I can trust her, though she is a little liar. She loves, and she'll
stick; and she's true where she loves. Yes; if all the women in the
world stood beside Christine this morning, I'd look them all over, from
duchess to danseuse, and I'd say, 'Christine Lavilette, I'm a scoundrel.
I haven't a penny in the world. I'm a thief; a thief who believes in
you. You know what love is; you know what fidelity is. No matter what I
did, you would stand by me to the end. To the last day of my life, I'll
give you my heart and my hand; and as you are faithful to me, so I will
be faithful to you, so help me God!'
"I don't believe I ever could have run straight in life. I couldn't have
been more than four years old when I stole the peaches from my mother's
dressing-table; and I lied just as coolly then as I could now. I made
love to a girl when I was ten years old." He laughed to himself at the
remembrance. "Her father had a foundry. She used to wear a red dress,
I remember, and her hair was brown. She sang like a little lark. I was
half mad about her; and yet I knew that I didn't really love her. Still,
I told her that I did. I suppose it was the cursed falseness of my whole
nature.
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