Orloff glanced after her with a triumphant smile. "She is mine," thought
he; "I am here living through a charming romance, and Catharine will be
satisfied with me!"
Yes, she was his; she now knew that she loved him, and with joyful
ecstasy she took this new and delightful feeling to her heart; she
welcomed it as the joy-promising dawn of a new day, a precious new life.
She permitted this feeling to stream through her whole being, her whole
soul; she made it a worship for her whole existence.
"You see," she said to Marianne, "so had I dreamed the man whom I should
one day love. So brave, so proud, so beautiful. Ah, it is so charming to
be obliged to tremble before the man one loves; it is so sweet to cling
to him and think: 'I am nothing of myself, but all through thee! I
am the ivy and thou the oak; thou wilt hold and sustain me, and if a
storm-wind comes, thou wilt not waver, but stand firm and great in thy
heroic strength, and protect me, and impart courage and confidence even
to me!'"
She loved him, and clung to him with boundless confidence, but she was
yet so full of tender maiden timidity that she could confess to him
nothing of this love; and since that kiss she shyly avoided him, and
constantly left his often-renewed love-questions unanswered.
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