Camille (La Dame aux Camilias)

In my opinion, it is impossible to create characters until one has spent a long time in studying men, as it is impossible to speak a language until it has been seriously acquired. ...

The sale was to take place on the 16th. A day’s interval had been left between the visiting days and the sale, in order to give time for taking down the hangings, curtains, etc. I ...

At one o’clock on the 16th I went to the Rue d’Antin. The voice of the auctioneer could be heard from the outer door. The rooms were crowded with people. There were all the celebri...

Two days after, the sale was ended. It had produced 150,000 francs. The creditors divided among them two thirds, and the family, a sister and a grand-nephew, received the remainder...

A good while elapsed before I heard anything more of Armand, but, on the other hand, I was constantly hearing of Marguerite. I do not know if you have noticed, if once the name of...

I found Armand in bed. On seeing me he held out a burning hand. “You are feverish,” I said to him. “It is nothing, the fatigue of a rapid journey; that is all.” “You have been to s...

Illnesses like Armand’s have one fortunate thing about them: they either kill outright or are very soon overcome. A fortnight after the events which I have just related Armand was ...

However (continued Armand after a pause), while I knew myself to be still in love with her, I felt more sure of myself, and part of my desire to speak to Marguerite again was a wis...

“Good-evening, my dear Gaston,” said Marguerite to my companion. “I am very glad to see you. Why didn’t you come to see me in my box at the Variétés?” “I was afraid it would be in...

The room to which she had fled was lit only by a single candle. She lay back on a great sofa, her dress undone, holding one hand on her heart, and letting the other hang by her sid...

At this point Armand stopped. “Would you close the window for me?” he said. “I am beginning to feel cold. Meanwhile, I will get into bed.” I closed the window. Armand, who was st...

At five o’clock in the morning, as the light began to appear through the curtains, Marguerite said to me: “Forgive me if I send you away; but I must. The duke comes every morning; ...

“You have come almost as quickly as we,” said Prudence. “Yes,” I answered mechanically. “Where is Marguerite?” “At home.” “Alone?” “With M. de G.” I walked to and fro in the r...

When I reached home I began to cry like a child. There is no man to whom a woman has not been unfaithful, once at least, and who will not know what I suffered. I said to myself, u...

It was hardly an hour after Joseph and I had begun preparing for my departure, when there was a violent ring at the door. “Shall I go to the door?” said Joseph. “Go,” I said, ask...

I might have told you of the beginning of this liaison in a few lines, but I wanted you to see every step by which we came, I to agree to whatever Marguerite wished, Marguerite to ...

Next day Marguerite sent me away very early, saying that the duke was coming at an early hour, and promising to write to me the moment he went, and to make an appointment for the e...

It would be difficult to give you all the details of our new life. It was made up of a series of little childish events, charming for us but insignificant to anyone else. You know ...

In his first three letters my father inquired the cause of my silence; in the last he allowed me to see that he had heard of my change of life, and informed me that he was about to...

My father was seated in my room in his dressing-gown; he was writing, and I saw at once, by the way in which he raised his eyes to me when I came in, that there was going to be a s...

“At last you have come,” she said, throwing her arms round my neck. “But how pale you are!” I told her of the scene with my father. “My God! I was afraid of it,” she said. “When ...

It seemed to me as if the train did not move. I reached Bougival at eleven. Not a window in the house was lighted up, and when I rang no one answered the bell. It was the first ti...

When the current of life had resumed its course, I could not believe that the day which I saw dawning would not be like those which had preceded it. There were moments when I fanci...

It was something already, but it was not enough. I saw the hold which I had upon this woman, and I took a cowardly advantage of it. When I think that she is dead now, I ask myself...

But my repentance was only of a moment’s duration, and Olympe, who had finally put aside all self-respect, and discovered that by annoying Marguerite she could get from me whatever...

Armand, tired by this long narrative, often interrupted by his tears, put his two hands over his forehead and closed his eyes to think, or to try to sleep, after giving me the page...

What followed that fatal night you know as well as I; but what you can not know, what you can not suspect, is what I have suffered since our separation. I heard that your father h...

“You have read it?” said Armand, when I had finished the manuscript. “I understand what you must have suffered, my friend, if all that I read is true.” “My father confirmed it in...