In order to insure the happiness of my future life, I was beginning to be the executioner of my present felicity, and the tormentor of my heart.

I revolted against such a necessity which I judged fictitious, and which I could not admit unless I stood guilty of vileness before the tribunal of my own reason.

I thought that Father Georgi, if he wished to forbid my visiting that family, ought not to have said that it was worthy of respect; my sorrow would not have been so intense.

The day and the whole of the night were spent in painful thoughts.
In the morning the Abbe Gama brought me a great book filled with ministerial letters from which I was to compile for my amusement.

After a short time devoted to that occupation, I went out to take my first French lesson, after which I walked towards the Strada-Condotta.