Before her straight with roguish eyes.
Tattiana faltered, and became
Scarlet as burnt by inward flame.
But this adventure's consequence
To-day, my friends, at any rate,
I am not strong enough to state;
I, after so much eloquence,
Must take a walk and rest a bit—
Some day I'll somehow finish it.
End of Canto the Third
CANTO THE FOURTH Rural Life
'La Morale est dans la nature des choses.'
—Necker
[Mikhailovskoe, 1825]
I
THE less we love a lady fair
The easier 'tis to gain her grace,
And the more surely we ensnare
Her in the pitfalls which we place.