第17章

"Signed, the Duc D'A."

I read and read again this epistle: it delighted me from beginning to end. I found in it a depth of passion which did not displease me: I perfectly comprehended the obscurity of the latter phrase.

I needed a sort of mentor superior to comte Jean, and I preferred the duc d'Aiguillon to any other, because he pleased me. This feeling decided me, and I replied to him in these terms:--"You are wrong, monsieur, to be annoyed, and to think that I am not disposed to grant you my confidence. It seems to me that I cannot place myself in better hands.