Read "Claude's Confession" by Émile Zola online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Yes, I think as you do; I wish still to hope, I wish to make this fatal union a source of noble aspirations.
Formerly, when our thoughts drifted towards such unfortunate creatures as Laurence, we felt only mercy and pity for them. We discerned the holy task of redemption. We asked God to send us a dead soul, that we might, by kindly and gentle ways, restore it to youth and purity.