I
Why did he love her? Curious fool, be still! Is human love the fruit
of human will?
BYRON.
Just about six months before my departure for Spain, I first met the
Chevalier des Grieux. Though I rarely quitted my retreat, still the
interest I felt in my child\'s welfare induced me occasionally to undertake
short journeys, which, however, I took good care to abridge as much as
possible.
I was one day returning from Rouen, where I had been, at her request,
to attend a cause then pending before the Parliament of Normandy,
respecting an inheritance to which I had claims derived from my maternal
grandfather. Having taken the road by Evreux, where I slept the first
night, I on the following day, about dinner-time, reached Passy, a distance
of five or six leagues. I was amazed, on entering this quiet town, to see
all the inhabitants in commotion. They were pouring from their houses
in crowds, towards the gate of a small inn, immediately before which two
covered vans were drawn up. Their horses still in harness, and reeking
from fatigue and heat, showed that the cortege had only just arrived. I
stopped for a moment to learn the cause of the tumult, but could gain little
information from the curious mob as they rushed by, heedless of my
enquiries, and hastening impatiently towards the inn in the utmost
confusion. At length an archer of the civic guard, wearing his bandolier,
and carrying a carbine on his shoulder, appeared at the gate; so, beckoning
him towards me, I begged to know the cause of the uproar. "Nothing,
sir," said he, "but a dozen of the frail sisterhood, that I and my comrades
are conducting to Havre-de-Grace, whence we are to ship them for
America. There are one or two of them pretty enough; and it is that,
apparently, which attracts the curiosity of these good people."