On this he appealed to her
love, and then calm reason was jostled off the field, and passion and
sentiment battled in her place.
In these contests day by day renewed, Camille had many advantages.
Rose, though she did not like him, had now declared on his side. She
refused to show him the least attention. This threw him on Josephine:
and when Josephine begged her to help reduce Camille to reason, her
answer would be,--
"Hypocrite!" with a kiss: or else she would say, with a half comic
petulance, "No! no! I am on his side. Give him his own way, or he will
make us all four miserable."
Thus Josephine's ally went over to the enemy.
And then this coy young lady's very power of resistance began to give
way. She had now battled for months against her own heart: first for her
mother; then, in a far more terrible conflict for Raynal, for honor and
purity; and of late she had been battling, still against her own heart,
for delicacy, for etiquette, things very dear to her, but not so great,
holy, and sustaining as honor and charity that were her very household
gods: and so, just when the motives of resistance were lowered, the
length of the resistance began to wear her out.
Pages:
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309