mutual complaints, which will be to him so many reproaches for
having fashioned the instrument of our yoke. As a good Christian,
let him consider, If it is well done to wish to force people;
to cause divorces, and to be the occasion of all the sins that an
ill-assorted marriage leads us to commit! I am determined to front
everything in the world sooner: and since things are so, you may
in some good way apprise the Duke" of Bevern "that, happen what
may, I never will have her.

"I have been unfortunate (MALHEUREUX) all my life; and I think it
is my destiny to continue so. One must be patient, and take the
time as it comes. Perhaps a sudden tract of good fortune, on the
back of all the chagrins I have made profession of ever since I
entered this world, would have made me too proud. In a word,
happen what will, I have nothing to reproach myself with. I have
suffered sufficiently for an exaggerated crime [that of
"attempting to desert;"--Heavens!]--and I will not engage myself
to extend my miseries (CHAGRINS) into future times. I have still
resources:--a pistol-shot can deliver me from my sorrows and my
life: and I think a merciful God would not damn me for that;
but, taking pity on me, would, in exchange for a life of
wretchedness, grant me salvation. This is whitherward despair can
lead a young person, whose blood is not so quiescent as if he were
seventy. I have a feeling of myself, Monsieur; and perceive that,
when one hates the methods of force as much as I, our boiling
blood will carry us always towards extremities.

... "If there are honest people in the world, they must think how
to save me from one of the most perilous passages I have ever been
in. I waste myself in gloomy ideas; I fear I shall not be able to