Last AdieuxAn hour later, when he was fast asleep, he was awakened by the tearswhich he felt trickling over his hand. 'Ah! Mathilde again,' he thought tohimself, half awake. 'She has come, faithful to her theory, to attack myresolve by force of tender sentiments.' Irritated by the prospect of thisfresh scene in the pathetic manner, he did not open his eyes. The lines ofBelphegor flying from his wife came into his mind.

　　He heard a strange sigh; he opened his eyes; it was Madame de Renal.

　　'Ah! Do I see you again before my death? Is it a phantom?' he cried, ashe flung himself at her feet.

　　'But forgive me, Madame, I am nothing but a murderer in your eyes,'

　　he at once added, regaining his composure.

　　'Sir, … I have come to implore you to appeal, I know that you do notwish to … ' She was choked by her sobs; she was unable to speak.

　　'Deign to forgive me.'

　　'If you wish me to forgive you,' she said to him, rising and throwingherself into his arms, 'appeal at once from the sentence of death.'

　　Julien covered her with kisses.

　　'Will you come and see me every day during the next two months?'

　　'I swear it to you. Every day, unless my husband forbids me.'

　　'Then I sign!' cried Julien. 'What! You forgive me! Is it possible?'

　　He clasped her in his arms; he was mad. She uttered a faint cry.

　　'It is nothing,' she told him, 'you hurt me.'

　　'In your shoulder,' cried Julien, bursting into tears. He stepped backfrom her, and covered her hand with burning kisses. 'Who would everhave said, last time I saw you, in your bedroom, at Verrieres … ?'

　　'Who would ever have said then that I should write M. de La Molethat infamous letter … ?'

　　 'Know that I have always loved you, that I have never loved anyonebut you.'

　　'Is it really possible?' cried Madame de Renal, equally enraptured. Shebowed herself over Julien, who was kneeling at her feet, and for a longtime they wept in silence.

　　At no time in his life had Julien experienced such a moment.

　　After a long interval, when they were able to speak:

　　'And that young Madame Michele!' said Madame de Renal, 'or ratherthat Mademoiselle de La Mole; for I am beginning really to believe thisstrange tale!'

　　'It is true only in appearance,' replied Julien. 'She is my wife, but she isnot my mistress … '

　　And, each interrupting the other a hundred times, they managed withdifficulty, each of them, to tell what the other did not know. The lettersent to M. de La Mole had been written by the young priest who directedMadame de Renal's conscience, and then copied out by her. 'What a terrible crime religion has made me commit!' she said to him; 'though I didmodify the worst passages in the letter… .'

　　Julien's transports of joy proved to her how completely he forgave her.

　　Never had he been so madly in love.

　　'And yet I regard myself as pious,' Madame de Renal told him in thecourse of their conversation. 'I believe sincerely in God; I believe equally,indeed it has been proved to me, that the crime I am committing is fearful, and yet, as soon as I set eyes on you, even after you have fired at metwice with a pistol… ' Here, in spite of her resistance, Julien covered herwith kisses.

　　'Let me alone,' she went on, 'I wish to argue with you, before I forget … As soon as I set eyes on you, all sense of duty vanishes, there isnothing left of me but love for you, or rather love is too feeble a word. Ifeel for you what I ought to feel only for God: a blend of respect, love,obedience … In truth, I do not know what feeling you inspire in me.

　　Were you to bid me thrust a knife into your gaoler, the crime would becommitted before I had had time to think. Explain this to me in simpleterms before I leave you, I wish to see clearly into my own heart; for intwo months we must part … For that matter, need we part?' she said,with a smile.

　　'I take back my word,' cried Julien, springing to his feet; 'I shall not appeal from the sentence of death, if by poison, knife, pistol, charcoal or any other means whatsoever, you seek to put an end to, or to endangeryour life.'

　　Madame de Renal's expression altered suddenly; the warmest affection gave place to a profound abstraction.

　　'If we were to die at once?' she said to him at length.

　　'Who knows what we shall find in our next life?' replied Julien;'torments perhaps, perhaps nothing at all. Can we not spend two monthstogether in a delicious manner? Two months, that is ever so many days.

　　Never shall I have been so happy.'

　　'You will never have been so happy?'

　　'Never,' replied Julien with rapture, 'and I am speaking to you as Ispeak to myself. Heaven preserve me from exaggeration.'

　　'To speak so is to command me,' she said with a timid and melancholysmile.

　　'Very well! You swear, by the love that you bear me, not to attemptyour life by any direct means, or indirect means … Remember,' he added, 't............