Then, then, I was a man! My life belonged to Poland, my soul to art, but my heart was a sealed temple of love, a temple where Valerie, the beloved, the secretly worshiped, sat alone on her throne.
"One day a woman, radiant in youth, and reflecting Valerie's own beauty, was brought to the chateau by Troubetskoi, who had journeyed on to Vienna.

It was Alixe Delavigne, the woman whom I saw last with you.

A month later Valerie called me to her side: 'My poor Casimir,' she said, as I knelt at her feet, 'I am dying! The struggle will not be a long one.

I know the secret of your boyish heart.

Your eyes have spoken and your music has reached my heart.