In order to direct the fatal blow aright, the executioner must look upon
his victim, and I shall have, in yielding up my life under your fair,
cruel hand, the supreme delight of being for one blissful moment the
object of your regard. Yes, I love you, madame! I adore you! And if it
be a crime, I cannot repent of it. God suffers himself to be adored; the
stars receive the admiration of the humblest shepherd; it is the fate
of all such lofty perfection as yours to, be beloved, adored, only by
inferior beings, since it has not its equal upon earth, nor scarcely
indeed in heaven. I, alas! am but a poor, wandering actor, yet were I
a haughty duke or prince, my head would not be on a level with your
beauteous feet, and there would be, all the same, between your heavenly
height and my kneeling adoration, as great a distance as from the
soaring summit of the loftiest Alp to the yawning abyss far, far below.
You must always stoop to reach a heart that adores you. I dare to say,
madame, that mine is as proud as it is tender, and she who would deign
not to repulse it, would find in it the most ardent love, the most
perfect delicacy, the most absolute respect, and unbounded devotion.
Besides, if such divine happiness be accorded me, your indulgence
would not have to stoop so low as you might fancy.
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