Strona 291 z 788

The Count was a grandee! Men of property are changeable in their

tastes. The Count was a blond! Blonds are not over passionate.

But Thaddeus? a simple lad! an honest boy! almost a child! he was

beginning to fall in love for the first time! If well looked to

he would not easily break his first ties; besides that, he was

already under obligations to Telimena. While they are young,

though men are fickle in their thoughts, they are more constant

in their feelings than their grandfathers, because they have a

conscience. The simple and maidenlike heart of a youth long

preserves gratitude for the first sweets of love! It welcomes

enjoyment and bids it farewell with gaiety, like a modest meal,

which we share with a friend. Only an old drunkard, whose inwards

are already burning, loathes the drink in which he drowns

himself. All this Telimena knew thoroughly, for she had both

sense and large experience.