I dare use the expression) with the raptures of
an angel; for in reality these pure delights are as
serene as those of paradise. Dinners on the grass
at Montagnole, suppers in our arbor, gathering in
the fruits, the vintage, a social meeting with our
neighbors; all these were so many holidays, in which
Madam de Warrens took as much pleasure as myself.
Solitary walks afforded yet purer pleasure, because
in them our hearts expanded with greater freedom:
one particularly remains in my memory; it was on a
St. Louis’ day, whose name Madam de Warrens bore:
we set out together early and unattended, after having
heard a mass at break of day in a chapel adjoining
our house, from a Carmelite, who attended for that
purpose. As I proposed walking over the hills
opposite our dwelling, which we had not yet visited,
we sent our provisions on before; the excursion being
to last the whole day. Madam de Warrens, though
rather corpulent, did not walk ill, and we rambled
from hill to hill and wood to wood, sometimes in the
sun, but oftener in the shade, resting from time to
time, and regardless how the hours stole away; speaking
of ourselves, of our union, of the gentleness of our
fate, and offering up prayers for its duration, which
were never heard. Everything conspired to augment
our happiness: it had rained for several days
previous to this, there was no dust, the brooks were
full and rapid, a gentle breeze agitated the leaves,
the air was pure, the horizon free from clouds, serenity
reigned in the sky as in our hearts. Our dinner
was prepared at a peasant’s house, and shared
with him and his family, whose benedictions we received.
These poor Savoyards are the worthiest of people!
After dinner we regained the shade, and while I was
picking up bits of dried sticks, to boil our coffee,
Madam de Warrens amused herself with herbalizing among
the bushes, and with the flowers I had gathered for
her in my way. She made me remark in their construction
a thousand natural beauties, which greatly amused
me, and which ought to have given me a taste for botany;
but the time was not yet come, and my attention was
arrested by too many other studies. Besides this,
an idea struck me, which diverted my thoughts from
flowers and plants: the situation of my mind
at that moment, all that we had said or done that day,
every object that had struck me, brought to my remembrance
the kind of waking dream I had at Annecy seven or
eight years before, and which I have given an account
of in its place. The similarity was so striking
that it affected me even to tears: in a transport
of tenderness I embraced Madam de Warrens. “My
dearest friend,” said I, “this day has
long since been promised me: I can see nothing
beyond it: my happiness, by your means, is at
its height; may it never decrease; may it continue
as long as I am sensible of its value-then it can
only finish with my life.”