bring their whole theory to nothing, whether by the force of
love or of a secret, persistent aversion.

I see in marriage, as it at present exists, two opposing forces which
it was the task of the lawgiver to reconcile. "When will they be
reconciled?" I said to myself, as I read your letter. Oh! my dear, one
such letter alone is enough to overthrow the whole fabric constructed by
the sage of Aveyron, under whose shelter I had so cheerfully ensconced
myself! The laws were made by old men--any woman can see that--and
they have been prudent enough to decree that conjugal love, apart from
passion, is not degrading, and that a woman in yielding herself may
dispense with the sanction of love, provided the man can legally call
her his. In their exclusive concern for the family they have imitated
Nature, whose one care is to propagate the species.

Formerly I was a person, now I am a chattel. Not a few tears have I
gulped down, alone and far from every one. How gladly would I have
exchanged them for a consoling smile! Why are our destinies so unequal?
Your soul expands in the atmosphere of a lawful passion. For you, virtue
will coincide with pleasure. If you encounter pain, it will be of your
own free choice. Your duty, if you marry Felipe, will be one with the
sweetest, freest indulgence of feeling. Our future is big with the
answer to my question, and I look for it with restless eagerness.

You love and are adored. Oh! my dear, let this noble romance, the
old subject of our dreams, take full possession of your soul. Womanly
beauty, refined and spiritualized in you, was created by God, for His
own purposes, to charm and to delight. Yes, my sweet, guard well the
secret of your heart, and submit Felipe to those ingenious devices of
ours for testing a lover's metal. Above all, make trial of your own
love, for this is even more important. It is so easy to be misled by
the deceptive glamour of novelty and passion, and by the vision of
happiness.

Alone of the two friends, you remain in your maiden independence; and
I beseech you, dearest, do not risk the irrevocable step of marriage
without some guarantee. It happens sometimes, when two are talking
together, apart from the world, their souls stripped of social disguise,
that a gesture, a word, a look lights up, as by a flash, some dark
abyss. You have courage and strength to tread boldly in paths where
others would be lost.

You have no conception in what anxiety I watch you.