The Cross of Berny | Page 3

with stern delight into the arcana of science, to wrest from the
revealing spirits of the night some luminous truth?
But while the poet questioned death and the past, I questioned the
living present, and more than once the distant beacon seemed to answer
me. I even imagined that this busy light flickered in concert with mine,
and that they brightened and faded in unison.

I could only see it through a thick foliage of trees, for a large garden
planted with poplars, pines and sycamores separated the house where I
had taken refuge from the tall building whence the beacon shone for me
night after night.
As I could never succeed in finding the points of the compass, I was
ignorant of the exact locality of the house, or even on what street it
fronted, and knew nothing of its occupants. But still this light was a
friend; it spoke a sympathetic language to my eyes--it said: "Courage!
you do not suffer alone; behind these trees and under those stars there is
one who watches, labors, dreams." And when the night was majestic
and beautiful, when the morn rose slowly in the azure sky, like a
radiant host offered by the invisible hand of God to the adoration of the
faithful who pray, lament and die by night; when these ever-new
splendors dazzled my troubled soul; when I felt myself seized with that
poignant admiration which makes solitary hearts find almost grief in
joys that cannot be shared, it seemed to me that a dear voice came to
calm my excitement, and exclaimed, with fervor, "Is not the night
beautiful? What happiness in enjoying it together!"
When the nightingale, deceived by the silence of the deserted spot, and
attracted by these dark shades, became a Parisian for a few days,
rejuvenating with his vernal songs the old echoes of the city, again it
seemed that the same voice whispered softly through the trembling
leaves: "He sings, come listen!"
So the sad nights glided peacefully away, comforted by these foolish
reveries.
Then I invoked my dear ideal, beloved shadow, protector of every
honest heart, proud dream, a perfect choice, a jealous love sometimes
making all other love impossible! Oh, my beautiful ideal! Must I then
say farewell? Now I no longer dare to invoke thee!...
But what folly! Why am I so silly as to permit the remembrance of an
ideal to haunt me like a remorse? Why do I suffer it to make me unjust
towards noble and generous qualities that I should worthily appreciate?

Do not laugh at me, Valentine, when I assure you that my greatest
distress is that my lover does not resemble in any respect my ideal, and
I am provoked that I love him--I cannot deceive myself, the contrast is
striking--judge for yourself.
You may laugh if you will, but the whole secret of my distress is the
contrast between these two portraits.
My lover has handsome, intelligent blue eyes--my ideal's eyes are black,
full of sadness and fire, not the soft, troubadour eye with long drooping
lids--no! My ideal's glance has none of the languishing tenderness of
romance, but is proud, powerful, penetrating, the look of a thinker, of a
great mind yielding to the influence of love, the gaze of a hero
disarmed by passion!
My lover is tall and slender--my ideal is only a head taller than
myself ... Ah! I know you are laughing at me, Valentine! Well! I
sometimes laugh at myself....
My lover is frankness personified--my ideal is not a sly knave, but he is
mysterious; he never utters his thoughts, but lets you divine, or rather
he speaks to a responsive sentiment in your own bosom.
My lover is what men call "A good fellow," you are intimate with him
in twenty-four hours.
My ideal is by no means "a good fellow," and although he inspires
confidence and respect, you are never at ease in his presence, there is a
graceful dignity in his carriage, an imposing gentleness in his manner,
that always inspires a kind of fear, a pleasing awe.
You remember, Valentine, when we were very young girls how we
were wont to ask each other, in reading the annals of the past, what
situations would have pleased us, what parts we would have liked to
play, what great emotions we would have wished to experience; and
how you pityingly laughed at my odd taste.
My dream,par excellence, was to die of fear; I never envied with you

the famed heroines, the sublime shepherdesses who saved their country.
I envied the timid Esther fainting in the arms of her women at the fierce
tones of Ahasuerus, and restored to consciousness by the same voice
musically whispering the fondest words ever inspired by a royal love.
I also admired