held the mechanism motionless. Who can conceive the palpitations of my
heart, and the agonies of my self-love, when I brought the scissors near
to cut the fatal bond?--Zest!--the spring of the dove starts, and begins
to unroll itself with a noise. I lift my eyes to see the bird pass; but,
after making a few turns over and over, it falls, and goes off to hide
itself under the table. Rosine (my dog), who was sleeping there, moves
ruefully away. Rosine, who never sees a chicken, or a pigeon, or the
smallest bird, without attacking and pursuing it, did not deign even to
look at my dove which was floundering on the floor. This gave the
finishing stroke to my self-esteem. I went to take an airing on the
ramparts.

"I was walking up and down, sad and out of spirits as one always is
after a great hope disappointed, when, raising my eyes, I perceived a
flight of cranes passing over my head. I stopped to have a good look at
them. They were advancing in triangular order, like the English column
at the battle of Fontenoy. I saw them traverse the sky from cloud to
cloud.--Ah! how well they fly, said I to myself. With what assurance
they seem to glide along the viewless path which they follow.--Shall I
confess it? alas! may I be forgiven! the horrible feeling of envy for
once, once only, entered my heart, and it was for the cranes. I pursued
them, with jealous gaze, to the boundaries of the horizon. For a long
while afterwards, motionless in the midst of the crowd which was moving
about me, I kept observing the rapid movement of the swallows, and I was
astonished to see them suspended in the air, just as if I had never
before seen that phenomenon. A feeling of profound admiration, unknown
to me till then, lighted up my soul. I seemed to myself to be looking
upon nature for the first time. I heard with surprise the buzzing of the
flies, the song of the birds, and that mysterious and confused noise of
the living creation which involuntarily celebrates its Author. Ineffable