This crime, at first so disturbing, insensibly gained some considerations of attraction. An old desire, like an old viper, stirred in his head. Ah! to kiss hands that had used poison! To caress the flesh of a murderess! Through contempt of all morality, to give pleasure to the woman who had provoked, for her peace, frightful agonies!... And perhaps there truly was nothing in it at all! Oh! she had, with a single word, confessed too thoroughly not to go, some day, to the end of the avowal: he would know how to win her confidence. For the time being, as it was impossible to penetrate further, lacking sufficient enlightenment, Entragues abandoned all analysis and dined. Afterwards, he recopied the sequence which, in his revery, had been dimly refashioned. The desired words took their assigned place, the rhythm polished the breaks that appeared too rude, the imperfections were effaced. It went thus: DREAM FIGURE Séquence La très chère aux yeux clairs apparaît sous la lune, Sous la lune éphémère et mère des beaux rêves. La lumière bleuie par les brumes cendrait D'une poussière aérienne Son front fleuri d'etoiles, et sa légère chevelure Flottait dans l'air derrière ses pas légers: La chimère dormait au fond de ses prunelles. Sur la chair nue et frêle de son cou, Les stellaires sourires d'un rosaire de perles Etageaient les reflets de leurs pâle éclairs. Ses poignets Avaient des bracelets tout pareils; et sa tête, La couronne incrustée des sept pierres mystiques Dont les flammes transpercent le coeur comme des glaives Sous la lune éphémère et mère des beaux rêves. He signed his name and the date, adding farther down, as an envoy "To Madame Sixtine Magne." To spare himself reflections of this sort: "Shall I send it to her, shall I not send it to her?" he addressed an envelope, affixed a stamp, and immediately carried it to the mailbox. Then, to divert himself by gaining an hour of rest, he repeated the story with which Monsieur de B----. had amused them, one evening, at the home of the countess--a quite unadorned story, as becomes such a trifle--just such a thing as could be written by those whose occasional simplicity is not due to a poverty of language or to an imaginative sterility. CHAPTER VII MARCELLE AND MARCELINE A story in the style of "Cinderella," but more modern. "Ni vers, ni prose; points de grands mots, point de brillans, point de rimes: un ton naïf m'accomode mieux; en un mot, un récits sans façon et comme on parle." Madame d'Aulnay, _l'Adroite Princesse_.