That was what his mother had done, and she had succeeded.
But with the thought of his mother came the thought of Helene, of
his dream. It was flying from him like a bird of passage from the
autumn. He lay there and felt as though he could never get up
again.
From amid the turmoil of the last summer there came to his
recollection two individuals, in whom he reposed entire
confidence: a young man and his wife. He went to see them the same
evening and laid the facts honestly before them, for now, at all
events, he was honest. The conclusive proof of being so is to be
able to tell everything about oneself as he did now.
They heard him with dismay, but their advice was remarkable. He
ought to wait and see if she were enceinte.
This aroused his spirit of contradiction. There was no doubt about
it, for she was perfectly truthful. But she might be mistaken; she
ought to make quite sure. This suggestion, too, shocked him; but
he agreed that she should come and talk things over with them.
They knew her.
She came the next day. They said to her, what they could not very
well say to Rafael, that she would ruin him.
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