They always seemed, irreconcilable to me.

Never had I yielded to passion without remorse; never had I resisted it without regret.

Whether weak or strong, I have always been unhappy and tortured.

You alone made me understand that I could love at once with all the ardor and all the dignity of my soul; and I selected you because you are affectionate and you are sincere; because you are handsome and you are pure; because there are embodied in you both duty and rapture, love and respect, intoxication and peace.

Such is the woman, such is the angel you are to me, Clotilde." She listened to him half reclining, drinking in his words and manifesting in her eyes a sort of celestial surprise.
But it seems--who has not experienced it ?--that human happiness cannot touch certain heights without drawing the lightning upon itself.