The gulf was drowsing under the leaden coverlet of its water, exhaling a mysterious freshness that was spreading to the mountains and trees.

All the landscape appeared to be acquiring the fragility of crystal.

The silent air was trembling with exaggerated resonance, repeating the fall of an oar in the boats that, small as flies, were slipping along under the sky arching above the gulf, and prolonging the feminine and invisible voices passing through the groves on the heights.
The waiter went from table to table, distributing candles enclosed in paper shades.

The mosquitoes and moths, revived by the twilight, were buzzing around these red and yellow flowers of light.
Her voice was again sounding in the twilight air with the vagueness of one speaking in a dream.
"There is a sacrifice greater than that of life,--the only one that can convince a woman that she is beloved.

What does life signify to a man like you ?...