Short Fiction, Xavier de Maistre [books to read in your 20s txt] 📗

raised her head to look at me. Her long hair fell down like a veil, and formed a background for her charming face, which reflected the mysterious light of the stars. Already her mouth opened, and the dulcet words were on her lips. But, oh heavens! what was my surprise and terror! A sinister noise was heard. “What are you doing there, Madame, at this hour? Come in,” exclaimed a deep masculine voice from the interior of the room. I was petrified. XIX

Such must be the sounds which alarm the guilty, when, suddenly, the blazing gates of Hell open before them; such must be the roar of the seven cataracts of the river Styx in the infernal regions, of which the poets have forgotten to make mention.

XX

A bright meteor flashed across the sky at that moment, and was immediately lost to sight. On turning my eyes, which had been dazzled for the moment by the splendour of the meteor, again towards the balcony, a small shoe was all that I could see. My neighbour had forgotten it in her hasty retreat. For a long time I looked at that pretty mould of a foot, worthy the chisel of Praxiteles, with an emotion, the entire force of which I dare not avow; but it will perhaps appear very strange (and indeed I cannot explain it myself to my own satisfaction) that an irresistible fascination kept my eyes fixed on it, in spite of all my efforts to look in another direction.

They say, that when a serpent looks at a nightingale, the unfortunate bird, victim of an irresistible fascination, moves mechanically nearer to the fierce reptile. Its rapid wings bear it on to its doom, and every effort it makes to get further away only brings it nearer to its foe, which pursues it with a glance that it cannot avoid. Such was the effect of this slipper on me, but I am not at all sure whether I or the slipper was the serpent, since, by the laws of physics, attraction is reciprocal. Certainly this deadly attraction was not a freak of my imagination. I was really so strongly attracted that I was twice on the point of losing my hold and letting myself fall. However, as the balcony which I wished to get to was not exactly under my window, but a little on one side, I saw quite clearly that by the force of gravitation as discovered by Newton, in combination with the oblique attraction of the slipper, I should have followed a diagonal course in my descent, and should have fallen on a sentry box, which looked no bigger than an egg from the height at which I was, so that I should have missed my mark. I therefore grasped the window still more tightly, and, making a determined effort, managed to raise my eyes and look at the sky.

XXI

I should find it extremely difficult to explain and define exactly the kind of pleasure I felt on this occasion. All I can say is that it had nothing in common with that which I had experienced a few moments before while I looked at the Milky Way and the starry sky.

However, since, even in the most embarrassing situations of my life, I have always sought to account for all the emotions of my soul, on this occasion also, I wished to understand quite clearly the sort of pleasure an honourable man can feel when contemplating a lady’s slipper, as compared with that which he experiences in gazing at the stars. For this purpose I chose the most striking constellation in the sky; it was, if I am not mistaken, the Chair of Cassiopoea, which was overhead, and I looked alternately at the constellation and the slipper, the slipper and the constellation. I then perceived that these two sensations were entirely different: one was seated in my mind, while the other appeared to me to have its abode in my heart. But I must confess, not without shame, that the attraction of the enchanted slipper absorbed all my faculties. The rapture, which I felt some time before in contemplating the starry sky, had now waxed most feeble, and shortly after, when I heard the door of the balcony reopen, and a little foot, whiter than alabaster, issued noiselessly and slipped on the little shoe, it died away altogether. I wished to speak; but not having had time to prepare myself, as on the former occasion, I did not recover my usual presence of mind, and I heard the door of the balcony shut again, before I could think of anything suitable to say.

XXII

The preceding chapters will be sufficient defence to a charge of Mme. de Hautcastel, who ventured to complain of my first voyage, because there was no lovemaking in it. She will not be able to make a similar complaint against this new voyage; and although my adventure with my lovely neighbour had not been carried very far, I assure you that I derived more satisfaction from it than from many others which had made me feel extremely happy on account of there being no rival attraction.

Everyone enjoys life in his own way; but I should think myself wanting in what is due to the reader’s kindness, if I left him in ignorance of a discovery which, more than anything else, has contributed to my happiness. But it must be understood that this is in the strictest confidence, for it is nothing less than a new mode of making love, with greater advantages than the preceding one, and with none of its numerous drawbacks.

This invention being specially intended for those people who desire to adopt my new method of travelling, it is my duty to devote a few chapters to instructing them in it.

XXIII

In the course of my life I have observed that when I was in love in the