Later, a thinker as well as a poet, he would detect the reason of
these innumerable differences in a single nature, by discovering the
indication of unknown faculties; for from day to day he made progress
in the interpretation of the Divine Word writing upon all things here
below.
These constant and secret researches into matters occult gave to
Etienne's life the apparent somnolence of meditative genius. He would
spend long days lying upon the shore, happy, a poet, all-unconscious
of the fact. The sudden irruption of a gilded insect, the shimmering
of the sun upon the ocean, the tremulous motion of the vast and limpid
mirror of the waters, a shell, a crab, all was event and pleasure to
that ingenuous young soul. And then to see his mother coming towards
him, to hear from afar the rustle of her gown, to await her, to kiss
her, to talk to her, to listen to her gave him such keen emotions that
often a slight delay, a trifling fear would throw him into a violent
fever. In him there was nought but soul, and in order that the weak,
debilitated body should not be destroyed by the keen emotions of that
soul, Etienne needed silence, caresses, peace in the landscape, and
the love of a woman.
Pages:
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81