at you mean!"

"Here is what I mean! I want to lie down on my back at the bottom of
the boat with you by my side. But I forbid you to touch me, to embrace
me--in short to--to caress me."

I promised. She warned me:

"If you move, I'll capsize the boat."

And then we lay down side by side, our eyes turned towards the sky,
while the boat glided slowly through the water. We were rocked by the
gentle movements of the shallop. The light sounds of the night came to
us more distinctly in the bottom of the boat, sometimes causing us to
start. And I felt springing up within me a strange, poignant emotion,
an infinite tenderness, something like an irresistible impulse to open
my arms in order to embrace, to open my heart in order to love, to
give myself, to give my thoughts, my body, my life, my entire being to
someone.

My companion murmured, like one in a dream:

"Where are we? Where are we going? It seems to me that I am quitting
the earth. How sweet it is! Ah! if you loved me--a little!!!"

My heart began to throb. I had no answer to give. It seemed to me that
I loved her. I had no longer any violent desire. I felt happy there by
her side, and that was enough for me.

And thus we remained for a long, long time without stirring. We caught
each other's hands; some delightful force rendered us motionless, an
unknown force stronger than ourselves, an alliance, chaste, intimate,
absolute of our persons lying there side by side which belonged to
each other without touching. What was this? How do I know. Love,
perhaps?

Little by little, the dawn appeared. It was three o'clock in the
morning. Slowly, a great brightness spread over the sky. The boat
knocked against something. I rose up. We had come close to a tiny
islet.

But I remained ravished, in a state of ecstasy. In front of us
stretched the shining firmament, red, rosy, violet, spotted with fiery
clouds resembling golden vapors. The river was glowing with purple,
and three houses on one side of it seemed to be burning.

I bent towards my companion. I was going to say: "Oh! look!" But I
held my tongue, quite dazed, and I could no longer see anything except
her. She, too, was rosy, with the rosy flesh tints with which must
have mingled a little the hue of the sky. Her tresses were rosy; her
eyes were rosy; her teeth were rosy; here dress, her laces, her
smile, all were rosy. And in truth I believed, so overpowering was the
illusion, that the aurora was there befor