It was possiblethat his imagination had, unaided, invented this dreadful doubt--hisimagination, which he never controlled, which constantly evaded his willand went off, unfettered, audacious, adventurous, and stealthy, intothe infinite world of ideas, bringing back now and then some which wereshameless and repulsive, and which it buried in him, in the depths ofhis soul, in its most fathomless recesses, like something stolen. Hisheart, most certainly, his own heart had secrets from him; and hadnot that wounded heart discerned in this atrocious doubt a means ofdepriving his brother of the inheritance of which he was jealous? Hesuspected himself now, cross-examining all the mysteries of his mind asbigots search their consciences.
Il se pouvait que son imaginationseule, cette imagination qu'il ne gouvernait point, qui échappait sanscesse à sa volonté, s'en allait libre, hardie, aventureuse et sournoisedans l'univers infini des idées, et en rapportait parfois d'inavouables,de honteuses, qu'elle cachait en lui, au fond de son âme, dans lesreplis insondables, comme des choses volées; il se pouvait que cetteimagination seule eût créé, inventé cet affreux doute.