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Two instincts--one the ideal, the other sexual--were struggling within
him. Such contests occur between the angels of light and darkness on the
edge of the abyss.
At length the angel of darkness was overthrown. One day Gwynplaine
suddenly thought no more of the unknown woman.
The struggle between two principles--the duel between his earthly and
his heavenly nature--had taken place within his soul, and at such a
depth that he had understood it but dimly. One thing was certain, that
he had never for one moment ceased to adore Dea.
He had been attacked by a violent disorder, his blood had been fevered;
but it was over. Dea alone remained.
Gwynplaine would have been much astonished had any one told him that Dea
had ever been, even for a moment, in danger; and in a week or two the
phantom which had threatened the hearts of both their souls faded away.
Within Gwynplaine nothing remained but the heart, which was the hearth,
and the love, which was its fire.
Besides, we have just said that "the duchess" did not return.
Ursus thought it all very natural. "The lady with the gold piece" is a
phenomenon. She enters, pays, and vanishes. It would be too much joy
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