 Part 3 of Paul and Virginia This lip-revox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Ellis Christoph. Paul and Virginia. By Bernadier de Saint-Pierre. Part 3 Every day was to these families a day of happiness and tranquility. Neither ambition nor envy disturbed their repose. They did not seek to obtain a useless reputation out of doors, which may be procured by artifice and lost by columnly, but were contented to be the sole witnesses and judges of their own actions. In this island, where, as is the case in most colonies, scandal forms the principal topic of conversation, their virtues, and even their names were unknown. The passer-by on the road to Chadeco Grove, indeed, would sometimes ask the inhabitants of the plain who lived in the cottages up there, and was always told, even by those who did not know them, that they are good people. The modest violet thus concealed in thorny places sheds all unseen its delightful fragrance around. A slander, which, under an appearance of justice, naturally inclines the heart to falsehood or to hatred, was entirely banished from their conversation, for it is impossible not to hate men if we believe them to be wicked or to live with the wicked without concealing that hatred under a false pretense of good feeling. Slander thus puts us ill at ease with others and with ourselves. In this little circle, therefore, the conduct of individuals was not discussed, but the best manner of doing good to all. And although they had but little in their power, their unceasing good will and kindness of heart made them constantly ready to do what they could for others. Solitude, far from having blunted these benevolent feelings, had rendered their dispositions even more kindly. Although the petty scandals of the day furnished no subject of conversation to them, yet the contemplation of nature filled their minds with enthusiastic delight. They adored the bounty of that providence, which, by their instrumentality, had spread abundance and beauty amid these barren rocks and had enabled them to enjoy those pure and simple pleasures, which are ever grateful and ever new. All at twelve years of age were stronger and more intelligent than most European youths are at fifteen, and the plantations which Domingo merely cultivated were embellished by him. He would go with the old negro into the neighbouring woods, where he would root up the young plants of lemon, orange and tamarind trees, the round heads of which are so fresher green, together with date palm trees, which produce fruit filled with a sweet cream, possessing the fine perfume of the orange flower. These trees, which had already attained to a considerable size, he planted round their little enclosure. He had also sown the seeds of many trees which the second year bear flowers or fruit, such as the agathis encircled with long clusters of white flowers which hang from it like the crystal pendants of a chandelier. The Persian lilac, which lifts high in air its grey, flax-coloured branches. The papua tree, the branchless trunk of which forms a column studded with green melons, surmounted by a capital of brood leaves similar to those of the fig tree. The seeds and kernels of the gum tree, terminalia, mango, alligator pear, the guava, the breadfruit tree and the narrow-leaved rose apple were also planted by him with profusion. And the greater number of these trees already afforded their young cultivator both shade and fruit. His industrious hands diffused the riches of nature over even the most barren parts of the plantation. Several species of aloes, the Indian fig, adorned with yellow flowers spotted with red and the thorny torch thistle grew upon the dark summits of the rocks and seemed to aim at reaching the long lianas which, laden with blue or scarlet flowers, hung scattered over the steepest parts of the mountain. I loved to trace the ingenuity he had exercised in the arrangement of these trees. He had so disposed them that the whole could be seen at a single glance. In the middle of the hollow, he had planted shrubs of the lowest growth. Behind grew the more lofty sorts, then trees of the ordinary height and beyond and above all the venerable and lofty groves which bordered the circumference. Thus, this extensive enclosure appeared from its centre like a verdant amphitheatre decorated with fruits and flowers containing a variety of vegetables, some strips of meadowland and fields of rice and corn. But in arranging these vegetable productions to his own taste, he wandered not too far from the designs of nature. Guided by her suggestions, he had thrown upon the elevated spots such seeds as the winds would scatter about and near the borders of the springs those which float upon the water. Every plant thus grew in its proper soil and every spot seemed decorated by nature's own hand. The streams which fell from the summits of the rocks formed in some parts of the valley sparkling cascades and in others were spread into broad mirrors in which were reflected set in verdure the flowering trees, the overhanging rocks and the azure heavens. Notwithstanding the great irregularity of the ground these plantations were, for the most part, easier to access. We had indeed all given him our advice and assistance in order to accomplish this end. He had conducted one path entirely round the valley and various branches from it led from the circumference to the center. He had drawn some advantage from the most rugged spots and had blended in harmonious union level walks with the inequalities of the soil and trees which grow wild with the cultivated varieties. With that immense quantity of large pebbles which now block up these paths and which are scattered over most of the ground of this island he formed pyramidal heaps here and there at the base of which he laid mold and planted rose bushes, the Barbados flower fence and other shrubs which loved to climb the rocks. In a short time the dark and shapeless heaps of stones he had constructed were covered with verdure or with the glowing tins of the most beautiful flowers. Colour recesses on the borders of the streams shaded by the overhanging boughs of aged trees formed rural grottos impervious to the rays of the sun in which he might enjoy a refreshing coolness during the midday heats. One path led to a clamp of forest trees in the center of which sheltered from the wind you found a fruit tree laden with produce. Here was a corn field, there an orchard. From one avenue you had a view of the cottages from another of the inaccessible summit of the mountain. Beneath one tufted bower of gum trees interwoven with lianas no object whatever could be perceived while the point of the adjoining rock jetting out from the mountain commanded a view of the whole enclosure and of the distant ocean where occasionally we could discern the distant sail arriving from Europe or bound thither. On this rock the two families frequently met in the evening and enjoyed in silence the freshness of the flowers the gentle murmurs of the fountain and the last blended harmonies of light and shade. Nothing could be more charming than the names which were bestowed upon some of the delightful retreats of this labyrinth. The rock of which I have been speaking since they could discern my approach at a considerable distance was called the discovery of friendship. Paul and Virginia had amused themselves by planting a bamboo on that spot and whenever they saw me coming they hoisted a little wide handkerchief by way of signal of my approach as they had seen a flag hoisted on the neighboring mountain on the side of a vessel at sea. The idea struck me of engraving an inscription in the stroke of this read for I never, in the course of my travels experienced anything like the pleasure in seeing a statue or other monument of ancient art as in reading a well written inscription. It seems to me as if a human voice issued from the stone and making itself heard after the lapse of ages addressed man in the midst of a desert to tell him that he is not alone and that other men on that very spot felt and thought and suffered like himself. If the inscription belongs to an ancient nation which no longer exists it leads the soul through infinite space and strengthens the consciousness of its immortality by demonstrating that a thought has survived the ruins of an empire. I inscribed then on the little staff of Paul and Virginia's flag the following lines of Horace. May the brothers of Helen, bright stars like you and the father of the winds guide you and may you feel only the breath of the Zephyr. There was a gum tree under the shade of which Paul was accustomed to sit to contemplate the sea when agitated by storms. On the bark of this tree I engraved the following lines from Virgil. Happy are thou my son in knowing only the pastoral divinities and over the door of Madame de la Tour's cottage where the family so frequently met placed this line But Virginia did not approve of my Latin. She said that what I had placed at the foot of her flagstaff was too long and too learned. I should have liked better, added she to have seen inscribed ever agitated yet constant. Such a motto, I answered, would have been still more applicable to virtue. My reflection made her blush. The delicacy of sentiment of these happy families was manifested in everything around them. They gave the tenderest names to objects in appearance the most indifferent. A border of orange, plantain and rose-apple trees planted around a green sword where Virginia and Paul sometimes danced received the name of Concorde. An old tree beneath the shade of which Madame de la Tour and Margaret used to recount their misfortunes was called the Burial Place of Tears. They bestowed the names of Brittany and Normandy on two little plots of ground where they had sown corn, strawberries and peas. Domingo and Mary wishing in imitation of their mistresses to recall to mind Angola and Fulpois along the places of their birth in Africa gave those names to the little fields where the grass was sown with which they wove their baskets and where they had planted a calabash tree. Thus by cultivating the productions of their respective climates these exiled families cherished the dear illusions which bind us to our native country and softens their regrets in a foreign land. Alas! I have seen these trees, these fountains, these heaps of stones which are now so completely overthrown which now, like the desolated plains of Greece, present nothing but masses of ruin and affecting remembrances all called into life by the many charming appellations thus bestowed upon them. But perhaps the most delightful spot of this enclosure was that cold Virginia's resting place. At the foot of the rock which bore the name of the discovery of friendship is a small crevice whence issues are fountain forming near its source a little sport of marshy soil in the middle of a field of rich grass. At the time of Paul's birth I had made Margaret a present of an Indian cocoa which had been given me and which she planted on the border of this fanny ground in order that the tree might one day serve to mark the epoch of her son's birth. Madame du Latour planted another cocoa with the same view at the birth of Virginia. These nuts produced two cocoa trees which formed the only records of the two families. One was called Paul's tree, the other Virginia's. Their growth was in the same proportion as that of the two young persons, not exactly equal but they rose at the end of 12 years above the roofs of the cottages. Already their tender stalks were interwoven and clusters of young cocos hang from them over the basin of the fountain. With the exception of these two trees this nook of the rock was left as it had been decorated by nature. On its rim brown and moist sides broad plants of maiden hair glistened with their green and dark stars and tufts of waved-leaved heart's tongue suspended like long ribbons of purple-green loaded on the wind. Near this grew a chain of the Madagascar periwinkle the flowers of which resemble the red jelly-flower and the long-potted capsicum the seed-vessels of which are of the colour of blood and more splendid than coral. Near them the herb balm with its hard-shaped leaves and the sweet basil which has the odour of the clove exhale the most delicious perfumes. From the precipitous side of the mountain hung the graceful lianas like floating draperies forming magnificent canopies of verdure on the face of the rocks. The sea-birds, allured by the stillness of these retreats resorted here to pass the night. At the hour of sunset we could perceive the curlew and the stint skimming along the seashore. The fragged bird poised high in air and the white bird of the tropic which abandons, with the star of day the solitudes of the Indian Ocean. Virginia took pleasure in resting herself upon the border of this fountain decorated with wild and sublime magnificence. She often went thither to wash the linen of the family beneath the shade of the two cocoa trees and thither too she sometimes led her goats to graze. While she was making cheese of their milk she loved to see them browse on the maiden hair fern which cloths the steep sides of the rock and hangs suspended by one of its cornices as on a pedestal. Paul, observing that Virginia was fond of this spot brought thither from the neighboring forest a great variety of birds' nests. The old birds following their young soon established themselves in this new colony. Virginia, at stated times distributed amongst them grains of rice, millet and maize. As soon as she appeared the whistling blackbird, the Amadevid bird was notice so soft, the cardinal with its flame-colored plumage forsook their bushes. The paraquit, green as an emerald descended from the neighboring fan palms the part which ran along the grass all advanced promiscuously towards her like a brood of chickens and she and Paul found an exhaustive source of amusement in observing their sports, their repasts and their loves. Amiable children thus passed your earlier days in innocence and in obeying the impulses of kindness. How many times on this very spot have your mothers pressing you in their arms blessed heaven for the consolation your unfolding virtues prepared for their declining years? While they at the same time enjoyed the satisfaction of seeing you begin life under the happiest auspices. How many times beneath the shade of those rocks have I partaken with them of your rural repasts which never cost any animal its life? Guards full of milk, fresh eggs, cakes of rice served up on plantain leaves with baskets of mangoes, oranges, dates pomegranates, pineapples furnished a wholesome repast the most agreeable to the eye as well as delicious to the taste that can possibly be imagined. Like the repast, the conversation was mild and free from everything having a tendency to do harm. Paul often talked of the labours of the day and of the morrow. He was continually planning something for the accommodation of their little society. Here he discovered that the paths were rugged there that the seats were uncomfortable. Sometimes the young arbours did not afford sufficient shade and Virginia might be better pleased elsewhere. During the rainy season the two families met together in the cottage and employed themselves in weaving mats of grass and baskets of bamboo. Eggs, spades and hatchets were arranged along the walls in the most perfect order and near these instruments of agriculture were heaped its products, bags of rice, sheaves of corn and baskets of plantains. Some degree of luxury usually accompanies abundance and Virginia was taught by her mother and Margaret to prepare sherbet and cordials from the juice of the sugarcane, the lemon and the citron. When night came, they all sapped together by the light of a lamp after which Madame de la Tour or Margaret related some story of travellers benighted in those woods of Europe that are still infested by Banditi or told a dismal tale of some shipwrecked vessel thrown by the tempest upon the rocks of a desert island. To these recitals the children listened with eager attention and earnestly hoped that heaven would one day grant them the joy of performing the rites of hospitality towards such unfortunate persons. When the time for repose arrived the two families separated and retired for the night, eager to meet again the following morning. Sometimes they were allowed to repose by the beating of the rains which fell in torrents upon the roofs of their cottages and sometimes by the hollow winds which brought to their ear the distant roar of the waves breaking upon the shore. They blessed God for their own safety, the feeling of which was brought home more forcibly to their minds by the sound of remote danger. Madame de la Tour occasionally read aloud some affecting history of the Old or New Testament. Her auditors reasoned but little upon these sacred volumes for their theology centered in a feeling of devotion towards the supreme being like that of nature. And their morality was an active principle like that of the gospel. These families had no particular days devoted to pleasure and others to sadness. Every day was to them a holiday and all that surrounded them one holy temple in which they ever adored the infinite intelligence, the almighty God, the friend of humankind. A feeling of confidence in his supreme power filled their minds with consolation for the past with fortitude under present trials and with hope in the future. Compelled by misfortune to return almost to a state of nature these excellent women had thus developed in their own and their children's bosoms the feelings most natural to the human mind and its best support under affliction. But as clouds sometimes arise and cast a gloom over the best regulated tempers so whenever any member of this little society appeared to be laboring under dejection the rest assembled around and endeavored to banish her painful thoughts by amusing the mind rather than by grave arguments against them. Each performed this kind of office in their own appropriate manner Margaret by her Getty Madame de la Tour by the gentle consolations of religion Virginia by her tender caresses Paul by his frank and engaging cordiality even Mary and Domingo hastened to offer their soccer and to weep with those that wept. Thus do weak plants interweave themselves with each other in order to withstand the fury of the tempest. During the fine season they went every Sunday to the Church of the Shaddock Grove the steeple of which you see yonder upon the plain. Many wealthy members of the congregation who came to church in Palenquins sought the acquaintance of these united families and invited them to parties of pleasure but they always repelled those overtures with respectful politeness as they were persuaded that the rich and powerful seek the society of persons in an inferior station only for the sake of surrounding themselves with flatterers and that every flatterer must applaud alike all the actions of his patron, whether good or bad. On the other hand, they avoided with equal care to intimate an acquaintance with the lower class who are ordinarily jealous, calumniating and gross. They thus acquired with some the character of being timid and with others of pride but their reserve was accompanied with so much obliging politeness above all towards the unfortunate and the unhappy that they insensibly acquired the respect of the rich and the confidence of the poor. After service, some kind office was often required at their hands by their poor neighbors. Sometimes a person troubled in mind sought their advice. Sometimes a child begged them to its sick mother in one of the adjoining hamlets. They always took with them a few remedies for the ordinary diseases of the country which they administered in that soothing manner which stamps a value upon the smallest favors. Above all, they met with singular success in administrating to the disorders of the mind so intolerable in solitude and under the infirmities of a weakened frame. Madame de La Tour spoke with such sublime confidence of the divinity that the sick while listening to her almost believed him present. Virginia often returned home with her eyes full of tears and her heart overflowing with delight at having had an opportunity of doing good for to her generally was confided the task of preparing and administering the medicines a task which she fulfilled with angelic sweetness. After these visits of charity they sometimes extended their walk by the sloping mountain till they reached my dwelling where I used to prepare dinner for them on the banks of the little rivulet which glides near my cottage. I procured for these occasions a few bottles of old wine in order to heighten the relish of our oriental repast by the more genial productions of Europe. At other times we met on the seashore at the mouth of some little river or rather mere brook. We brought from home the provisions furnished us by our gardens to which we added those supplied us by the sea in abundant variety. We caught on these shores the mallet, the roach and the sea urchin, lobsters, shrimps, crabs, oysters and all other kinds of shellfish. In this way we often enjoyed the most tranquil pleasures in situations the most terrific. Sometimes seated upon a rock under the shade of the velvet sunflower tree we saw the enormous waves of the Indian Ocean break beneath our feet with the most noise. Paul who could swim like a fish would advance on the reefs to meet the coming billows. Then at their near approach would run back to the beach closely pursued by the foaming breakers which threw themselves with a roaring noise far on the sands. But Virginia at this side uttered piercing cries and said that such sports frightened her too much. Our amusements were not wanting on these festive occasions. Our reparts were generally followed by the songs and dances of the two young people. Virginia sang the happiness of pastoral life and the misery of those who were impelled by avarice to cross the raging ocean rather than cultivate the earth and enjoy its bounties in peace. Sometimes she performed a pantomime with Paul after the manner of the Negroes. The first language of man is pantomime. It is known to all nations and is so natural and expressive that the children of the European inhabitants catch it with facility from the Negroes. Virginia, recalling from among the histories which her mother had read to her those which had affected her most represented the principal events in them with beautiful simplicity. Sometimes at the sound of Domingo's tantum she appeared upon the green sword bearing a pitcher upon her head and advanced with a timid step towards the source of a neighboring fountain to draw water. Domingo and Mary, personating the shepherds of Midian forbade her to approach and repulsed her sternly. Upon this, Paul flew to her soccer, beat away the shepherds, filled Virginia's pitcher and placing it upon her head, bound her brows at the same time with the wreath of the red flowers of the Madagascar periwinkle which served to heighten the delicacy of her complexion. Then joining in their sports I took upon myself the part of Ragwell and bestowed upon Paul my daughter Zephora in marriage. Another time Virginia would represent the unhappy Ruth, returning poor and widowed with her mother-in-law who, after so prolonged an absence found herself as unknown in a foreign land. Domingo and Mary personated the reapers. The supposed daughter of Naomi followed their steps, gleaning here and there a few years of corn. When interrogated by Paul, a part which he performed with the gravity of a patriarch, she answered his questions with a faltering voice. He then touched with compassion, granted an asylum to innocence and hospitality to misfortune. He filled her lap with plenty and leading her towards us as before the elders of the city declared his purpose to take her in marriage. At this scene, Madame de la Tour, recalling the desolate situation in which she had been left by her relations, her widowhood and the kind reception she had met with from Margaret, succeeded now by the soothing hope of a happy union between their children could not forebear weeping. And these mixed recollections of good and evil caused us all to unite with her in shedding tears of sorrow and of joy. These dramas were performed with such an air of reality that you might have fancied yourself transported to the plains of Syria or of Palestine. We were not unfurnished with decorations, lights or an orchestra suitable to the representation. The scene was generally placed in the open space of the forest, the diverging paths from which formed around as numerous arcades of foliage under which we were sheltered from the heat all the middle of the day. But when the sun descended towards the horizon, its rays, broken by the trunks of the trees, darted amongst the shadows of the forest in long lines of light, producing the most magnificent effect. Sometimes its broad disc appeared at the end of an avenue, lighting it up with insufferable brightness. The foliage of the trees, illuminated from beneath by its saffron beams, glowed with the luster of the topas and the emerald. Their brown and mossy trunks appeared transformed into columns of antique bronze. And the birds, which had retired in silence to their leafy shades to pass the night, surprised to see the radiance of a second morning, hailed the star of day rolled together with innumerable carols. Night often overtook us during these rural entertainments. But the purity of the air and the warmth of the climate admitted of our sleeping in the woods without incurring any danger by exposure to the weather and no less secure from the molestations of robbers. On our return the following day to our respective habitations, we found them in exactly the same state in which one left. In this island, then unsofisticated by the pursuits of commerce, such were the honesty and primitive manners of the population that the doors of many houses were without a key, and even a lock itself was an object of curiosity to not a few of the native inhabitants. There were, however, some days in the years celebrated by Poland-Virginia in a more peculiar manner. These were the birth days of their mothers. Virginia never failed the day before to prepare some wheat and cakes, which she distributed among a few poor white families born in the island who had never eaten European bread. These unfortunate people uncared for by the blacks were reduced to live on tapioca in the woods, and as they had neither the insensibility which is the result of slavery nor the fortitude which springs from the royal education to enable them to support their poverty, their situation was deplorable. These cakes were all that Virginia had it in her power to give away, but she conferred the gift in so delicate a manner as to add tenfold to its value. In the first place, Paul was commissioned to take the cakes himself to these families and get their promise to come and spend the next day at Madame de la Tours. Accordingly, with two or three thin, yellow, miserable-looking daughters so timid that they dared not look up made their appearance. Virginia soon put them at their ease. She waited upon them with refreshments, the excellence of which she endeavored to heighten by relating some particular circumstance which in her own estimation vastly proved them. One beverage had been prepared by Margaret, another by her mother. A brother himself had climbed some lofty tree for the very fruit she was presenting. She would then get Paul to dance with them nor would she leave them till she saw that they were happy. She wished them to partake of the joy of her own family. It is only, she said, by promoting the happiness of others that we can secure our own. When they left, she generally presented them with the article they seemed to fancy, enforcing their acceptance of it by some delicate pretext that she might not appear to know they were in want. If she remarked that their clothes were much tattered, she obtained her mother's permission to give them some of her own and then sent Paul to leave them secretly at their cottage doors. She thus followed the divine precept, concealing the benefactor and revealing only the benefit. End of Part 3 Part 4 of Paul and Virginia This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Recording by Alice Christoff Paul and Virginia by Bernard Indus Yampierre Part 4 You Europeans whose mind are imbued from infancy with prejudices at variance with happiness cannot imagine all the instruction and pleasure to be derived from nature. Your souls confined to a small sphere of intelligence soon reach the limit of its artificial enjoyments. But nature and the heart are inexhaustible. Paul and Virginia had neither clock, nor almanac, nor books of chronology, history or philosophy. The periods of their lives were regulated by those of the operations of nature and their familiar conversation had a reference to the changes of the seasons. They knew the time of day by the shadows of the trees, the seasons by the times when those trees bore flowers or fruit, and the years by the number of their harvests. These soothing images diffused an inexpressible charm over their conversation. It is time to dine, said Virginia. The shadows of the plantain trees are at their roots, and therefore night approaches. The tamarinds are closing their leaves. When will you come and see us? Inquired some of her companions in the neighborhood. At the time of the sugar canes, answered Virginia. Your visit will be then still more delightful, resumed her young acquaintances. When she was asked what was her own age and that of Paul, my brother said she was old as the great cocoa tree of the fountain, and I am as old as the little one. The mangoes have bore fruit twelve times, and the orange trees have flowered four and twenty times since I came into the world. Their lives seemed linked to that of the trees, like those of fawns or dryads. They knew no other historical epokes than those of the lives of their mothers, no other chronology than that of doing good and resigning themselves to the will of heaven. What need indeed had these young people of riches or learning such as ours? Even their necessities and their ignorance increased their happiness. No day passed in which they were not of some service to one another, or in which they did not mutually impart some instruction. Yes, instruction. Or if errors mingled with it, they were at least not of a dangerous character. A pure-minded being has none of that description to fear. Thus grew these children of nature. No care had troubled their peace. No intemperance had corrupted their blood. No misplaced passion had depraved their hearts. Love, innocence and piety possessed their souls. Those intellectual graces were unfolding daily in their features, their attitudes and their movements. Still in the morning of life they had all its blooming freshness and surely such in the garden of Eden appeared our first parents when coming from the hands of God. They first saw and approached each other and conversed together like brother and sister. Virginia was gentle, modest and confiding as Eve and Paul, like Adam, united the statue of manhood with the simplicity of a child. Sometimes if alone with Virginia he has a thousand times told me he used to say to her on his return from labor when I am wearied the sight of you refreshes me if from the summit of the mountain I perceive you below in the valley to me in the midst of our orchard like a blooming rosebud if you go towards our mother's house the partridge when it runs to meet its young has a shape less beautiful and a step less light. When I lose sight of you through the trees I have no need to see you in order to find you again something of you I know not how remains for me in the air through which you have passed on the grass where you have been seated when I come near you you delight all my senses the azure of the sky is less charming than the blue of your eyes and the song of the Amadevid bird less soft than the sound of your voice if I only touch you with the tip of my finger my whole frame trembles with pleasure do you remember the day when we crossed over the great stones of the river of the three breasts I was very tired before we reached the bank but as soon as I had taken you in my arms I seemed to have wings like a bird tell me by what charm you have thus enchanted me is it by your wisdom our mothers have more than either of us is it by your caresses they embrace me much oftener than you I think it must be by your goodness I shall never forget how you walked barefooted to the black river to ask pardon for the poor runaway slave here my beloved take this flowering branch of a lemon tree which I have gathered in the forest you will let it remain at night near your bed eat this honeycomb too which I have taken for you from the top of a rock but first lean on my bosom and I shall be refreshed Virginia would answer him oh my dear brother the rays of the sun in the morning on the tops of the rocks give me less joy than the sight of you I love my mother I love yours but when they call you their son I love them a thousand times more when they caress you I feel it more sensibly than when I am caressed myself you ask me what makes you love me why? all creatures that are brought up together love one another look at our birds reared up in the same nests they love each other as we do they are always together like us how they call and answer from one tree to another so when the echoes bring to my ears the air which you play on your flute on the top of the mountain I repeat the words at the bottom of the valley you are dear to me more especially since the day when you wanted to fight the master of the slave for me since that time how often have I said to myself oh my brother has a good heart but for him I should have died of terror I pray to God every day for my mother and for yours for you and for our poor servants but when I pronounce your name my devotion seems to increase I ask so earnestly of God that no harm may befall you why do you go so far and climb so high to seek fruits and flowers for me have we not enough in our garden already? how much you are fatigued you look so warm and with her little wide handkerchief she would wipe the dams from his face and then imprint a tender kiss on his forehead for some time past however Virginia had felt her heart agitated by new sensations her beautiful blue eyes lost their luster her cheeks its freshness and her framers overpowered with a universal langa serenity no longer sat upon her brow nor smiles nor smiles played upon her lips she would become all at once gay without cause for joy and melancholy without any subject for grief she fled her innocent amusements her gentle toils and even the society of her beloved family wondering about the most unfrequented parts of the plantations and seeking everywhere the rest which she could nowhere find sometimes at the sight of Paul she advanced sportively to meet him but when about to accost him was overcome by a sudden confusion her pale cheeks were covered with blushes and her eyes no longer dared to meet those of her brother Paul said to her the rocks are covered with virtue our birds begin to sing when you approach everything around you is gay and you only are unhappy he then endeavored to soothe her by his embraces but she turned away her head and fled trembling towards her mother the caresses of her brother excited too much emotion in her agitated heart and she sought in the arms of her mother refuge from herself Paul Paul unused to the secret windings of the female heart vexed himself in vain in endeavouring to comprehend the meaning of these new and strange caprices misfortune seldom come alone and a serious calamity now impended over these families one of those summers which sometimes desolate the country situated between the tropics now began to spread its ravages over this island it was near the end of December when the sun in Capricorn darts over the Mauritius during the space of three weeks its vertical fires the southeast wind which prevails throughout almost the whole year no longer blue vast columns of dust arose from the highways and hang suspended in the air the ground was everywhere broken into clefts the grass was burned up hot exhalations issued from the sides of the mountains and their rivulets for the most part became dry no refreshing cloud ever arose from the sea fiery vapours only during the day ascended from the plains and appeared at sunset like the reflection of a vast conflagration night brought no coolness to the heated atmosphere and the red moon rising in the misty horizon appeared of supernatural magnitude the drooping cattle on the sides of the hills stretching out there next towards heaven and panting for breath made the valleys re-eco with their melancholy lowings even the calfre by whom they were led threw himself upon the earth in search of some cooling moisture but his hopes were vain the scorching sun had penetrated the whole soil and the stifling atmosphere everywhere resounded with the buzzing noise of insects seeking to allay their thirst with the blood of men and of animals during this sultry season virginius restlessness and disquietude were much increased one night in particular being unable to sleep she arose from her bed sat down and returned to rest again but could find in no attitude either slumber or repose at length she bent her way by the light of the moon towards her fountain and gazed at its spring which notwithstanding the drought still trickled in silver threads down the brown sides of the rock she flank herself into the basin its coolness reanimated her spirits and a thousand soothing remembrances came to her mind she recollected that in her infancy her mother and Margaret had amused themselves by bathing her with pole in this very spot that he afterwards reserving this bath for her sole use had hollowed out its bed covered the bottom with sand and sewn aromatic herbs around its borders she saw in the water upon her naked arms and bosom the reflection of the two coco trees which were planted at her own and her brother's birth and which interwoven about her head their green branches and young fruit she thought of pole's friendship sweeter than the odor of the blossoms purer than the waters of the fountain stronger than the air than the mountain stronger than the intertwining palm tree and she sighed reflecting on the hour of the night and the profound solitude her imagination became disturbed suddenly she flew afrighted from those dangerous shades and those waters which seemed to her hotter than the tropical sunbeam and ran to her mother for refuge more than once to reveal her sufferings she pressed her mother's hand within her own more than once she was ready to pronounce the name of pole but her oppressed heart left her lips no power of utterance and leaning her head on her mother's bosom she bathed it with her tears Madame de la Tour though she easily discerned the source of her daughter's uneasiness did not think proper to speak to her on the subject my dear child said she offer up your supplications to God who disposes at his will of health and of life he subjects you to trial now in order to recompense you hereafter remember that we are only placed upon earth for the exercise of virtue the excessive heat in the meantime raised vast masses of vapor from the ocean which hang over the island like an immense parasol and gathered around the summits of the mountains long flakes of fire issued from time to time from these mist embosomed peaks the most awful thunder soon after re-echoed through the woods the plains and the valleys the rains fell from the skies in cataracts foaming torrents rushed down the sides of this mountain the bottom of the valley became a sea and the elevated platform on which the cottages were built a little island the accumulated waters having no other outlet rushed with violence through the narrow gorge which leads into the valley tossing and roaring and bearing along with them a mingled wreck of soil trees and rocks the trembling families meantime addressed their prayers to God altogether in the cottage of Madame du Latour the roof of which cracked fearfully from the force of the winds so incessant and vivid were the lightnings and although the doors and window shutters were securely fastened every object without could be distinctly seen through the joints in the woodwork Paul, followed by Domingo went with intrepidity from one cottage to another notwithstanding the fury of the tempest here supporting a partition with a buttress there driving in a stake and only returning to the family to calm their fears by the expression of a hope the storm was passing away accordingly in the evening the rains seized the trade winds of the southeast pursued their ordinary cause the tempestuous clouds were driven away to the northward and the setting sun appeared in the horizon Virginia's first wish was to visit the spot called her resting place Paul approached her with a timid air and offered her the assistance of his arm she accepted it with a smile and they left the cottage together the air was clean and fresh white vapours arose from the ridges of the mountain which was furrowed here and there by the causes of torrents marked in foam and now beginning to dry up on all sides as for the garden it was completely torn to pieces by deep water causes the roots of most of the fruit trees were laid bare and vast heaps of sand covered the borders of the meadows and had choked up Virginia's bath the two cocoa trees however were still erect and still retained their freshness but they were no longer surrounded by turf or arbors or birds except a few amadovid birds which upon the points of the neighbouring rocks while lamenting as if notes the loss of their young at the side of this general desolation Virginia exclaimed to Paul you brought birds hither and the hurricane has killed them you planted this garden and it is now destroyed everything then upon earth perishes and it is only heaven that is not subject to change why? answered Paul cannot I give you something that belongs to heaven but I have nothing of my own even upon the earth Virginia with a blush replied you have the picture of St. Paul as soon as she had uttered the words he flew in quest of it to his mother's cottage this picture was a miniature of Paul the Hermit which Margaret who viewed it with feelings of great devotion had worn at her neck while a girl and which after she became a mother had placed round her child's it had even happened that being while pregnant abandoned by all the world and constantly occupied in contemplating the image of this benevolent recluse her offspring had contracted some resemblance to this revered object she therefore bestowed upon him the name of Paul giving him for his patron a saint who had passed his life far from mankind by whom he had been first deceived and forsaken Virginia on receiving this little present from the hands of Paul said to him with emotion my dear brother I will never part with this while I live nor will I ever forget that you have given me the only thing you have in the world at this tone of friendship this unhoped for return of familiarity and tenderness Paul attempted to embrace her but light as a bird she escaped him and fled away leaving him astonished and unable to account for conduct so extraordinary meanwhile Margaret said to Madame de la Tour why do we not unite our children by marriage they have a strong attachment for each other and though my son hardly understands the real nature of his feelings yet great care and watchfulness will be necessary under such circumstances it would be as well not to leave them too much together Madame de la Tour replied they are too young and too poor what grief would it occasion us to see Virginia bring into the world unfortunate children whom she would not perhaps have sufficient strength to rear your negro, Domingo is almost too old to labour Mary is infirm as for myself my dear friend at the end of 15 years the health growth greatly decreased the feebleness of age advances rapidly in hot climates and above all under the pressure of misfortune Paul is our only hope let us wait till he comes to maturity and his increased strength enables him to support us by his labour at present you well know that we have only sufficient to supply the once of the day but were we to send Paul for a short time to the Indies to acquire by commerce the means of purchasing some slaves and at his return we could unite him to Virginia for I am persuaded no one on earth would render her so happy as your son we will consult our neighbour on this subject they accordingly asked my advice which was in accordance with Madame de la Tour's opinion the Indian seas I observed to them are calm and in choosing a favourable time of the year the voyage out is seldom longer than six weeks at the same time may be allowed for the return home we will furnish Paul with a little venture from my neighbourhood where he is much beloved if we were only to supply him with some raw cotton of which we make no use for want of mills to work it some ebony which is here so common that it serves us for firing and some rosin which is found in our woods he would be able to sell those articles though useless here to good advantage in the Indies I took upon myself to obtain permission from Monsieur de la Bordonnaie to undertake this voyage and I determined previously to mention the affair at a pole but what was my surprise when this young man said to me with a degree of good sense above his age and why do you wish me to leave my family for this precarious pursuit of fortune is there any commerce in the world more advantageous than the culture of the ground which yields sometimes fifty or a hundredfold if we wish to engage in commerce can we not do so by carrying our superfluities to the town without my wandering to the Indies our mothers tell me that Domingo is old and feeble but I am young and gather strength every day if any accident should happen during my absence above all to Virginia who already suffers and cannot resolve to leave them so decided an answer threw me into great perplexity for Madame de la Tour had not concealed from me the cause of Virginia's illness and wants of spirits and her desire of separating these young people till they were a few years older I took care however not to drop anything which could lead Paul to suspect the existence of these motives end of part 4 part 5 about this period a ship from France brought Madame de la Tour a letter from Harant the fear of death without which hearts as insensible as hers would never feel had alarmed her into compassion when she wrote she was recovering from a danger of death and she said I am afraid of death I am afraid of death I am afraid of death when she wrote she was recovering from a dangerous illness which had however left her incurably languid and weak she desired her niece to return to France or if her health forbade her to undertake so long a voyage she begged her to send Virginia on whom she promised to bestow a good education to procure her a splendid marriage and to leave her heiress of her whole fortune she concluded by joining strict obedience to her will in gratitude she said for her great kindness at the perusal of this letter general consternation spread itself through the whole assembled party Domingo and Mary began to weep Paul, motionless with surprise appeared almost ready to burst with indignation while Virginia fixing her eyes anxiously upon her mother had not power to utter a single word and can you now leave us cried Margaret to madame de la Tour no my dear friend no my beloved children replied madame de la Tour I will never leave you I have lived with you and with you I will die I have known no happiness but in your affection if my health be deranged my past misfortunes are the cause my heart has been deeply wounded by the cruelty of my relations and by the loss of my beloved husband but I have since found more consolation and more real happiness with you in these humble hearts than all the wealth of my family could now lead me to expect in my country at this soothing language every eye overflowed with tears of delight Paul, pressing madame de la Tour in his arms exclaimed neither will I leave you I will not go to the Indies we will all labor for you dear mama and you shall never feel anyone with us but of the whole society the person who displayed the least transport and who probably felt the most was Virginia and during the remainder of the day the gentle gherty which flowed from her heart and proved that her peace of mind was restored completed the general satisfaction at sunrise the next day just as they had concluded offering up as usual their morning prayer before breakfast Domingo came to inform them that a gentleman on horseback followed by two slaves was coming towards the plantation it was Monsieur de la Bourdonnais he entered the cottage where he found the family at breakfast Virginia had prepared according to the custom of the country coffee and rice boiled in water to these she had added hot yams and fresh plantains the leaves of the plantain tree supplied the want of table linen and calabash shells split in two served for cups the governor exhibited at first some astonishment at the homeliness of the dwelling then addressing himself to madame de la Tour he observed that although public affairs drew his attention too much from the concerns of individuals she had many claims on his good offices you have an aunt at Paris madame he added a woman of quality and immensely rich who expects that you will hasten to see her and who means to bestow upon you her whole fortune madame de la Tour replied that the state of her health would not permit her to undertake so long a voyage at least you cannot without injustice deprive this amiable young lady your daughter so noble and inheritance I will not conceal from you that your aunt has made use of her influence to secure your daughter being sent to her and that I have received official letters in which I am ordered to exert my authority if necessary to that effect but as I only wish to employ my power for the purpose of rendering the inhabitants of this country happy expect from your good sense the voluntary sacrifice of a few years upon which your daughter's establishment in the world and the welfare of your whole life depends wherefore do we come to these islands is it not to acquire a fortune and will it not be more agreeable to return and find it in your own country he then took a large bag of piastres from one of his slaves and placed it upon the table this sum, he continued is allotted by your aunt to defray the outlay necessary for the equipment of the young lady for her voyage gently reproaching madame de la tour for not having had recourse to him in her difficulties he extolled at the same time her noble fortitude upon this Paul said to the governor my mother did apply to you sir and you received her ill have you another child madame said monsieur de la bourdonnée to madame de la tour no sir she replied this is the son of my friend but he and virginia are equally dear to us and we mutually consider them both as our own children young man said the governor to Paul when you have acquired a little more experience of the world you will know that it is the misfortune of people in place to be deceived and bestow in consequence upon intriguing vice that which they would wish to give to modest merit monsieur de la bourdonnée at the request of madame de la tour placed himself near to her at table and breakfasted after the manner of the creoles upon coffee mixed with rice boiled in water he was delighted with the order and cleanliness which prevailed in the little cottage the harmony of the two interesting families and the zeal of their old servants here he exclaimed I discern only wooden furniture but I find serene countenances and hearts of gold Paul enchanted with the affability of the governor said to him I wish to be your friend for you are a good man monsieur de la bourdonnée received with pleasure this insular compliment and taking Paul by the hand assured him he might rely upon his friendship after breakfast he took madame de la tour aside and informed her that an opportunity would soon offer itself of sending her daughter to France in a ship which was going to sail in a short time that he would put her under the charge of a lady one of the passengers who was a relation of his own and that she must not think of renouncing an immense fortune on account of the pain of being separated from her daughter for a brief interval your hand he added cannot live more than two years of this I am assured by her friends think of it seriously fortune does not visit us every day consult your friends I am sure that every person of good sense will be of my opinion she answered that as she desired no other happiness henceforth in the world than in promoting that of her daughter she hoped to be allowed to leave her departure for France to her own inclination madame de la tour was not sorry to find an opportunity to send her daughter to France to attend a meeting Paul and Virginia for a short time and provide by this means for their mutual felicity at a future period she took her daughter aside and said to her my dear child our servants are now old Paul is still very young Margaret is advanced in years and I am already in firm if I should die what would become of you would be left alone without any person who could afford you much assistance and would be obliged to labour without ceasing as a hired servant in order to support your wretched existence this idea overcomes me with sorrow Virginia answered God has appointed us to labour and to bless him every day up to this time he has never forsaken us and he never will forsake us in time to come and to watch us most especially over the unfortunate you have told me this very often my dear mother I cannot resolve to leave you madame de la tour replied with much emotion I have no other aim than to render you happy and to marry you one day to Paul who is not really your brother remember then that his fortune depends upon you a young girl who is in love believes that everyone else is ignorant of her passion she throws over her eyes the veil with which she covers the feelings of her heart but when it is once lifted by a friendly hand the hidden sorrows of her attachment escaped as though a newly opened barrier and the sweet outpourings of unrestrained confidence succeed to her former mystery and reserve Virginia deeply affected by this new proof of her mother's tenderness related to her the cruel struggles of her own of which heaven alone had been witness she saw, she said, the hand of providence in the assistance of an affectionate mother who approved of her attachment and would guide her by her counsels and as she was now strengthened by such support every consideration led her to remain with her mother without anxiety for the present and without apprehension for the future madame de la tour perceiving that this confidential conversation had produced an effect altogether different from that which she expected said my dear child I do not wish to constrain you think over it at leisure but conceal your affection from Paul it is better not to let a man know that the heart of his mistress is gained Virginia and her mother were sitting together by themselves the same evening when a tall man dressed in a blue cassock entered their cottage he was a missionary priest and a confessor of madame de la tour and her daughter who had now been sent to them by the governor my children he exclaimed as he entered God be praised you are now rich you can now attend to the kind suggestions of your benevolent hearts and do good to the poor I know what monsieur de la bourdonne has said to you and what you have said in reply your health dear madame obliges you to remain here but you young lady are without excuse we must obey our aged relations even when they are unjust a sacrifice is required of you but it is the will of God our lord devoted himself for you and you in imitation of his example must give up something for the welfare of your family your voyage to France will end happily you will surely consent to go my dear young lady Virginia with downcast eyes answered trembling if it is the command of God I will not presume to oppose it let the will of God be done as she uttered these words she wept the priest went away in order to inform the governor of the success of his mission in the meantime madame de la tour sent Domingo to request me to come to her that she might consult me respecting Virginia's departure I was not at all of opinion that she ought to go I consider it as a fixed principle of happiness that we ought to prefer the advantages of nature to those of fortune and never go in search of that at a distance which we may find at home in our own bosoms but what could be expected from my advice in opposition to the illusions of a splendid fortune or from my simple reasoning competition with the prejudices of the world and an authority held sacred by madame de la tour this lady indeed only consulted me out of politeness she had ceased to deliberate since she had heard the decision of her confessor Margaret herself who notwithstanding the advantages she expected for her son from the possession of Virginia's fortune had hitherto opposed her departure made no further objections as for Paul in ignorance of what had been determined but alarmed at the secret conversations which Virginia had been holding with her mother he abandoned himself to melancholy they are plotting something against me cried he for they conceal everything from me a report having in the meantime been spread in the island that fortune had visited these rocks merchants of every description were seen climbing their steep ascent now for the first time were seen displayed in these humble hats the richest staffs of India the fine dimity of gondola the handkerchiefs of pelicate and mazulipatan the plain striped and embroidered muslins of Dhaka so beautifully transparent the delicately white cottons of surat and linens of all colors they also brought with them the gorgeous silks of china satin damasks some white and others grass green and bright red pink taffetas with a profusion of satins and gauze of tongquin both plain and decorated with flowers soft pecans downious clothes and white and yellow nankines and the calicoes of Madagascar Madame de la Tour wished her daughter to purchase whatever she liked she only examined the goods and inquired the price to take care that the dealers did not cheat her Virginia made choice of everything she thought would be useful or agreeable to her mother or to Margaret and her son this, said she will be wanted for furnishing the cottage and that will be very useful to Mary and Domingo in short the bag of piastres was almost emptied before she even began to consider her own wants and she was obliged to receive back her own use, a share of the presents which she had distributed among the family circle Paul overcome with sorrow at the sight of these gifts of fortune which he felt were a presage of Virginia's departure came a few days after to my dwelling with an air of deep despondency he said to me my sister is going away she is already making preparations for her voyage I conjure you to come and exert your influence over her mother and mine in order to detain her here I could not refuse the young man's solicitations although well convinced that my representations would be unavailing Virginia had ever appeared to me charming when clad in the coarse cloth of Bengal with a red handkerchief tied around her head you may therefore imagine how much her beauty was increased when she was a tide in the graceful and elegant costume by the ladies of this country she had on a white muslin dress lined with pink taffeta her somewhat tall and slender figure was shown to advantage in her new attire and the simple arrangement of her hair accorded admirably with the form of her head her fine blue eyes were filled with an expression of melancholy and the struggles of passion with which her heart was agitated imparted a flash to her cheek to her voice a tone of deep emotion the contrast between her pensive look and her gay habiliments rendered her more interesting than ever nor was it possible to see or hear her unmoved Paul became more and more melancholy and at length Margaret distressed at the situation of her son took him aside and said to him why my dear child will you cherish vain hopes which will only render your disappointment much more bitter it is time for me to make known to you the secret of your life and of mine when Moselle de Latour belongs by her mother's side to a rich and noble family while you are but the son of a poor peasant girl and what is worse you are illegitimate Paul who had never heard this last expression before inquired with eagerness its meaning his mother replied I was not married to your father when I was a girl seduced by love I was guilty of a weakness of which you are the offspring the consequence of my fault is that you are deprived of the protection of a father's family and by my flight from home you have also lost that of your mother's unfortunate child you have no relations in the world but me and she shed a flood of tears Paul pressing her in his arms exclaimed oh my dear mother since I have no relation in the world but you I will love you all the more but what a secret have you just disclosed to me I now see the reason why Moselle de Latour has estranged herself so much from me for the last two months and why she has determined to go to France ah I perceive too well that she despises me the hour of supper being arrived we gathered around the table but the different sensations with which we were agitated left us little inclination to eat and the meal, if such it may be called passed in silence Virginia was the first to rise she went out and seated herself on the very spot where we now are Paul hastened after her and sat down by her side both of them for some time kept a profound silence it was one of those delicious nights which are so common between the tropics and to the beauty which no pencil can do justice the moon appeared in the midst of the firmament surrounded by a curtain of clouds which was gradually unfolded by her beams her light insensibly spread itself over the mountains of the island and their distant peaks glistened with a silvery green the winds were perfectly still we heard among the woods at the bottom of the valleys and on the summits of the rocks the piping cries and the soft notes of the birds wandering in their nests and rejoicing in the brightness of the night and the serenity of the atmosphere the harm of insects was heard in the grass the stars sparkled in the heavens and their lurid orbs were reflected in trembling sparkles from the tranquil bosom of the ocean Virginia's eye wandered distractedly over its vast and gloomy horizon distinguishable from the shore of the island only by the red fires in the fishing boats she perceived at the entrance of the harbour a light and a shadow these were the watch light and the hull of the vessel in which she was to embark for Europe and which, already for sea lay at anchor waiting for a breeze when she checked it at this side she turned away her head in order to hide her tears from Paul Madame de la Tour Margaret and I were seated at a little distance beneath the plantain trees and owing to the stillness of the night we distinctly heard their conversation which I have not forgotten Paul said to her you're going away from us they tell me in three days fear than to encounter the danger of the sea at the sight of which you're so much terrified I must perform my duty answered Virginia by obeying my parent you leave us resumed Paul for a distant relation whom you have never seen alas cried Virginia I would have remained here my whole life but my mother would not have it so my confesser too told me it was the will of God that I should go and that life was a scene of trials and oh this is indeed a severe one what exclaimed Paul you could find so many reasons for going and not one for remaining here ah there is one reason for your departure that you have not mentioned riches have great attractions you will soon find in the new world to which you are going another to whom you will give the name of brother which you bestow on me no more you will choose that brother from amongst persons who are worthy of you by their birth and by a fortune which I have not to offer but where can you go to be happier on what shore will you land and find it dearer to you than the spot which gave you birth and where will you form around your society more delightful to you than this by which you are so much accustomed what will become of her already advanced in years when she no longer sees you at her side at the table in the house in the walks where she used to lean upon you what will become of my mother who loves you with the same affection what shall I say to comfort them when I see them weeping for your absence cruel Virginia I say nothing to you of myself but what will become of me when in the morning I shall no more see you and the evening will come and not reunite us when I shall gaze on these two palm trees planted at our birth and so long the witness of our mutual friendship since your lot is changed since you seek in a far country other possessions than the fruits of my labor let me go with you in the vessel in which you are about to embark I will sustain your spirits in the midst of those tempests which terrify you so much even on shore I will lay my head upon your bosom I will warm your heart upon my own and in France where you are going in search of fortune and of grandeur I will wait upon you as your slave happy only in your happiness you will find me in those places where I shall see you receiving the homage and adoration of all rich and noble enough to make you the greatest of all sacrifices by dying at your feet the violence of his emotions stopped his utterance and we then heard Virginia who in a voice broken by sobs uttered these words it is for you that I go for you who might see tired to death every day by the labor of sustaining two helpless families if I have accepted this opportunity of becoming rich it is only to return a thousand fold the good which you have done us can any fortune be equal to your friendship why do you talk about your birth ah if it were possible for me still to have a brother should I make choice of any other than you oh Paul, Paul you are far dearer to me than a brother how much has it cost me to repulse you from me help me to tear myself from what I value more than existence till heaven shall bless our union but I will stay or go I will live or die dispose of me as you will unhappy that I am I could have repelled your caresses but I cannot support your reflection at these words Paul seized her in his arms and holding her pressed close to his bosom cried in a piercing tone I will go with her nothing shall ever part us we all ran towards him and madame du la tour said to him my son if you go what will become of us he trembling repeated after her the words my son you my mother cried he you who would separate the brother from the sister we have both been nourished at your bosom we have both been reared upon your knees we have learned of you to love another we have said so a thousand times and now you would separate her from me you would send her to Europe that inhospitable country which refused you an asylum and relations by whom you yourself were abandoned you will tell me that I have no right over her and that she is not my sister she is everything to me my riches, my birth, my family all that I have I know no other we have had but one roof one cradle and we will have but one grave if she goes we will follow her the governor will prevent me will he prevent me from flinging myself into the sea will he prevent me from following her by swimming the sea cannot be more fatal to me than the land since I cannot live with her at least I will die before her eyes far from you inhuman mother woman without compassion may the ocean to which you trust her restore her to you no more calling back our bodies amid the shingles of this beach give you in the loss of your two children an eternal subject of remorse at these words I seized him in my arms for despair had deprived him of reason his eyes sparkled with fire a perspiration fell in great drops from his face his knees trembled and I felt his heart beat violently against his burning bosom Virginia alarmed said to him oh my dear Paul I call to witness the pleasures of our early age your griefs and my own and everything that can forever bind two unfortunate beings to each other that if I remain at home I will live but for you that if I go I will one day return to be yours I call you all to witness you who have reared me from my infancy who dispose of my life and who see my tears I swear by that heaven which hears me by the sea which I am going to pass by the air I breathe and which I never salate by a falsehood as the sun softens and precipitates an icy rock from the summit of one of the Apennines so the impetuous passions of the young man were subdued by the voice of her he loved he bent his head and a torrent of tears fell from his eyes his mother mingling her tears with his held him in her arms but was unable to speak Madame de la Tour half distracted said to me I can bear this no longer my heart is quite broken this unfortunate voyage shall not take place do take my son home with you not one of us has had any rest the whole week I said to Paul my dear friend your sister shall remain here tomorrow we will talk to the governor about it leave your family to take some rest and come and pass the night with me it is late it is midnight the southern cross is just above the horizon he suffered himself to be led away in silence and after a night of great agitation he arose at break of day and returned home but why should I continue any longer to you the recital of this history there is but one aspect of human pleasure like the globe upon which revolve the fleeting cause of life is but a day and if one part of that day be visited by light the other is thrown into darkness my father I answered finish I conjure you the history which you have begun in a manner so interesting if the images of happiness are the most pleasing those of misfortune are the more instructive tell me what became of the unhappy young man end of part 5 part 6 of Paul and Virginia this LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by Alice Christof Paul and Virginia by Bernard-Andy Sampierre part 6 the first object beheld by Paul in his way home was the Negro woman Mary who mounted on a rock was earnestly looking towards the sea as soon as he perceived her he called to her from a distance where is Virginia Mary turned her head towards her young master and began to weep Paul distracted retracing his steps around to the harbour he was there informed that Virginia had embarked at the break of day and that the vessel had immediately set sail and was now out of sight he instantly returned to the plantation which he crossed without uttering a word quite perpendicular as appears the wall of rocks behind us those green platforms which separate their summits are so many stages by means of which you may reach through some difficult paths that cone of sloping and inaccessible rocks which is called the thumb at the foot of that cone an extended slope of ground covered with lofty trees and so steep and elevated that it looks like a forest in the air surrounded by tremendous precipices the clouds which are constantly attracted around the summit of the thumb supply innumerable rivulets which vault a so greater depth in the valley situated on the other side of the mountain that from this elevated point the sound of their cataracts cannot be heard from that spot you can discern a considerable part of the island diversified by precipices and mountain peaks and amongst others Peter Booth and the three breasts with their valleys full of woods you also command an extensive view of the ocean and can even perceive the Isle of Bourbon 40 leagues to the westward from the summit of that stupendous pile of rocks Paul Court's side of the vessel which was bearing away Virginia and which now 10 leagues out at sea appeared like a black spot in the midst of the ocean he remained a great part of the day with his eyes fixed upon this object when it had disappeared he still fancied he beheld it and when at length the traces which clang to his imagination were lost in the mists of the horizon he seated himself on that wild point forever beaten by the winds which never ceased to agitate the tops of the cabbage and gum trees and the hoarse and moaning murmurs of which similar to the distant sound of organs inspire a profound melancholy on this spot I found him his head reclined on the rock and his eyes fixed upon the ground I had followed him from the earliest dawn and after much importunity I prevailed on him to descend from the heights and return to his family I went home with him where the first impulse of his mind on seeing Madame de la Tour was to reproach her bitterly for having deceived him she told us that favourable wind having sprang up at three o'clock in the morning and the vessel being ready to sail the governor, attended by some of his staff and the missionary had come with a palanquin to fetch her daughter and that notwithstanding Virginia's objections her own tears and entreaties and the lamentations of Margaret everybody exclaiming all the time that it was for the general welfare they had carried her away almost dying at least, cried Paul if I had bid her farewell I should now be more calm I would have said to her Virginia, if during the time we have lived together one word may have escaped me which has offended you before you leave me forever tell me that you forgive me I would have said to her since I am destined to see you no more farewell my dear Virginia farewell live far from me contented and happy when he saw that his mother and Madame de la Tour were weeping you must now, said he seek some other hand to wipe away your tears and then, rushing out of the house and groaning aloud he wandered up and down the plantation he hovered in particular about those spots which had been most endeared to Virginia he said to the goats and their little ones which followed him, bleeding what do you want of me you will see with me no more her who used to feed you with her own hand he went to the bower called Virginia's resting place and as the birds flew around him exclaimed poor birds you will fly no more to meet her who cherished you and observing Fidel running backwards and forwards in search of her he heaved a deep sigh and cried ah, you will never find her again at length he went and seated himself upon a rock where he had conversed with her the preceding evening and at the sight of the ocean upon which he had seen the vessel disappear which had borne her away his heart overflowed with anguish and he wept bitterly we continually watched his movements apprehensive of some fatal consequence from the violent agitation of his mind his mother and Madame de la Tour conjured him in the most tender manner not to increase their affliction by his despair at length the latter soothed his mind by lavishing upon him epithets calculated to awaken his hopes calling him her son, her dear son her son-in-law whom she destined for her daughter she persuaded him to return home and to take some food he seated himself next to the place which used to be occupied by the companion of his childhood and as if she had still been present he spoke to her and made as though he would offer her whatever he knew as most agreeable to her taste then, starting from this dream of fancy he began to weep for some days he employed himself in gathering together everything which had belonged to Virginia the last nose gaze she had worn the cocoa shell from which she used to drink and after kissing a thousand times the isrelics of his beloved to him the most precious treasures which the world contained he hid them in his bosom Amber does not shed so sweet a perfume as the various trifles touched by those we love at length, perceiving that the indulgence of his grief increased that of his mother and Madame de la Tour and that the ones of the family demanded continual labor he began with the assistance of Domingo to repair the damage done to the garden but soon after this young man hitherto indifferent as a creole to everything that was passing in the world begged of me to teach him to read and write in order that he might correspond with Virginia he afterwards wished to obtain a knowledge of geography that he might form some idea of the country where she would disembark and of history that he might know something of the manners of the society in which she would be placed the powerful sentiment of love which directed his present studies had already instructed him in agriculture and in the art of laying out grounds with advantage and beauty it must be admitted that to the fond dreams of this restless and ardent passion mankind are indebted for most of the arts and sciences while its disappointments have given birth to philosophy which teaches us to bear up under misfortune love thus, the general link of all beings becomes the great spring of society by inciting us to knowledge as well as to pleasure Paul found little satisfaction in the study of geography which instead of describing the natural history of each country gave only a view of its political divisions and boundaries history and especially modern history interested him little more he there saw only general and periodical evils the causes of which he could not discover wars without either motive or reason uninteresting intrigues with nations destitute of principle and princes void of humanity to this branch of reading he preferred romances which being chiefly occupied by the feelings and concerns of men sometimes represented situations similar to his own thus, no book gave him so much pleasure as Telemachus from the pictures it draws of pastoral life and of the passions which are most natural to the human breast he read aloud to his mother and Madame du Latour those parts which affected him most sensibly but sometimes, touched by the most tender remembrances his emotion would choke his utterance and his eyes be filled with tears he fancied he had found in Virginia the dignity and wisdom of Antiope united to the misfortunes and the tenderness of Eucharist with very different sensations he perused our fashionable novels filled with licentious morals and maxims and when he was informed that these works drew a tolerably faithful picture of European society he trembled and not without some appearance of reason lest Virginia should become corrupted by it and forget him more than a year and a half indeed passed away before Madame du Latour received any tidings of her aunt or her daughter during that period she only accidentally heard that Virginia had safely arrived in France at length, however, a vessel which stopped here on its way to the Indies brought a packet to Madame du Latour and a letter written by Virginia's own hand although this amiable and considerate girl had written in a guarded manner that she might not wound her mother's feelings it appeared evident enough that she was unhappy the letter painted so naturally her situation and her character that I have retained it almost word for word my dear and beloved mother I have already sent you several letters written by my own hand but having received no answer I am afraid they have not reached you I have better hopes for this from the means I have now gained of sending you tidings of myself and of hearing from you I have shed many tears since our separation I, who never used to weep but for the misfortunes of others my aunt was so much astonished when having upon my arrival inquired what accomplishments I possessed I told her that I could neither read nor write she asked me what then I had learned since I came into the world and when I answered that I had been taught to take care of the household affairs and to obey your will she told me that I have received the education of a servant the next day she placed me as a border in a great abbey near Paris where I have masters of all kinds who teach me, among other things history, geography, grammar, mathematics and riding on horseback but I have so little capacity for all these sciences that I fear I shall make but small progress with my masters I feel that I am a very poor creature with a very little ability to learn what they teach my aunt's kindness however does not decrease she gives me new dresses every season and she had placed two waiting women with me who are dressed like fine ladies she has made me take the title of Countess but has obliged me to renounce the name of Latour which is as dear to me as it is to you from all you have told me of the sufferings my father endured in order to marry you she has given me in place of your name that of your family which is also dear to me because it was your name when a girl seeing myself in so splendid a situation I implored her to let me send you something to assist you but how shall I repeat her answer yet you have desired me always to tell you the truth she told me then that a little would be of no use to you and that a great deal would only encumber you in the simple life you led as you know I could not write I endeavored upon my arrival to send you tidings of myself by another hand but finding no person here in whom I could place confidence I applied night and day to learn to read and write and heaven who saw my motive for learning no doubt assisted my endeavours for I succeeded in both in a short time I entrusted my first letters to some of the ladies here who I have reason to think carried them to my aunt this time I have recourse to a border who is my friend I send you her direction by means of which I shall receive your answer my aunt has forbidden me holding any correspondence whatever with anyone lest she says it should occasion an obstacle to the great views she had for my advantage no person is allowed to see me at the great but herself and an old nobleman one of her friends who she says is much pleased with me I am sure I am not at all so with him nor should I even if it were possible for me to be pleased with anyone at present I live in all the splendour of affluence and have not a sue at my disposal they say I might make an improper use of money even my clothes belong to my thumb de chambre who quarrel about them before I have left them off in the midst of riches I am poorer than when I lived with you or I have nothing to give away when I found that the great accomplishments they taught me would not procure me the power of doing the smallest good I had recourse to my needle of which happily you had taught me the use I send several pairs of stockings of my own making for you and my mama Margaret a cap for Domingo and one of my red handkerchiefs for Mary I also send with this packet some kernels and seeds of various kinds of fruits which I gathered in the Abbey Park during my hours of recreation I have also sent a few seeds of violets, daisies, buttercups, poppies and scabies which I picked up in the fields there are much more beautiful flowers in the meadows of this country than in ours but nobody cares for them I am sure that you and my mama Margaret will be better pleased with this bag of seeds than you were with a bag of piasters which was the cause of our separation and of my tears it will give me great delight if you should one day see apple trees growing by the side of our plantains and elms blending their foliage with that of our cocoa trees you will fancy yourself in Normandy which you love so much you desire me to relate to you my joys and my griefs I have no joys far from you as far as my griefs I endeavour to soothe them by reflecting that I am in the situation in which it was the will of God that you should place me but my greatest affliction is that no one here speaks to me of you and that I cannot speak of you to anyone my femme de chambre, or rather those of my aunt for they belong more to her than to me told me the other day when I wished to turn the conversation upon the objects most dear to me remember mademoiselle that you're a French woman and must forget that land of savages ah, sooner will I forget myself than forget the spot on which I was born and where you dwell it is this country which is to me a land of savages for I live alone having no one to whom I can impart those feelings of tenderness for you which I shall bear with me to the grave I am my dearest and beloved mother your affectionate and dutiful daughter Virginie de la Tour I recommend to your goodness Mary and Domingo who took so much care of my infancy Caress Fidel for me who found me in the wood Paul was astonished that Virginie had not said one word of him she who had not forgotten even the house dog but he was not aware that however long a woman's letter may be never fails to leave her dearest sentiments for the end in a post script Virginie particularly recommended to Paul's attention two kinds of seed those of the violet and the scabious she gave him some instructions upon the natural characters of these flowers and the spots most proper for their cultivation the violet she said produces a little flower of a dark purple color which delights to conceal itself beneath the bushes but it is soon discovered by its wide spreading perfume she desired that these seeds must be sown by the border of the fountain at the foot of her cocoa tree the scabious she added produces a beautiful flower of a pale blue and a background spotted with white you might fancy it was in mourning but for this reason it is also called the widow's flower it grows best in bleak spots beaten by the winds she begged him to sow this upon the rock where she had spoken to him at night for the last time and that in remembrance of her he would henceforth give it the name of the rock of a dew she had put these seeds into a little purse the tissue of which was exceedingly simple but which appeared above all price to Paul when he saw on it a pea and a V entwined together and knew that the beautiful hair which formed the cipher was the hair of Virginia the whole family listened with tears to the reading of the letter of this amiable and virtuous girl her mother answered it in the name of the little society desiring her to remain or to return as she thought proper and assuring her that happiness had left their dwelling since her departure and that for herself she was inconsolable Paul also sent her a very long letter in which he assured her that he would arrange the garden in a manner agreeable to her taste and mingled together in it the plants of Europe with those of Africa as she had blended their initials together in her work he sent her some fruit from the cocoa trees of the fountain now arrived at maturity telling her that he would not add any of the other productions of the island that the desire of seeing them again might hasten her return he conjured her to comply as soon as possible with the ardent wishes of her family and above all with his own since he could never hear after taste happiness away from her Paul sowed with a careful hand the European seeds particularly the violet and the scabious power of which seemed to bear some analogy to the character and present situation of Virginia by whom they had been so especially recommended but either they were dried up in the voyage or the climate of this part of the world is unfavorable to their growth for a very small number of them even came up and not one arrived at full perfection in the meantime Envy which ever comes to embitter human happiness particularly in the French colonies spread some reports in the island which gave Paul machinesiness the passengers in the vessel which brought Virginia's letter asserted that she was upon the point of being married and named the nobleman of the court to whom she was engaged some even went so far as to declare that the union had already taken place and that they themselves had witnessed the ceremony Paul at first despised the report brought by a merchant vessel as he knew that they often spread erroneous intelligence in their passage but some of the inhabitants of the island with malignant pity affecting to bewail the event he was soon alert to attach some degree of belief to this cruel intelligence besides in some of the novels he had lately read he had seen that perfidy was treated as a subject of pleasantry and knowing that these books contained pretty faithful representations of European manners he feared that the heart of Virginia was corrupted and had forgotten its former thus his new acquirements had already only served to render him more miserable and his apprehensions were much increased by the circumstance that though several ships touched here from Europe within the six months immediately following the arrival of her letter not one of them brought any tidings of Virginia this unfortunate young man with a heart torn by the most cruel agitation often came to visit me in the hope of confirming or banishing his uneasiness by my experience of the world I live as I have already told you a league and a half from this point upon the banks of a little river which glides along the sloping mountain there I lead a solitary life without wife children or slaves after having enjoyed and lost the rare felicity of living with a congenial mind the state of life which appears the least wretched is doubtless that of solitude every man who has much cause of complaint against his fellow creatures seeks to be alone it is also remarkable that all those nations which have been brought to wretchedness by their opinions their manners or their forms of government have produced numerous classes of citizens altogether devoted to solitude and celibacy such were the Egyptians in their decline and the Greeks of the lower empire and such in our days are the Indians the Chinese the modern Greeks the Italians and the greater part of the eastern and southern nations of Europe solitude by removing men from the miseries which follow in the train of social intercourse brings them in some degree back to the unsophisticated enjoyment of nature in the midst of modern society broken up by innumerable prejudices the mind is in a constant turmoil of agitation it is incessantly revolving in itself a thousand tumultuous and contradictory opinions by which the members of an ambitious and miserable circle seek to raise themselves above each other but in solitude the soul lays aside the morbid illusions which troubled her and resumes the pure consciousness of herself of nature and of its author as the muddy water of a torrent which has ravaged the plains coming to rest and if using itself over some low grounds out of its cause deposits there the slime it has taken up and resuming its wanted transparency reflects with its own shores the verge of the earth and the light of heaven thus does solitude recruit the powers of the body as well as those of the mind it is among hermits that are found the men who carry human existence to its extreme limits such are the Brahmins of India in brief I consider solitude so necessary to happiness even in the world itself that it appears to me impossible to derive lasting pleasure from any pursuit whatever or to regulate our conduct by any stable principle if we do not create for ourselves a mental void when sorrow and views rarely emerge and into which the opinions of others never enter I do not mean to say that man ought to live absolutely alone he is connected by his necessities with all mankind his labors are due to man and he owes something too to the rest of nature but as God has given to each of us organs perfectly adapted to the elements of the globe on which we live feet for the soil, lungs for the air, eyes for the light without the power of changing the use of any of these faculties he has reserved for himself as the author of life that which is its chief organ the heart end of part 6