MS-WU-MSS008-3-50-1

[1733] said about it, is insufficient to account for it. [1734] Simple supposition,
committing me to nothing. [1735] But I was saying that if my progress, at this
stage, was becoming more and more slow and painful, it ^this was not ^due solely
because of ^[⁁]to my legs, but also because of ^[⁁]to innumerable so-called weak points,
having nothing to do with my legs. [1736] Unless one is to suppose, gratuitously,
that they and my legs were part of the same syndrome, which in that case
would have been of a diabolical complexity.

[1737] The fact is, and I deplore
it, but it is too late now to do anything about it, that I have laid
too much stress on my legs, throughout these wanderings, to the detriment
of the rest. [1738] For I wasn't a common ^{[⁁]was no ordinary} cripple, far from it, and there were
days when my legs were the best part of me, with the exception of the
brain capable of forming such a judgement.

[1739] I was therefore obliged to
stop more and more often, I shall never weary of repeating it, and to
lie down, in defiance of the rules, now prone, now supine, now on one
side, now on the other, and as often ^[⁁]much as possible ^with the feet higher than the
head, to dislodge the clots. [1740] And to lie with the feet higher than the
head, when your legs are stiff, is no easy matter. [1741] But don't worry,
I succeeded ^{[⁁]did it}.

[1742] When my comfort was at stake there was no trouble I
wouldn't take ^{[⁁]would not go to}. [1743] The forest was all about me and the boughs, twining
together at a prodigious height, compared to mine, sheltered me from
the light and the elements. [1744] Some days I advanced no more than thirty
or forty paces, I give you my oath. [1745] To say that I stumbled in
impenetrable darkness, no, I cannot. [1746] I stumbled, but the darkness was
not impenetrable.

[1747] Fore there reigned a kind of blue gloom, more than
sufficient for my visual needs. [1748] I was astonished this gloom was not
green, rather than blue, but I saw it blue and perhaps it was. [1749] The red
of the sun, mingling with the green of the leaves, gave a blue result,
that is how I reasona^ed. [1750] But from time to time. [1751] From time to time.
[1752] What tenderness in these little words, what savagery. [1753] But from time