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My father, who was watching over me, perceiving my restlessness,

awoke me; the dashing waves were around, the cloudy sky above,

the fiend was not here: a sense of security, a feeling that a

truce was established between the present hour and the

irresistible, disastrous future imparted to me a kind of calm

forgetfulness, of which the human mind is by its structure

peculiarly susceptible.

Chapter 22

The voyage came to an end. We landed, and proceeded to Paris. I

soon found that I had overtaxed my strength and that I must

repose before I could continue my journey. My father's care and

attentions were indefatigable, but he did not know the origin of

my sufferings and sought erroneous methods to remedy the

incurable ill. He wished me to seek amusement in society. I

abhorred the face of man. Oh, not abhorred! They were my

brethren, my fellow beings, and I felt attracted even to the most

repulsive among them, as to creatures of an angelic nature and

celestial mechanism. But I felt that I had no right to share

their intercourse. I had unchained an enemy among them whose joy

it was to shed their blood and to revel in their groans. How they

would, each and all, abhor me and hunt me from the world, did

they know my unhallowed acts and the crimes which had their

source in me!