but wordnetdesire is ever 
master. When we parted I remembered another such separa- 
tion linked with the story of my youth, and thought that after 
one brief  I should grow calm again. I found that years 
had passed over me since then ; that the habits of my mind 
had changed ; that the elasticity of my first  had A^an- 
ished. I saw that the wordnetdesire I had thought to subdue so easily, 
would long be a living  in my . I vainly sought to for- 
get those many trifles which had once made you so dear and 
attracted me so irresistibly. I was haunted by the very tones 
of your gay, girlish voice, by your cheerful smile and frank 
look. When I strove to banish your image, it only followed 
me more importunately ; I went from place to place, but it was 
ever before me like a living presence : it looked at m with sad, 
reproachful eyes ; for in those day-wordnetdesire I saw you not as 
you are  unchanged in aspect  but pale, drooping, and eor- 



172 NATHALIE. 

rowful : I could flot escape it wherever I might go. For hirb 
who lores there is no solitude. 

'' When I saw how it was with me, I resolved to come 
back here, firmly determined not to feign an  I did