There is but one blemish in it." "A blemish?
I do not perceive it." "Why, madame, I cannot find anywhere in your canvas the figure of myself." With a laugh she turned away and passed through the arched gateway.

And I saw my friend, the little nun who had first opened the door to me when I came seeking the duchess, pass by and pause a moment to look at me.

Then I was left alone till Marie came to me through the gateway: and I sprang up to meet her.
I have been candid throughout, and I will be candid now--even though my plain speaking strikes not at myself, but at Marie, who must forgive me as best she may.

For I believe she meant to marry me from the very first; and I doubt whether if I had taken the dismissal she gave, I should have been allowed to go far on my solitary way.

Indeed I think she did but want to hear me say how that all she urged was lighter than a feather against my love for her, and, if that were her desire, she was gratified to the full; seeing that for a moment she frightened me, and I outdid every lover since the world began (it cannot be that I deceive myself in thinking that) in vehemence and insistence.