und myself brought to a standstill at every line.
With the superstition natural to young lovers, I willingly imagined that
in passing through Edmee's mouth the authors acquired a magic clearness,
and that by some miracle my mind expanded at the sound of her voice.
However, Edmee was careful to disguise the interest she took in teaching
me herself. There is no doubt that she was mistaken in thinking that
she ought not to betray her solicitude: it would only have roused me to
still greater efforts in my work. But in this, imbued as she was with
the teachings of _Emile_, she was merely putting into practice the
theories of her favourite philosopher.

As it was, I spared myself but little; for my courage would not admit of
any forethought. Consequently I was soon obliged to stop. The change
of air, of diet, and of habits, my lucubrations, the want of vigorous
exercise, my intense application, in a word, the terrible revolution
which my nature had to stir up against itself in order to pass from the
state of a man of the woods to that of an intelligent being, brought on
a kind of brain fever which made me almost mad for some weeks, then an
idiot for some days, and finally disappeared, leaving me a mere wreck
physically, with a mind completely severed from the past, but sternly
braced to meet the future.

One night, when I was at the most critical stage of my illness, during a
lucid interval, I caught sight of Edmee in my room. At first I thought
I was dreaming. The night-light was casting an unsteady glimmer over the
room. Near me was a pale form lying motionless on an easy chair. I could
distinguish some long black tresses falling loosely over a white dress.
I sat up, weak though I was and scarcely able to move, and tried to
get out of bed. Patience, however, suddenly appeared by the bedside and
gently stopped me. Saint-Jean was sleeping in another arm-chair. Every
night there used to be two men watching me thus, ready to hold me down
by force whenever I became violent during my delirium. Frequently the
abbe was one; sometimes the worthy Marcasse, who, before leaving
Berry to go on his annual round through the neighbouring province, had
returned to have a farewell hunt in the outhouses of the chateau, and
who kindly offered to relieve the servants in their painful task of
keeping watch over me.

As I was wholly unconscious of my illness, it was but natural that
the unexpected presence of the hermit in my room should cause