"We must hazard combustibility as the cost of such exquisite visions. Indeed, this susceptibility to conflagration is precisely the mark of those who dabble in the divine."

It is rare indeed that he is permitted speak at length (and in strains verging into impertinent) to a girl so untouched. The majority of Grantaire's pursuits have been at least moderately hardened against the world, taking his own charm as fleeting and insubstantial, understanding his attention as the passing dalliance that it is (the reasons were unimportant, glanced only dimly and by two or three). Thus does Mademoiselle Boissy's charm seem all the more alluring.