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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of To Paris And Prison: Venice
+by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: To Paris And Prison: Venice
+       The Memoirs Of Jacques Casanova De Seingalt 1725-1798
+
+Author: Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+
+Release Date: October 30, 2006 [EBook #2957]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TO PARIS AND PRISON: VENICE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA de SEINGALT 1725-1798
+
+TO PARIS AND PRISON, Volume 2b--VENICE
+
+THE RARE UNABRIDGED LONDON EDITION OF 1894 TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR MACHEN TO
+WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED THE CHAPTERS DISCOVERED BY ARTHUR SYMONS.
+
+
+
+
+VENICE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+My Stay in Vienna--Joseph II--My Departure for Venice
+
+Arrived, for the first time, in the capital of Austria, at the age of
+eight-and-twenty, well provided with clothes, but rather short of
+money--a circumstance which made it necessary for me to curtail my
+expenses until the arrival of the proceeds of a letter of exchange which
+I had drawn upon M. de Bragadin. The only letter of recommendation I had
+was from the poet Migliavacca, of Dresden, addressed to the illustrious
+Abbe Metastasio, whom I wished ardently to know. I delivered the letter
+the day after my arrival, and in one hour of conversation I found him
+more learned than I should have supposed from his works. Besides,
+Metastasio was so modest that at first I did not think that modesty
+natural, but it was not long before I discovered that it was genuine, for
+when he recited something of his own composition, he was the first to
+call the attention of his hearers to the important parts or to the fine
+passages with as much simplicity as he would remark the weak ones. I
+spoke to him of his tutor Gravina, and as we were on that subject he
+recited to me five or six stanzas which he had written on his death, and
+which had not been printed. Moved by the remembrance of his friend, and
+by the sad beauty of his own poetry, his eyes were filled with tears, and
+when he had done reciting the stanzas he said, in a tone of touching
+simplicity,'Ditemi il vero, si puo air meglio'?
+
+I answered that he alone had the right to believe it impossible. I then
+asked him whether he had to work a great deal to compose his beautiful
+poetry; he shewed me four or five pages which he had covered with
+erasures and words crossed and scratched out only because he had wished
+to bring fourteen lines to perfection, and he assured me that he had
+never been able to compose more than that number in one day. He confirmed
+my knowledge of a truth which I had found out before, namely, that the
+very lines which most readers believe to have flowed easily from the
+poet's pen are generally those which he has had the greatest difficulty
+in composing.
+
+"Which of your operas," I enquired, "do you like best?"
+
+"'Attilio Regolo; ma questo non vuol gia dire che sia il megliore'."
+
+"All your works have been translated in Paris into French prose, but the
+publisher was ruined, for it is not possible to read them, and it proves
+the elevation and the power of your poetry."
+
+"Several years ago, another foolish publisher ruined himself by a
+translation into French prose of the splendid poetry of Ariosto. I laugh
+at those who maintain that poetry can be translated into prose."
+
+"I am of your opinion."
+
+"And you are right."
+
+He told me that he had never written an arietta without composing the
+music of it himself, but that as a general rule he never shewed his music
+to anyone.
+
+"The French," he added, "entertain the very strange belief that it is
+possible to adapt poetry to music already composed."
+
+And he made on that subject this very philosophical remark:
+
+"You might just as well say to a sculptor, 'Here is a piece of marble,
+make a Venus, and let her expression be shewn before the features are
+chiselled.'"
+
+I went to the Imperial Library, and was much surprised to meet De la Haye
+in the company of two Poles, and a young Venetian whom his father had
+entrusted to him to complete his education. I believed him to be in
+Poland, and as the meeting recalled interesting recollections I was
+pleased to see him. I embraced him repeatedly with real pleasure.
+
+He told me that he was in Vienna on business, and that he would go to
+Venice during the summer. We paid one another several visits, and hearing
+that I was rather short of money he lent me fifty ducats, which I
+returned a short time after. He told me that Bavois was already
+lieutenant-colonel in the Venetian army, and the news afforded me great
+pleasure. He had been fortunate enough to be appointed adjutant-general
+by M. Morosini, who, after his return from his embassy in France, had
+made him Commissary of the Borders. I was delighted to hear of the
+happiness and success of two men who certainly could not help
+acknowledging me as the original cause of their good fortune. In Vienna I
+acquired the certainty of De la Haye being a Jesuit, but he would not let
+anyone allude to the subject.
+
+Not knowing where to go, and longing for some recreation, I went to the
+rehearsal of the opera which was to be performed after Easter, and met
+Bodin, the first dancer, who had married the handsome Jeoffroi, whom I
+had seen in Turin. I likewise met in the same place Campioni, the husband
+of the beautiful Ancilla. He told me that he had been compelled to apply
+for a divorce because she dishonoured him too publicly. Campioni was at
+the same time a great dancer and a great gambler. I took up my lodgings
+with him.
+
+In Vienna everything is beautiful; money was then very plentiful, and
+luxury very great; but the severity of the empress made the worship of
+Venus difficult, particularly for strangers. A legion of vile spies, who
+were decorated with the fine title of Commissaries of Chastity, were the
+merciless tormentors of all the girls. The empress did not practise the
+sublime virtue of tolerance for what is called illegitimate love, and in
+her excessive devotion she thought that her persecutions of the most
+natural inclinations in man and woman were very agreeable to God. Holding
+in her imperial hands the register of cardinal sins, she fancied that she
+could be indulgent for six of them, and keep all her severity for the
+seventh, lewdness, which in her estimation could not be forgiven.
+
+"One can ignore pride," she would say, "for dignity wears the same garb.
+Avarice is fearful, it is true; but one might be mistaken about it,
+because it is often very like economy. As for anger, it is a murderous
+disease in its excess, but murder is punishable with death. Gluttony is
+sometimes nothing but epicurism, and religion does not forbid that sin;
+for in good company it is held a valuable quality; besides, it blends
+itself with appetite, and so much the worse for those who die of
+indigestion. Envy is a low passion which no one ever avows; to punish it
+in any other way than by its own corroding venom, I would have to torture
+everybody at Court; and weariness is the punishment of sloth. But lust is
+a different thing altogether; my chaste soul could not forgive such a
+sin, and I declare open war against it. My subjects are at liberty to
+think women handsome as much as they please; women may do all in their
+power to appear beautiful; people may entertain each other as they like,
+because I cannot forbid conversation; but they shall not gratify desires
+on which the preservation of the human race depends, unless it is in the
+holy state of legal marriage. Therefore, all the miserable creatures who
+live by the barter of their caresses and of the charms given to them by
+nature shall be sent to Temeswar. I am aware that in Rome people are very
+indulgent on that point, and that, in order to prevent another greater
+crime (which is not prevented), every cardinal has one or more
+mistresses, but in Rome the climate requires certain concessions which
+are not necessary here, where the bottle and the pipe replace all
+pleasures. (She might have added, and the table, for the Austrians are
+known to be terrible eaters.)
+
+"I will have no indulgence either for domestic disorders, for the moment
+I hear that a wife is unfaithful to her husband, I will have her locked
+up, in spite of all, in spite of the generally received opinion that the
+husband is the real judge and master of his wife; that privilege cannot
+be granted in my kingdom where husbands are by far too indifferent on
+that subject. Fanatic husbands may complain as much as they please that I
+dishonour them by punishing their wives; they are dishonoured already by
+the fact of the woman's infidelity."
+
+"But, madam, dishonour rises in reality only from the fact of infidelity
+being made public; besides, you might be deceived, although you are
+empress."
+
+"I know that, but that is no business of yours, and I do not grant you
+the right of contradicting me."
+
+Such is the way in which Maria Teresa would have argued, and
+notwithstanding the principle of virtue from which her argument had
+originated, it had ultimately given birth to all the infamous deeds which
+her executioners, the Commissaries of Chastity, committed with impunity
+under her name. At every hour of the day, in all the streets of Vienna,
+they carried off and took to prison the poor girls who happened to live
+alone, and very often went out only to earn an honest living. I should
+like to know how it was possible to know that a girl was going to some
+man to get from him consolations for her miserable position, or that she
+was in search of someone disposed to offer her those consolations?
+Indeed, it was difficult. A spy would follow them at a distance. The
+police department kept a crowd of those spies, and as the scoundrels wore
+no particular uniform, it was impossible to know them; as a natural
+consequence, there was a general distrust of all strangers. If a girl
+entered a house, the spy who had followed her, waited for her, stopped
+her as she came out, and subjected her to an interrogatory. If the poor
+creature looked uneasy, if she hesitated in answering in such a way as to
+satisfy the spy, the fellow would take her to prison; in all cases
+beginning by plundering her of whatever money or jewellery she carried
+about her person, and the restitution of which could never be obtained.
+Vienna was, in that respect a true den of privileged thieves. It happened
+to me one day in Leopoldstadt that in the midst of some tumult a girl
+slipped in my hand a gold watch to secure it from the clutches of a
+police-spy who was pressing upon her to take her up. I did not know the
+poor girl, whom I was fortunate enough to see again one month afterwards.
+She was pretty, and she had been compelled to more than one sacrifice in
+order to obtain her liberty. I was glad to be able to hand her watch back
+to her, and although she was well worthy of a man's attention I did not
+ask her for anything to reward my faithfulness. The only way in which
+girls could walk unmolested in the streets was to go about with their
+head bent down with beads in hand, for in that case the disgusting brood
+of spies dared not arrest them, because they might be on their way to
+church, and Maria Teresa would certainly have sent to the gallows the spy
+guilty of such a mistake.
+
+Those low villains rendered a stay in Vienna very unpleasant to
+foreigners, and it was a matter of the greatest difficulty to gratify the
+slightest natural want without running the risk of being annoyed. One day
+as I was standing close to the wall in a narrow street, I was much
+astonished at hearing myself rudely addressed by a scoundrel with a round
+wig, who told me that, if I did not go somewhere else to finish what I
+had begun, he would have me arrested!
+
+"And why, if you please?"
+
+"Because, on your left, there is a woman who can see you."
+
+I lifted up my head, and I saw on the fourth story, a woman who, with the
+telescope she had applied to her eye, could have told whether I was a Jew
+or a Christian. I obeyed, laughing heartily, and related the adventure
+everywhere; but no one was astonished, because the same thing happened
+over and over again every day.
+
+In order to study the manners and habits of the people, I took my meals
+in all sorts of places. One day, having gone with Campioni to dine at
+"The Crawfish," I found, to my great surprise, sitting at the table
+d'hote, that Pepe il Cadetto, whose acquaintance I had made at the time
+of my arrest in the Spanish army, and whom I had met afterwards in Venice
+and in Lyons, under the name of Don Joseph Marcati. Campioni, who had
+been his partner in Lyons, embraced him, talked with him in private, and
+informed me that the man had resumed his real name, and that he was now
+called Count Afflisio. He told me that after dinner there would be a faro
+bank in which I would have an interest, and he therefore requested me not
+to play. I accepted the offer. Afflisio won: a captain of the name of
+Beccaxia threw the cards at his face--a trifle to which the self-styled
+count was accustomed, and which did not elicit any remark from him. When
+the game was over, we repaired to the coffee-room, where an officer of
+gentlemanly appearance, staring at me, began to smile, but not in an
+offensive manner.
+
+"Sir," I asked him, politely, "may I ask why you are laughing?"
+
+"It makes me laugh to see that you do not recognize me."
+
+"I have some idea that I have seen you somewhere, but I could not say
+where or when I had that honour."
+
+"Nine years ago, by the orders of the Prince de Lobkowitz, I escorted you
+to the Gate of Rimini."
+
+"You are Baron Vais:"
+
+"Precisely."
+
+We embraced one another; he offered me his friendly services, promising
+to procure me all the pleasure he could in Vienna. I accepted gratefully,
+and the same evening he presented me to a countess, at whose house I made
+the acquaintance of the Abbe Testagrossa, who was called Grosse-Tete by
+everybody. He was minister of the Duke of Modem, and great at Court
+because he had negotiated the marriage of the arch-duke with Beatrice
+d'Este. I also became acquainted there with the Count of Roquendorf and
+Count Sarotin, and with several noble young ladies who are called in
+Germany frauleins, and with a baroness who had led a pretty wild life,
+but who could yet captivate a man. We had supper, and I was created
+baron. It was in vain that I observed that I had no title whatever: "You
+must be something," I was told, "and you cannot be less than baron. You
+must confess yourself to be at least that, if you wish to be received
+anywhere in Vienna."
+
+"Well, I will be a baron, since it is of no importance."
+
+The baroness was not long before she gave me to understand that she felt
+kindly disposed towards me, and that she would receive my attentions with
+pleasure; I paid her a visit the very next day. "If you are fond of
+cards," she said, "come in the evening." At her house I made the
+acquaintance of several gamblers, and of three or four frauleins who,
+without any dread of the Commissaries of Chastity, were devoted to the
+worship of Venus, and were so kindly disposed that they were not afraid
+of lowering their nobility by accepting some reward for their kindness--a
+circumstance which proved to me that the Commissaries were in the habit
+of troubling only the girls who did not frequent good houses.
+
+The baroness invited me to introduce, all my friends, so I brought to her
+house Vais, Campioni, and Afflisio. The last one played, held the bank,
+won; and Tramontini, with whom I had become acquainted, presented him to
+his wife, who was called Madame Tasi. It was through her that Afflisio
+made the useful acquaintance of the Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen. This
+introduction was the origin of the great fortune made by that contrabrand
+count, because Tramontini, who had become his partner in all important
+gambling transactions, contrived to obtain for him from the prince the
+rank of captain in the service of their imperial and royal majesties, and
+in less than three weeks Afflisio wore the uniform and the insignia of
+his grade. When I left Vienna he possessed one: hundred thousand florins.
+Their majesties were fond of gambling but not of punting. The emperor had
+a creature of his own to hold the bank. He was a kind, magnificent, but
+not extravagant, prince. I saw him in his grand imperial costume, and I
+was surprised to see him dressed in the Spanish fashion. I almost fancied
+I had before my eyes Charles V. of Spain, who had established that
+etiquette which was still in existence, although after him no emperor had
+been a Spaniard, and although Francis I. had nothing in common with that
+nation.
+
+In Poland, some years afterwards, I saw the same caprice at the
+coronation of Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski, and the old palatine
+noblemen almost broke their hearts at the sight of that costume; but they
+had to shew as good a countenance as they could, for under Russian
+despotism the only privilege they enjoyed was that of resignation.
+
+The Emperor Francis I. was, handsome, and would have looked so under the
+hood of a monk as well as under an imperial crown. He had every possible
+consideration for his wife, and allowed her to get the state into debt,
+because he possessed the art of becoming himself the creditor of the
+state. He favoured commerce because it filled his coffers. He was rather
+addicted to gallantry, and the empress, who always called him master
+feigned not to notice it, because she did not want the world to know that
+her charms could no longer captivate her royal spouse, and the more so
+that the beauty of her numerous family was generally admired. All the
+archduchesses except the eldest seemed to me very handsome; but amongst
+the sons I had the opportunity of seeing only the eldest, and I thought
+the expression of his face bad and unpleasant, in spite of the contrary
+opinion of Abbe Grosse-Tete, who prided himself upon being a good
+physiognomist.
+
+"What do you see," he asked me one day, "on the countenance of that
+prince?"
+
+"Self-conceit and suicide."
+
+It was a prophecy, for Joseph II. positively killed himself, although not
+wilfully, and it was his self-conceit which prevented him from knowing
+it. He was not wanting in learning, but the knowledge which he believed
+himself to possess destroyed the learning which he had in reality. He
+delighted in speaking to those who did not know how to answer him,
+whether because they were amazed at his arguments, or because they
+pretended to be so; but he called pedants, and avoided all persons, who
+by true reasoning pulled down the weak scaffolding of his arguments.
+Seven years ago I happened to meet him at Luxemburg, and he spoke to me
+with just contempt of a man who had exchanged immense sums of money, and
+a great deal of debasing meanness against some miserable parchments, and
+he added,--
+
+"I despise men who purchase nobility."
+
+"Your majesty is right, but what are we to think of those who sell it?"
+
+After that question he turned his back upon me, and hence forth he
+thought me unworthy of being spoken to.
+
+The great passion of that king was to see those who listened to him
+laugh, whether with sincerity or with affectation, when he related
+something; he could narrate well and amplify in a very amusing manner all
+the particulars of an anecdote; but he called anyone who did not laugh at
+his jests a fool, and that was always the person who understood him best.
+He gave the preference to the opinion of Brambilla, who encouraged his
+suicide, over that of the physicians who were directing him according to
+reason. Nevertheless, no one ever denied his claim to great courage; but
+he had no idea whatever of the art of government, for he had not the
+slightest knowledge of the human heart, and he could neither dissemble
+nor keep a secret; he had so little control over his own countenance that
+he could not even conceal the pleasure he felt in punishing, and when he
+saw anyone whose features did not please him, he could not help making a
+wry face which disfigured him greatly.
+
+Joseph II. sank under a truly cruel disease, which left him until the
+last moment the faculty of arguing upon everything, at the same time that
+he knew his death to be certain. This prince must have felt the misery of
+repenting everything he had done and of seeing the impossibility of
+undoing it, partly because it was irreparable, partly because if he had
+undone through reason what he had done through senselessness, he would
+have thought himself dishonoured, for he must have clung to the last to
+the belief of the infallibility attached to his high birth, in spite of
+the state of languor of his soul which ought to have proved to him the
+weakness and the fallibility of his nature. He had the greatest esteem
+for his brother, who has now succeeded him, but he had not the courage to
+follow the advice which that brother gave him. An impulse worthy of a
+great soul made him bestow a large reward upon the physician, a man of
+intelligence, who pronounced his sentence of death, but a completely
+opposite weakness had prompted him, a few months before, to load with
+benefits the doctors and the quack who made him believe that they had
+cured him. He must likewise have felt the misery of knowing that he would
+not be regretted after his death--a grievous thought, especially for a
+sovereign. His niece, whom he loved dearly, died before him, and, if he
+had had the affection of those who surrounded him, they would have spared
+him that fearful information, for it was evident that his end was near at
+hand, and no one could dread his anger for having kept that event from
+him.
+
+Although very much pleased with Vienna and with the pleasures I enjoyed
+with the beautiful frauleins, whose acquaintance I had made at the house
+of the baroness, I was thinking of leaving that agreeable city, when
+Baron Vais, meeting me at Count Durazzo's wedding, invited me to join a
+picnic at Schoenbrunn. I went, and I failed to observe the laws of
+temperance; the consequence was that I returned to Vienna with such a
+severe indigestion that in twenty-four hours I was at the point of death.
+
+I made use of the last particle of intelligence left in me by the disease
+to save my own life. Campioni, Roquendorf and Sarotin were by my bedside.
+M. Sarotin, who felt great friendship for me, had brought a physician,
+although I had almost positively declared that I would not see one. That
+disciple of Sangrado, thinking that he could allow full sway to the
+despotism of science, had sent for a surgeon, and they were going to
+bleed me against my will. I was half-dead; I do not know by what strange
+inspiration I opened my eyes, and I saw a man, standing lancet in hand
+and preparing to open the vein.
+
+"No, no!" I said.
+
+And I languidly withdrew my arm; but the tormentor wishing, as the
+physician expressed it, to restore me to life in spite of myself, got
+hold of my arm again. I suddenly felt my strength returning. I put my
+hand forward, seized one of my pistols, fired, and the ball cut off one
+of the locks of his hair. That was enough; everybody ran away, with the
+exception of my servant, who did not abandon me, and gave me as much
+water as I wanted to drink. On the fourth day I had recovered my usual
+good health.
+
+That adventure amused all the idlers of Vienna for several days, and Abbe
+Grosse-Tete assured me that if I had killed the poor surgeon, it would
+not have gone any further, because all the witnesses present in my room
+at the time would have declared that he wanted to use violence to bleed
+me, which made it a case of legitimate self-defence. I was likewise told
+by several persons that all the physicians in Vienna were of opinion that
+if I had been bled I should have been a dead man; but if drinking water
+had not saved me, those gentlemen would certainly not have expressed the
+same opinion. I felt, however, that I had to be careful, and not to fall
+ill in the capital of Austria, for it was likely that I should not have
+found a physician without difficulty. At the opera, a great many persons
+wished after that to make my acquaintance, and I was looked upon as a man
+who had fought, pistol in hand, against death. A miniature-painter named
+Morol, who was subject to indigestions and who was at last killed by one,
+had taught me his system which was that, to cure those attacks, all that
+was necessary was to drink plenty of water and to be patient. He died
+because he was bled once when he could not oppose any resistance.
+
+My indigestion reminded me of a witty saying of a man who was not much in
+the habit of uttering many of them; I mean M. de Maisonrouge, who was
+taken home one day almost dying from a severe attack of indigestion: his
+carriage having been stopped opposite the Quinze-Vingts by some
+obstruction, a poor man came up and begged alms, saying,
+
+"Sir, I am starving."
+
+"Eh! what are you complaining of?" answered Maisonrouge, sighing deeply;
+"I wish I was in your place, you rogue!"
+
+At that time I made the acquaintance of a Milanese dancer, who had wit,
+excellent manners, a literary education, and what is more--great beauty.
+She received very good society, and did the honours of her drawing-room
+marvellously well. I became acquainted at her house with Count
+Christopher Erdodi, an amiable, wealthy and generous man; and with a
+certain Prince Kinski who had all the grace of a harlequin. That girl
+inspired me with love, but it was in vain, for she was herself enamoured
+of a dancer from Florence, called Argiolini. I courted her, but she only
+laughed at me, for an actress, if in love with someone, is a fortress
+which cannot be taken, unless you build a bridge of gold, and I was not
+rich. Yet I did not despair, and kept on burning my incense at her feet.
+She liked my society because she used to shew me the letters she wrote,
+and I was very careful to admire her style. She had her own portrait in
+miniature, which was an excellent likeness. The day before my departure,
+vexed at having lost my time and my amorous compliments, I made up my
+mind to steal that portrait--a slight compensation for not having won the
+original. As I was taking leave of her, I saw the portrait within my
+reach, seized it, and left Vienna for Presburg, where Baron Vais had
+invited me to accompany him and several lovely frauleins on a party of
+pleasure.
+
+When we got out of the carriages, the first person I tumbled upon was the
+Chevalier de Talvis, the protector of Madame Conde-Labre, whom I had
+treated so well in Paris. The moment he saw me, he came up and told me
+that I owed him his revenge.
+
+"I promise to give it to you, but I never leave one pleasure for
+another," I answered; "we shall see one another again."
+
+"That is enough. Will you do me the honour to introduce me to these
+ladies?"
+
+"Very willingly, but not in the street."
+
+We went inside of the hotel and he followed us. Thinking that the man,
+who after all was as brave as a French chevalier, might amuse us, I
+presented him to my friends. He had been staying at the same hotel for a
+couple of days, and he was in mourning. He asked us if we intended to go
+to the prince-bishop's ball; it was the first news we had of it. Vais
+answered affirmatively.
+
+"One can attend it," said Talvis, "without being presented, and that is
+why we intend to go, for I am not known to anybody here."
+
+He left us, and the landlord, having come in to receive our orders, gave
+us some particulars respecting the ball. Our lovely frauleins expressing
+a wish to attend it, we made up our minds to gratify them.
+
+We were not known to anyone, and were rambling through the apartments,
+when we arrived before a large table at which the prince-bishop was
+holding a faro bank. The pile of gold that the noble prelate had before
+him could not have been less than thirteen or fourteen thousand florins.
+The Chevalier de Talvis was standing between two ladies to whom he was
+whispering sweet words, while the prelate was shuffling the cards.
+
+The prince, looking at the chevalier, took it into his head to ask him,
+in a most engaging manner to risk a card.
+
+"Willingly, my lord," said Talvis; "the whole of the bank upon this
+card."
+
+"Very well," answered the prelate, to shew that he was not afraid.
+
+He dealt, Talvis won, and my lucky Frenchman, with the greatest coolness,
+filled his pockets with the prince's gold. The bishop, astonished, and
+seeing but rather late how foolish he had been, said to the chevalier,
+
+"Sir, if you had lost, how would you have managed to pay me?"
+
+"My lord, that is my business."
+
+"You are more lucky than wise."
+
+"Most likely, my lord; but that is my business."
+
+Seeing that the chevalier was on the point of leaving, I followed him,
+and at the bottom of the stairs, after congratulating him, I asked him to
+lend me a hundred sovereigns. He gave them to me at once, assuring me
+that he was delighted to have it in his power to oblige me.
+
+"I will give you my bill."
+
+"Nothing of the sort."
+
+I put the gold into my pocket, caring very little for the crowd of masked
+persons whom curiosity had brought around the lucky winner, and who had
+witnessed the transaction. Talvis went away, and I returned to the
+ball-room.
+
+Roquendorf and Sarotin, who were amongst the guests, having heard that
+the chevalier had handed me some gold, asked me who he was. I gave them
+an answer half true and half false, and I told them that the gold I had
+just received was the payment of a sum I had lent him in Paris. Of course
+they could not help believing me, or at least pretending to do so.
+
+When we returned to the inn, the landlord informed us that the chevalier
+had left the city on horseback, as fast as he could gallop, and that a
+small traveling-bag was all his luggage. We sat down to supper, and in
+order to make our meal more cheerful, I told Vais and our charming
+frauleins the manner in which I had known Talvis, and how I had contrived
+to have my share of what he had won.
+
+On our arrival in Vienna, the adventure was already known; people admired
+the Frenchman and laughed at the bishop. I was not spared by public
+rumour, but I took no notice of it, for I did not think it necessary to
+defend myself. No one knew the Chevalier de Talvis, and the French
+ambassador was not even acquainted with his name. I do not know whether
+he was ever heard of again.
+
+I left Vienna in a post-chaise, after I had said farewell to my friends,
+ladies and gentlemen, and on the fourth day I slept in Trieste. The next
+day I sailed for Venice, which I reached in the afternoon, two days
+before Ascension Day. After an absence of three years I had the happiness
+of embracing my beloved protector, M. de Bragadin, and his two
+inseparable friends, who were delighted to see me in good health and well
+equipped.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+I Return the Portrait I Had Stolen in Vienna I Proceed to Padua; An
+Adventure on My Way Back, and Its Consequences--I Meet Therese Imer
+Again--My Acquaintance With Mademoiselle C. C.
+
+I found myself again in my native country with that feeling of delight
+which is experienced by all true-hearted men, when they see again the
+place in which they have received the first lasting impressions. I had
+acquired some experience; I knew the laws of honour and politeness; in
+one word, I felt myself superior to most of my equals, and I longed to
+resume my old habits and pursuits; but I intended to adopt a more regular
+and more reserved line of conduct.
+
+I saw with great pleasure, as I entered my study, the perfect 'statu quo'
+which had been preserved there. My papers, covered with a thick layer of
+dust, testified well enough that no strange hand had ever meddled with
+them.
+
+Two days after my arrival, as I was getting ready to accompany the
+Bucentoro, on which the Doge was going, as usual, to wed the Adriatic,
+the widow of so many husbands, and yet as young as on the first day of
+her creation, a gondolier brought me a letter. It was from M. Giovanni
+Grimani, a young nobleman, who, well aware that he had no right to
+command me, begged me in the most polite manner to call at his house to
+receive a letter which had been entrusted to him for delivery in my own
+hands. I went to him immediately, and after the usual compliments he
+handed me a letter with a flying seal, which he had received the day
+before.
+
+Here are the contents:
+
+"Sir, having made a useless search for my portrait after you left, and
+not being in the habit of receiving thieves in my apartment, I feel
+satisfied that it must be in your possession. I request you to deliver it
+to the person who will hand you this letter.
+
+                    "FOGLIAZZI."
+
+Happening to have the portrait with me, I took it out of my pocket, and
+gave it at once to M. Grimani, who received it with a mixture of
+satisfaction and surprise for he had evidently thought that the
+commission entrusted to him would be more difficult to fulfil, and he
+remarked,
+
+"Love has most likely made a thief of you but I congratulate you, for
+your passion cannot be a very ardent one."
+
+"How can you judge of that?"
+
+"From the readiness with which you give up this portrait."
+
+"I would not have given it up so easily to anybody else."
+
+"I thank you; and as a compensation I beg you to accept my friendship."
+
+"I place it in my estimation infinitely above the portrait, and even
+above the original. May I ask you to forward my answer?"
+
+"I promise you to send it. Here is some paper, write your letter; you
+need not seal it."
+
+I wrote the following words:
+
+"In getting rid of the portrait, Casanova experiences a satisfaction by
+far superior to that which he felt when, owing to a stupid fancy, he was
+foolish enough to put it in his pocket."
+
+Bad weather having compelled the authorities to postpone the wonderful
+wedding until the following Sunday, I accompanied M. de Bragadin, who was
+going to Padua. The amiable old man ran away from, the noisy pleasures
+which no longer suited his age, and he was going to spend in peace the
+few days which the public rejoicings would have rendered unpleasant for
+him in Venice. On the following Saturday, after dinner, I bade him
+farewell, and got into the post-chaise to return to Venice. If I had left
+Padua two minutes sooner or later, the whole course of my life would have
+been altered, and my destiny, if destiny is truly shaped by fatal
+combinations, would have been very different. But the reader can judge
+for himself.
+
+Having, therefore, left Padua at the very instant marked by fatality, I
+met at Oriago a cabriolet, drawn at full speed by two post-horses,
+containing a very pretty woman and a man wearing a German uniform. Within
+a few yards from me the vehicle was suddenly upset on the side of the
+river, and the woman, falling over the officer, was in great danger of
+rolling into the Brenta. I jumped out of my chaise without even stopping
+my postillion, and rushing to the assistance of the lady I remedied with
+a chaste hand the disorder caused to her toilet by her fall.
+
+Her companion, who had picked himself up without any injury, hastened
+towards us, and there was the lovely creature sitting on the ground
+thoroughly amazed, and less confused from her fall than from the
+indiscretion of her petticoats, which had exposed in all their nakedness
+certain parts which an honest woman never shews to a stranger. In the
+warmth of her thanks, which lasted until her postillion and mine had
+righted the cabriolet, she often called me her saviour, her guardian
+angel.
+
+The vehicle being all right, the lady continued her journey towards
+Padua, and I resumed mine towards Venice, which I reached just in time to
+dress for the opera.
+
+The next day I masked myself early to accompany the Bucentoro, which,
+favoured by fine weather, was to be taken to the Lido for the great and
+ridiculous ceremony. The whole affair is under the responsibility of the
+admiral of the arsenal, who answers for the weather remaining fine, under
+penalty of his head, for the slightest contrary wind might capsize the
+ship and drown the Doge, with all the most serene noblemen, the
+ambassadors, and the Pope's nuncio, who is the sponsor of that burlesque
+wedding which the Venetians respect even to superstition. To crown the
+misfortune of such an accident it would make the whole of Europe laugh,
+and people would not fail to say that the Doge of Venice had gone at last
+to consummate his marriage.
+
+I had removed my mask, and was drinking some coffee under the
+'procuraties' of St. Mark's Square, when a fine-looking female mask
+struck me gallantly on the shoulder with her fan. As I did not know who
+she was I did not take much notice of it, and after I had finished my
+coffee I put on my mask and walked towards the Spiaggia del Sepulcro,
+where M. de Bragadin's gondola was waiting for me. As I was getting near
+the Ponte del Paglia I saw the same masked woman attentively looking at
+some wonderful monster shewn for a few pence. I went up to her; and asked
+her why she had struck me with her fan.
+
+"To punish you for not knowing me again after having saved my life." I
+guessed that she was the person I had rescued the day before on the banks
+of the Brenta, and after paying her some compliments I enquired whether
+she intended to follow the Bucentoro.
+
+"I should like it," she said, "if I had a safe gondola."
+
+I offered her mine, which was one of the largest, and, after consulting a
+masked person who accompanied her, she accepted. Before stepping in I
+invited them to take off their masks, but they told me that they wished
+to remain unknown. I then begged them to tell me if they belonged to the
+suite of some ambassador, because in that case I should be compelled,
+much to my regret, to withdraw my invitation; but they assured me that
+they were both Venetians. The gondola belonging to a patrician, I might
+have committed myself with the State Inquisitors-a thing which I wished
+particularly to avoid. We were following the Bucentoro, and seated near
+the lady I allowed myself a few slight liberties, but she foiled my
+intentions by changing her seat. After the ceremony we returned to
+Venice, and the officer who accompanied the lady told me that I would
+oblige them by dining in their company at "The Savage." I accepted, for I
+felt somewhat curious about the woman. What I had seen of her at the time
+of her fall warranted my curiosity. The officer left me alone with her,
+and went before us to order dinner.
+
+As soon as I was alone with her, emboldened by the mask, I told her that
+I was in love with her, that I had a box at the opera, which I placed
+entirely at her disposal, and that, if she would only give me the hope
+that I was not wasting my time and my attentions, I would remain her
+humble servant during the carnival.
+
+"If you mean to be cruel," I added, "pray say so candidly."
+
+"I must ask you to tell me what sort of a woman you take me for?"
+
+"For a very charming one, whether a princess or a maid of low degree.
+Therefore, I hope that you will give me, this very day, some marks of
+your kindness, or I must part with you immediately after dinner."
+
+"You will do as you please; but I trust that after dinner you will have
+changed your opinion and your language, for your way of speaking is not
+pleasant. It seems to me that, before venturing upon such an explanation,
+it is necessary to know one another. Do you not think so?"
+
+"Yes, I do; but I am afraid of being deceived."
+
+"How very strange! And that fear makes you begin by what ought to be the
+end?"
+
+"I only beg to-day for one encouraging word. Give it to me and I will at
+once be modest, obedient and discreet."
+
+"Pray calm yourself."
+
+We found the officer waiting for us before the door of "The Savage," and
+went upstairs. The moment we were in the room, she took off her mask, and
+I thought her more beautiful than the day before. I wanted only to
+ascertain, for the sake of form and etiquette, whether the officer was
+her husband, her lover, a relative or a protector, because, used as I was
+to gallant adventures, I wished to know the nature of the one in which I
+was embarking.
+
+We sat down to dinner, and the manners of the gentleman and of the lady
+made it necessary for me to be careful. It was to him that I offered my
+box, and it was accepted; but as I had none, I went out after dinner
+under pretence of some engagement, in order to get one at the
+opera-buffa, where Petrici and Lasqui were then the shining stars. After
+the opera I gave them a good supper at an inn, and I took them to their
+house in my gondola. Thanks to the darkness of the night, I obtained from
+the pretty woman all the favours which can be granted by the side of a
+third person who has to be treated with caution. As we parted company,
+the officer said,
+
+"You shall hear from me to-morrow."
+
+"Where, and how?"
+
+"Never mind that."
+
+The next morning the servant announced an officer; it was my man. After
+we had exchanged the usual compliments, after I had thanked him for the
+honour he had done me the day before, I asked him to tell me his name. He
+answered me in the following manner, speaking with great fluency, but
+without looking at me:
+
+"My name is P---- C----. My father is rich, and enjoys great consideration
+at the exchange; but we are not on friendly terms at present. I reside in
+St. Mark's Square. The lady you saw with me was a Mdlle. O----; she is
+the wife of the broker C----, and her sister married the patrician
+P---- M----. But Madame C---- is at variance with her husband on my
+account, as she is the cause of my quarrel with my father.
+
+"I wear this uniform in virtue of a captaincy in the Austrian service,
+but I have never served in reality. I have the contract for the supply of
+oxen to the City of Venice, and I get the cattle from Styria and Hungary.
+This contract gives me a net profit of ten thousand florins a year; but
+an unforeseen embarrassment, which I must remedy; a fraudulent
+bankruptcy, and some extraordinary expenditure, place me for the present
+in monetary difficulties. Four years ago I heard a great deal about you,
+and wished very much to make your acquaintance; I firmly believe that it
+was through the interference of Heaven that we became acquainted the day
+before yesterday. I have no hesitation in claiming from you an important
+service which will unite us by the ties of the warmest friendship. Come
+to my assistance without running any risk yourself; back these three
+bills of exchange. You need not be afraid of having to pay them, for I
+will leave in your hands these three other bills which fall due before
+the first. Besides, I will give you a mortgage upon the proceeds of my
+contract during the whole year, so that, should I fail to take up these
+bills, you could seize my cattle in Trieste, which is the only road
+through which they can come."
+
+Astonished at his speech and at his proposal, which seemed to me a lure
+and made me fear a world of trouble which I always abhorred, struck by
+the strange idea of that man who, thinking that I would easily fall into
+the snare, gave me the preference over so many other persons whom he
+certainly knew better than me, I did not hesitate to tell him that I
+would never accept his offer. He then had recourse to all his eloquence
+to persuade me, but I embarrassed him greatly by telling him how
+surprised I was at his giving me the preference over all his other
+acquaintances, when I had had the honour to know him only for two days.
+
+"Sir" he said, with barefaced impudence, "having recognised in you a man
+of great intelligence, I felt certain that you would at once see the
+advantages of my offer, and that you would not raise any objection."
+
+"You must see your mistake by this time, and most likely you will take me
+for a fool now you see that I should believe myself a dupe if I
+accepted."
+
+He left me with an apology for having troubled me, and saying that he
+hoped to see me in the evening at St. Mark's Square, where he would be
+with Madame C----, he gave me his address, telling me that he had
+retained possession of his apartment unknown to his father. This was as
+much as to say that he expected me to return his visit, but if I had been
+prudent I should not have done so.
+
+Disgusted at the manner in which that man had attempted to get hold of
+me, I no longer felt any inclination to try my fortune with his mistress,
+for it seemed evident that they were conspiring together to make a dupe
+of me, and as I had no wish to afford them that gratification I avoided
+them in the evening. It would have been wise to keep to that line of
+conduct; but the next day, obeying my evil genius, and thinking that a
+polite call could not have any consequences, I called upon him.
+
+A servant having taken me to his room, he gave me the most friendly
+welcome, and reproached me in a friendly manner for not having shewn
+myself the evening before. After that, he spoke again of his affairs, and
+made me look at a heap of papers and documents; I found it very
+wearisome.
+
+"If you make up your mind to sign the three bills of exchange," he said,
+"I will take you as a partner in my contract."
+
+By this extraordinary mark of friendship, he was offering me--at least he
+said so--an income of five thousand florins a year; but my only answer
+was to beg that the matter should never be mentioned again. I was going
+to take leave of him, when he said that he wished to introduce me to his
+mother and sister.
+
+He left the room, and came back with them. The mother was a respectable,
+simple-looking woman, but the daughter was a perfect beauty; she
+literally dazzled me. After a few minutes, the over-trustful mother
+begged leave to retire, and her daughter remained. In less than half an
+hour I was captivated; her perfection delighted me; her lively wit, her
+artless reasoning, her candour, her ingenuousness, her natural and noble
+feelings, her cheerful and innocent quickness, that harmony which arises
+from beauty, wit, and innocence, and which had always the most powerful
+influence over me--everything in fact conspired to make me the slave of
+the most perfect woman that the wildest dreams could imagine.
+
+Mdlle. C---- C---- never went out without her mother who, although very
+pious, was full of kind indulgence. She read no books but her father's--a
+serious man who had no novels in his library, and she was longing to read
+some tales of romance. She had likewise a great wish to know Venice, and
+as no one visited the family she had never been told that she was truly a
+prodigy of beauty. Her brother was writing while I conversed with her, or
+rather answered all the questions which she addressed to me, and which I
+could only satisfy by developing the ideas that she already had, and that
+she was herself amazed to find in her own mind, for her soul had until
+then been unconscious of its own powers. Yet I did not tell her that she
+was lovely and that she interested me in the highest degree, because I
+had so often said the same to other women, and without truth, that I was
+afraid of raising her suspicions.
+
+I left the house with a sensation of dreamy sadness; feeling deeply moved
+by the rare qualities I had discovered in that charming girl, I promised
+myself not to see her again, for I hardly thought myself the man to
+sacrifice my liberty entirely and to ask her in marriage, although I
+certainly believed her endowed with all the qualities necessary to
+minister to my happiness.
+
+I had not seen Madame Manzoni since my return to Venice, and I went to
+pay her a visit. I found the worthy woman the same as she had always been
+towards me, and she gave me the most affectionate welcome. She told me
+that Therese Imer, that pretty girl who had caused M. de Malipiero to
+strike me thirteen years before, had just returned from Bayreuth, where
+the margrave had made her fortune. As she lived in the house opposite,
+Madame Manzoni, who wanted to enjoy her surprise, sent her word to come
+over. She came almost immediately, holding by the hand a little boy of
+eight years--a lovely child--and the only one she had given to her
+husband, who was a dancer in Bayreuth. Our surprise at seeing one another
+again was equal to the pleasure we experienced in recollecting what had
+occurred in our young days; it is true that we had but trifles to
+recollect. I congratulated her upon her good fortune, and judging of my
+position from external appearances, she thought it right to congratulate
+me, but her fortune would have been established on a firmer basis than
+mine if she had followed a prudent line of conduct. She unfortunately
+indulged in numerous caprices with which my readers will become
+acquainted. She was an excellent musician, but her fortune was not
+altogether owing to her talent; her charms had done more for her than
+anything else. She told me her adventures, very likely with some
+restrictions, and we parted after a conversation of two hours. She
+invited me to breakfast for the following day. She told me that the
+margrave had her narrowly watched, but being an old acquaintance I was
+not likely to give rise to any suspicion; that is the aphorism of all
+women addicted to gallantry. She added that I could, if I liked, see her
+that same evening in her box, and that M. Papafava, who was her
+god-father, would be glad to see me. I called at her house early the next
+morning, and I found her in bed with her son, who, thanks to the
+principles in which he had been educated, got up and left the room as
+soon as he saw me seated near his mother's bed. I spent three hours with
+her, and I recollect that the last was delightful; the reader will know
+the consequence of that pleasant hour later. I saw her a second time
+during the fortnight she passed in Venice, and when she left I promised
+to pay her a visit in Bayreuth, but I never kept my promise.
+
+I had at that time to attend to the affairs of my posthumous brother, who
+had, as he said, a call from Heaven to the priesthood, but he wanted a
+patrimony. Although he was ignorant and devoid of any merit save a
+handsome face, he thought that an ecclesiastical career would insure his
+happiness, and he depended a great deal upon his preaching, for which,
+according to the opinion of the women with whom he was acquainted, he had
+a decided talent. I took everything into my hands, and I succeeded in
+obtaining for him a patrimony from M. Grimani, who still owed us the
+value of the furniture in my father's house, of which he had never
+rendered any account. He transferred to him a life-interest in a house in
+Venice, and two years afterwards my brother was ordained. But the
+patrimony was only fictitious, the house being already mortgaged; the
+Abbe Grimani was, however, a kind Jesuit, and those sainted servants of
+God think that all is well that ends well and profitably to themselves. I
+shall speak again of my unhappy brother whose destiny became involved
+with mine.
+
+Two days had passed since I had paid my visit to P---- C----, when I met
+him in the street. He told me that his sister was constantly speaking of
+me, that she quoted a great many things which I had told her, and that
+his mother was much pleased at her daughter having made my acquaintance.
+"She would be a good match for you," he added, "for she will have a dowry
+of ten thousand ducats. If you will call on me to-morrow, we will take
+coffee with my mother and sister."
+
+I had promised myself never again to enter his house, but I broke my
+word. It is easy enough for a man to forget his promises under such
+circumstances.
+
+I spent three hours in conversation with the charming girl and when I
+left her I was deeply in love. As I went away, I told her that I envied
+the destiny of the man who would have her for his wife, and my
+compliment, the first she had ever received, made her blush.
+
+After I had left her I began to examine the nature of my feelings towards
+her, and they frightened me, for I could neither behave towards Mdlle.
+C---- C---- as an honest man nor as a libertine. I could not hope to obtain
+her hand, and I almost fancied I would stab anyone who advised me to
+seduce her. I felt that I wanted some diversion: I went to the
+gaming-table. Playing is sometimes an excellent lenitive to calm the
+mind, and to smother the ardent fire of love. I played with wonderful
+luck, and I was going home with plenty of gold, when in a solitary narrow
+street I met a man bent down less by age than by the heavy weight of
+misery. As I came near him I recognized Count Bonafede, the sight of whom
+moved me with pity. He recognized me likewise. We talked for some time,
+and at last he told me the state of abject poverty to which he was
+reduced, and the great difficulty he had to keep his numerous family. "I
+do not blush," he added, "in begging from you one sequin which will keep
+us alive for five or six days." I immediately gave him ten, trying to
+prevent him from lowering himself in his anxiety to express his
+gratitude, but I could not prevent him from shedding tears. As we parted,
+he told me that what made him most miserable was to see the position of
+his daughter, who had become a great beauty, and would rather die than
+make a sacrifice of her virtue. "I can neither support her in those
+feelings," he said, with a sigh, "nor reward her for them."
+
+Thinking that I understood the wishes with which misery had inspired him,
+I took his address, and promised to pay him a visit. I was curious to see
+what had become of a virtue of which I did not entertain a very high
+opinion. I called the next day. I found a house almost bare of furniture,
+and the daughter alone--a circumstance which did not astonish me. The
+young countess had seen me arrive, and received me on the stairs in the
+most amiable manner. She was pretty well dressed, and I thought her
+handsome, agreeable, and lively, as she had been when I made her
+acquaintance in Fort St. Andre. Her father having announced my visit, she
+was in high spirits, and she kissed me with as much tenderness as if I
+had been a beloved lover. She took me to her own room, and after she had
+informed me that her mother was ill in bed and unable to see me, she gave
+way again to the transport of joy which, as she said, she felt in seeing
+me again. The ardour of our mutual kisses, given at first under the
+auspices of friendship, was not long in exciting our senses to such an
+extent that in less than a quarter of an hour I had nothing more to
+desire. When it was all over, it became us both, of course, to be, or at
+least to appear to be, surprised at what had taken place, and I could not
+honestly hesitate to assure the poor countess that it was only the first
+token of a constant and true love. She believed it, or she feigned to
+believe it, and perhaps I myself fancied it was true--for the moment.
+When we had become calm again, she told me the fearful state to which
+they were reduced, her brothers walking barefooted in the streets, and
+her father having positively no bread to give them.
+
+"Then you have not any lover?"
+
+"What? a lover! Where could I find a man courageous enough to be my lover
+in such a house as this? Am I a woman to sell myself to the first comer
+for the sum of thirty sous? There is not a man in Venice who would think
+me worth more than that, seeing me in such a place as this. Besides, I
+was not born for prostitution."
+
+Such a conversation was not very cheerful; she was weeping, and the
+spectacle of her sadness, joined to the picture of misery which
+surrounded me, was not at all the thing to excite love. I left her with a
+promise to call again, and I put twelve sequins in her hand. She was
+surprised at the amount; she had never known herself so rich before. I
+have always regretted I did not give her twice as much.
+
+The next day P---- C---- called on me, and said cheerfully that his mother
+had given permission to her daughter to go to the opera with him, that
+the young girl was delighted because she had never been there before, and
+that, if I liked, I could wait for them at some place where they would
+meet me.
+
+"But does your sister know that you intend me to join you?"
+
+"She considers it a great pleasure."
+
+"Does your mother know it?"
+
+"No; but when she knows it she will not be angry, for she has a great
+esteem for you."
+
+"In that case I will try to find a private box."
+
+"Very well; wait for us at such a place."
+
+The scoundrel did not speak of his letters of exchange again, and as he
+saw that I was no longer paying my attentions to his mistress, and that I
+was in love with his sister, he had formed the fine project of selling
+her to me. I pitied the mother and the daughter who had confidence in
+such a man; but I had not the courage to resist the temptation. I even
+went so far as to persuade myself that as I loved her it was my duty to
+accept the offer, in order to save her from other snares; for if I had
+declined her brother might have found some other man less scrupulous, and
+I could not bear the idea. I thought that in my company her innocence ran
+no risk.
+
+I took a box at the St. Samuel Opera, and I was waiting for them at the
+appointed place long before the time. They came at last, and the sight of
+my young friend delighted me. She was elegantly masked, and her brother
+wore his uniform. In order not to expose the lovely girl to being
+recognized on account of her brother, I made them get into my gondola. He
+insisted upon being landed near the house of his mistress, who was ill,
+he said, and he added that he would soon join us in our box. I was
+astonished that C---- C---- did not shew any surprise or repugnance at
+remaining alone with me in the gondola; but I did not think the conduct
+of her brother extraordinary, for it was evident that it was all arranged
+beforehand in his mind.
+
+I told C---- C---- that we would remain in the gondola until the opening of
+the theatre, and that as the heat was intense she would do well to take
+off her mask, which she did at once. The law I had laid upon myself to
+respect her, the noble confidence which was beaming on her countenance
+and in her looks, her innocent joy--everything increased the ardour of my
+love.
+
+Not knowing what to say to her, for I could speak to her of nothing but
+love--and it was a delicate subject--I kept looking at her charming face,
+not daring to let my eyes rest upon two budding globes shaped by the
+Graces, for fear of giving the alarm to her modesty. "Speak to me," she
+said at last; "you only look at me without uttering a single word. You
+have sacrificed yourself for me, because my brother would have taken you
+with him to his lady-love, who, to judge from what he says, must be as
+beautiful as an angel."
+
+"I have seen that lady."
+
+"I suppose she is very witty."
+
+"She may be so; but I have no opportunity of knowing, for I have never
+visited her, and I do not intend ever to call upon her. Do not therefore
+imagine, beautiful C---- C----, that I have made the slightest sacrifice
+for your sake."
+
+"I was afraid you had, because as you did not speak I thought you were
+sad."
+
+"If I do not speak to you it is because I am too deeply moved by your
+angelic confidence in me."
+
+"I am very glad it is so; but how could I not trust you? I feel much more
+free, much more confident with you than with my brother himself. My
+mother says it is impossible to be mistaken, and that you are certainly
+an honest man. Besides, you are not married; that is the first thing I
+asked my brother. Do you recollect telling me that you envied the fate of
+the man who would have me for his wife? Well, at that very moment I was
+thinking that your wife would be the happiest woman in Venice."
+
+These words, uttered with the most candid artlessness, and with that tone
+of sincerity which comes from the heart, had upon me an effect which it
+would be difficult to describe; I suffered because I could not imprint
+the most loving kiss upon the sweet lips which had just pronounced them,
+but at the same time it caused me the most delicious felicity to see that
+such an angel loved me.
+
+"With such conformity of feelings," I said, "we would, lovely C----, be
+perfectly happy, if we could be united for ever. But I am old enough to
+be your father."
+
+"You my father? You are joking! Do you know that I am fourteen?"
+
+"Do you know that I am twenty-eight?"
+
+"Well, where can you see a man of your age having a daughter of mine? If
+my father were like you, he would certainly never frighten me; I could
+not keep anything from him."
+
+The hour to go to the theatre had come; we landed, and the performance
+engrossed all her attention. Her brother joined us only when it was
+nearly over; it had certainly been a part of his calculation. I took them
+to an inn for supper, and the pleasure I experienced in seeing the
+charming girl eat with a good appetite made me forget that I had had no
+dinner. I hardly spoke during the supper, for love made me sick, and I
+was in a state of excitement which could not last long. In order to
+excuse my silence, I feigned to be suffering from the toothache.
+
+After supper, P---- C---- told his sister that I was in love with her, and
+that I should certainly feel better if she would allow me to kiss her.
+The only answer of the innocent girl was to offer me her laughing lips,
+which seemed to call for kisses. I was burning; but my respect for that
+innocent and naive young creature was such that I only kissed her cheek,
+and even that in a manner very cold in appearance.
+
+"What a kiss!" exclaimed P---- C----. "Come, come, a good lover's kiss!"
+
+I did not move; the impudent fellow annoyed me; but his sister, turning
+her head aside sadly, said,
+
+"Do not press him; I am not so happy as to please him."
+
+That remark gave the alarm to my love; I could no longer master my
+feelings.
+
+"What!" I exclaimed warmly, "what! beautiful C----, you do not condescend
+to ascribe my reserve to the feeling which you have inspired me with? You
+suppose that you do not please me? If a kiss is all that is needed to
+prove the contrary to you, oh! receive it now with all the sentiment that
+is burning in my heart!"
+
+Then folding her in my arms, and pressing her lovingly against my breast,
+I imprinted on her mouth the long and ardent kiss which I had so much
+wished to give her; but the nature of that kiss made the timid dove feel
+that she had fallen into the vulture's claws. She escaped from my arms,
+amazed at having discovered my love in such a manner. Her brother
+expressed his approval, while she replaced her mask over her face, in
+order to conceal her confusion. I asked her whether she had any longer
+any doubts as to my love.
+
+"You have convinced me," she answered, "but, because you have undeceived
+me, you must not punish me."
+
+I thought that this was a very delicate answer, dictated by true
+sentiment; but her brother was not pleased with it, and said it was
+foolish.
+
+We put on our masks, left the inn, and after I had escorted them to their
+house I went home deeply in love, happy in my inmost soul, yet very sad.
+
+The reader will learn in the following chapters the progress of my love
+and the adventures in which I found myself engaged.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+Progress of My Intrigue with the Beautiful C. C.
+
+The next morning P---- C---- called on me with an air of triumph; he told
+me that his sister had confessed to her mother that we loved one another,
+and that if she was ever to be married she would be unhappy with any
+other husband.
+
+"I adore your sister," I said to him; "but do you think that your father
+will be willing to give her to me?"
+
+"I think not; but he is old. In the mean time, love one another. My
+mother has given her permission to go to the opera this evening with us."
+
+"Very well, my dear friend, we must go."
+
+"I find myself under the necessity of claiming a slight service at your
+hands."
+
+"Dispose of me."
+
+"There is some excellent Cyprus wine to be sold very cheap, and I can
+obtain a cask of it against my bill at six months. I am certain of
+selling it again immediately with a good profit; but the merchant
+requires a guarantee, and he is disposed to accept yours, if you will
+give it. Will you be kind enough to endorse my note of hand?"
+
+"With pleasure."
+
+I signed my name without hesitation, for where is the man in love who in
+such a case would have refused that service to a person who to revenge
+himself might have made him miserable? We made an appointment for the
+evening, and parted highly pleased with each other.
+
+After I had dressed myself, I went out and bought a dozen pairs of
+gloves, as many pairs of silk stockings, and a pair of garters
+embroidered in gold and with gold clasps, promising myself much pleasure
+in offering that first present to my young friend.
+
+I need not say that I was exact in reaching the appointed place, but they
+were there already, waiting for me. Had I not suspected the intentions of
+P---- C----, their coming so early would have been very flattering to my
+vanity. The moment I had joined them, P---- C---- told me that, having
+other engagements to fulfil, he would leave his sister with me, and meet
+us at the theatre in the evening. When he had gone, I told C---- C---- that
+we would sail in a gondola until the opening of the theatre.
+
+"No," she answered, "let us rather go to the Zuecca Garden."
+
+"With all my heart."
+
+I hired a gondola and we went to St. Blaze, where I knew a very pretty
+garden which, for one sequin, was placed at my disposal for the remainder
+of the day, with the express condition that no one else would be allowed
+admittance. We had not had any dinner, and after I had ordered a good
+meal we went up to a room where we took off our disguises and masks,
+after which we went to the garden.
+
+My lovely C---- C---- had nothing on but a bodice made of light silk and a
+skirt of the same description, but she was charming in that simple
+costume! My amorous looks went through those light veils, and in my
+imagination I saw her entirely naked! I sighed with burning desires, with
+a mixture of discreet reserve and voluptuous love.
+
+The moment we had reached the long avenue, my young companion, as lively
+as a fawn, finding herself at liberty on the green sward, and enjoying
+that happy freedom for the first time in her life, began to run about and
+to give way to the spirit of cheerfulness which was natural to her. When
+she was compelled to stop for want of breath, she burst out laughing at
+seeing me gazing at her in a sort of ecstatic silence. She then
+challenged me to run a race; the game was very agreeable to me. I
+accepted, but I proposed to make it interesting by a wager.
+
+"Whoever loses the race," I said, "shall have to do whatever the winner
+asks."
+
+"Agreed!"
+
+We marked the winning-post, and made a fair start. I was certain to win,
+but I lost on purpose, so as to see what she would ask me to do. At first
+she ran with all her might while I reserved my strength, and she was the
+first to reach the goal. As she was trying to recover her breath, she
+thought of sentencing me to a good penance: she hid herself behind a tree
+and told me, a minute afterwards, that I had to find her ring. She had
+concealed it about her, and that was putting me in possession of all her
+person. I thought it was a delightful forfeit, for I could easily see
+that she had chosen it with intentional mischief; but I felt that I ought
+not to take too much advantage of her, because her artless confidence
+required to be encouraged. We sat on the grass, I visited her pockets,
+the folds of her stays, of her petticoat; then I looked in her shoes, and
+even at her garters which were fastened below the knees. Not finding
+anything, I kept on my search, and as the ring was about her, I was of
+course bound to discover it. My reader has most likely guessed that I had
+some suspicion of the charming hiding-place in which the young beauty had
+concealed the ring, but before coming to it I wanted to enjoy myself. The
+ring was at last found between the two most beautiful keepers that nature
+had ever rounded, but I felt such emotion as I drew it out that my hand
+was trembling.
+
+"What are you trembling for?" she asked.
+
+"Only for joy at having found the ring; you had concealed it so well! But
+you owe me a revenge, and this time you shall not beat me."
+
+"We shall see."
+
+We began a new race, and seeing that she was not running very fast, I
+thought I could easily distance her whenever I liked. I was mistaken. She
+had husbanded her strength, and when we had run about two-thirds of the
+race she suddenly sprang forward at full speed, left me behind, and I saw
+that I had lost. I then thought of a trick, the effect of which never
+fails; I feigned a heavy fall, and I uttered a shriek of pain. The poor
+child stopped at once, ran back to me in great fright, and, pitying me,
+she assisted me to raise myself from the ground. The moment I was on my
+feet again, I laughed heartily and, taking a spring forward, I had
+reached the goal long before her.
+
+The charming runner, thoroughly amazed, said to me,
+
+"Then you did not hurt yourself?"
+
+"No, for I fell purposely."
+
+"Purposely? Oh, to deceive me! I would never have believed you capable of
+that. It is not fair to win by fraud; therefore I have not lost the
+race."
+
+"Oh! yes, you have, for I reached the goal before you."
+
+"Trick for trick; confess that you tried to deceive me at the start."
+
+"But that is fair, and your trick is a very different thing."
+
+"Yet it has given me the victory, and
+
+     "Vincasi per fortund o per ingano,
+     Il vincer sempre fu laudabil cosa"...
+
+"I have often heard those words from my brother, but never from my
+father. Well, never mind, I have lost. Give your judgment now, I will
+obey."
+
+"Wait a little. Let me see. Ah! my sentence is that you shall exchange
+your garters for mine."
+
+"Exchange our garters! But you have seen mine, they are ugly and worth
+nothing."
+
+"Never mind. Twice every day I shall think of the person I love, and as
+nearly as possible at the same hours you will have to think of me."
+
+"It is a very pretty idea, and I like it. Now I forgive you for having
+deceived me. Here are my ugly garters! Ah! my dear deceiver, how
+beautiful yours are! What a handsome present! How they will please my
+mother! They must be a present which you have just received, for they are
+quite new."
+
+"No, they have not been given to me. I bought them for you, and I have
+been racking my brain to find how I could make you accept them. Love
+suggested to me the idea of making them the prize of the race. You may
+now imagine my sorrow when I saw that you would win. Vexation inspired me
+with a deceitful stratagem which arose from a feeling you had caused
+yourself, and which turned entirely to your honour, for you must admit
+that you would have shewn a very hard heart if you had not come to my
+assistance."
+
+"And I feel certain that you would not have had recourse to that
+stratagem, if you could have guessed how deeply it would pain me."
+
+"Do you then feel much interest in me?"
+
+"I would do anything in the world to convince you of it. I like my pretty
+garters exceedingly; I will never have another pair, and I promise you
+that my brother shall not steal them from me."
+
+"Can you suppose him capable of such an action?"
+
+"Oh! certainly, especially if the fastenings are in gold."
+
+"Yes, they are in gold; but let him believe that they are in gilt brass."
+
+"Will you teach me how to fasten my beautiful garters?"
+
+"Of course I will."
+
+We went upstairs, and after our dinner which we both enjoyed with a good
+appetite, she became more lively and I more excited by love, but at the
+same time more to be pitied in consequence of the restraint to which I
+had condemned myself. Very anxious to try her garters, she begged me to
+help her, and that request was made in good faith, without mischievous
+coquetry. An innocent young girl, who, in spite of her fifteen years, has
+not loved yet, who has not frequented the society of other girls, does
+not know the violence of amorous desires or what is likely to excite
+them. She has no idea of the danger of a tete-a-tete. When a natural
+instinct makes her love for the first time, she believes the object of
+her love worthy of her confidence, and she thinks that to be loved
+herself she must shew the most boundless trust.
+
+Seeing that her stockings were too short to fasten the garter above the
+knee, she told me that she would in future use longer ones, and I
+immediately offered her those that I had purchased. Full of gratitude she
+sat on my knees, and in the effusion of her satisfaction she bestowed
+upon me all the kisses that she would have given to her father if he had
+made her such a present. I returned her kisses, forcibly keeping down the
+violence of my feelings. I only told her that one of her kisses was worth
+a kingdom. My charming C---- C---- took off her shoes and stockings, and
+put on one of the pairs I had given her, which went halfway up her thigh.
+The more innocent I found her to be, the less I could make up my mind to
+possess myself of that ravishing prey.
+
+We returned to the garden, and after walking about until the evening we
+went to the opera, taking care to keep on our masks, because, the theatre
+being small, we might easily have been recognized, and my lovely friend
+was certain that her father would not allow her to come out again, if he
+found out that she had gone to the opera.
+
+We were rather surprised not to see her brother. On our left we had the
+Marquis of Montalegre, the Spanish ambassador, with his acknowledged
+mistress, Mdlle. Bola, and in the box on our right a man and a woman who
+had not taken off their masks. Those two persons kept their eyes
+constantly fixed upon us, but my young friend did not remark it as her
+back was turned towards them. During the ballet, C---- C---- having left
+the libretto of the opera on the ledge of the box, the man with the mask
+stretched forth his hand and took it. That proved to me that we were
+known to him, and I said so to my companion, who turned round and
+recognized her brother. The lady who was with him could be no other than
+Madame C----. As P---- C---- knew the number of our box, he had taken the
+next one; he could not have done so without some intention, and I foresaw
+that he meant to make his sister have supper with that woman. I was much
+annoyed, but I could not prevent it without breaking off with him,
+altogether, and I was in love.
+
+After the second ballet, he came into our box with his lady, and after
+the usual exchange of compliments the acquaintance was made, and we had
+to accept supper at his casino. As soon as the two ladies had thrown off
+their masks, they embraced one another, and the mistress of
+P---- C---- overwhelmed my young friend with compliments and attentions. At
+table she affected to treat her with extreme affability, and
+C---- C---- not having any experience of the world behaved towards her with
+the greatest respect. I could, however, see that C----, in spite of all
+her art, could hardly hide the vexation she felt at the sight of the
+superior beauty which I had preferred to her own charms. P---- C----, who
+was of an extravagant gaiety, launched forth in stupid jokes at which his
+mistress alone laughed; in my anger, I shrugged my shoulders, and his
+sister, not understanding his jests, took no notice of them. Altogether
+our 'partie caree' was not formed of congenial spirits, and was rather a
+dull affair.
+
+As the dessert was placed on the table, P---- C----, somewhat excited by
+the wine he had drunk, kissed his lady-love, and challenged me to follow
+his example with his sister. I told him that I loved Mdlle.
+C---- C---- truly, and that I would not take such liberties with her until
+I should have acquired a legal right to her favours. P---- C---- began to
+scoff at what I had said, but C---- stopped him. Grateful for that mark of
+propriety, I took out of my pocket the twelve pairs of gloves which I had
+bought in the morning, and after I had begged her acceptance of half a
+dozen pairs I gave the other six to my young friend. P---- C---- rose from
+the table with a sneer, dragging along with him his mistress, who had
+likewise drunk rather freely, and he threw himself on a sofa with her.
+The scene taking a lewd turn, I placed myself in such a manner as to hide
+them from the view of my young friend, whom I led into the recess of a
+window. But I had not been able to prevent C---- C---- from seeing in a
+looking-glass the position of the two impudent wretches, and her face was
+suffused with blushes; I, however, spoke to her quietly of indifferent
+things, and recovering her composure she answered me, speaking of her
+gloves, which she was folding on the pier-table. After his brutal
+exploit, P---- C---- came impudently to me and embraced me; his dissolute
+companion, imitating his example, kissed my young friend, saying she was
+certain that she had seen nothing. C---- C---- answered modestly that she
+did not know what she could have seen, but the look she cast towards me
+made me understand all she felt. If the reader has any knowledge of the
+human heart, he must guess what my feelings were. How was it possible to
+endure such a scene going on in the presence of an innocent girl whom I
+adored, when I had to fight hard myself with my own burning desires so as
+not to abuse her innocence! I was on a bed of thorns! Anger and
+indignation, restrained by the reserve I was compelled to adopt for fear
+of losing the object of my ardent love, made me tremble all over. The
+inventors of hell would not have failed to place that suffering among its
+torments, if they had known it. The lustful P---- C---- had thought of
+giving me a great proof of his friendship by the disgusting action he had
+been guilty of, and he had reckoned as nothing the dishonour of his
+mistress, and the delicacy of his sister whom he had thus exposed to
+prostitution. I do not know how I contrived not to strangle him. The next
+day, when he called on me, I overwhelmed him with the most bitter
+reproaches, and he tried to excuse himself by saying that he never would
+have acted in that manner if he had not felt satisfied that I had already
+treated his sister in the tete-a-tete in the same way that he treated his
+mistress before us.
+
+My love for C---- C---- became every instant more intense, and I had made
+up my mind to undertake everything necessary to save her from the fearful
+position in which her unworthy brother might throw her by selling her for
+his own profit to some man less scrupulous than I was. It seemed to me
+urgent. What a disgusting state of things! What an unheard-of species of
+seduction! What a strange way to gain my friendship! And I found myself
+under the dire necessity of dissembling with the man whom I despised most
+in the world! I had been told that he was deeply in debt, that he had
+been a bankrupt in Vienna, where he had a wife and a family of children,
+that in Venice he had compromised his father who had been obliged to turn
+him out of his house, and who, out of pity, pretended not to know that he
+had kept his room in it. He had seduced his wife, or rather his mistress,
+who had been driven away by her husband, and after he had squandered
+everything she possessed, and he found himself at the end of his wits, he
+had tried to turn her prostitution to advantage. His poor mother who
+idolized him had given him everything she had, even her own clothes, and
+I expected him to plague me again for some loan or security, but I was
+firmly resolved on refusing. I could not bear the idea of C---- C---- being
+the innocent cause of my ruin, and used as a tool by her brother to keep
+up his disgusting life.
+
+Moved by an irresistible feeling, by what is called perfect love, I
+called upon P---- C---- on the following day, and, after I had told him
+that I adored his sister with the most honourable intentions, I tried to
+make him realize how deeply he had grieved me by forgetting all respect,
+and that modesty which the most inveterate libertine ought never to
+insult if he has any pretension to be worthy of respectable society.
+
+"Even if I had to give up," I added, "the pleasure of seeing your angelic
+sister, I have taken the firm resolution of not keeping company with you;
+but I candidly warn you that I will do everything in my power to prevent
+her from going out with you, and from being the victim of some infamous
+bargain in your hands."
+
+He excused himself again by saying that he had drunk too much, and that
+he did not believe that my love for his sister was such as to despise the
+gratification of my senses. He begged my pardon, he embraced me with
+tears in his eyes, and I would, perhaps have given way to my own emotion,
+when his mother and sister entered the room. They offered me their
+heart-felt thanks for the handsome present I had given to the young lady.
+I told the mother that I loved her daughter, and that my fondest hope was
+to obtain her for my wife.
+
+"In the hope of securing that happiness, madam," I added, "I shall get a
+friend to speak to your husband as soon as I shall have secured a
+position giving me sufficient means to keep her comfortably, and to
+assure her happiness."
+
+So saying I kissed her hand, and I felt so deeply moved that the tears
+ran down my cheeks. Those tears were sympathetic, and the excellent woman
+was soon crying like me. She thanked me affectionately, and left me with
+her daughter and her son, who looked as if he had been changed into a
+statue.
+
+There are a great many mothers of that kind in the world, and very often
+they are women who have led a virtuous life; they do not suppose that
+deceit can exist, because their own nature understands only what is
+upright and true; but they are almost always the victims of their good
+faith, and of their trust in those who seem to them to be patterns of
+honesty. What I had told the mother surprised the daughter, but her
+astonishment was much greater when she heard of what I had said to her
+brother. After one moment of consideration, she told him that, with any
+other man but me, she would have been ruined; and that, if she had been
+in the place of Madame C----, she would never have forgiven him, because
+the way he had treated her was as debasing for her as for himself.
+P---- C---- was weeping, but the traitor could command tears whenever he
+pleased.
+
+It was Whit Sunday, and as the theatres were closed he told me that, if I
+would be at the same place of Appointment as before, the next day, he
+would leave his sister with me, and go by himself with Madame C----, whom
+he could not honourably leave alone.
+
+"I will give you my key," he added, "and you can bring back my sister
+here as soon as you have supper together wherever you like."
+
+And he handed me his key, which I had not the courage to refuse. After
+that he left us. I went away myself a few minutes afterwards, having
+previously agreed with C---- C---- that we would go to the Zuecca Garden on
+the following day.
+
+I was punctual, and love exciting me to the highest degree I foresaw what
+would happen on that day. I had engaged a box at the opera, and we went
+to our garden until the evening. As it was a holiday there were several
+small parties of friends sitting at various tables, and being unwilling
+to mix with other people we made up our minds to remain in the apartment
+which was given to us, and to go to the opera only towards the end of the
+performance. I therefore ordered a good supper. We had seven hours to
+spend together, and my charming young friend remarked that the time would
+certainly not seem long to us. She threw off her disguise and sat on my
+knees, telling me that I had completed the conquest of her heart by my
+reserve towards her during the supper with her brother; but all our
+conversation was accompanied by kisses which, little by little, were
+becoming more and more ardent.
+
+"Did you see," she said to me, "what my brother did to Madame C---- when
+she placed herself astride on his knees? I only saw it in the
+looking-glass, but I could guess what it was."
+
+"Were you not afraid of my treating you in the same manner?"
+
+"No, I can assure you. How could I possibly fear such a thing, knowing
+how much you love me? You would have humiliated me so deeply that I
+should no longer have loved you. We will wait until we are married, will
+we not, dear? You cannot realize the extent of the joy I felt when I
+heard you speak to my mother as you did! We will love each other for
+ever. But will you explain to me, dearest, the meaning of the words
+embroidered upon my garters?"
+
+"Is there any motto upon them? I was not aware of it."
+
+"Oh, yes! it is in French; pray read it."
+
+Seated on my knees, she took off one of her garters while I was
+unclasping the other, and here are the two lines which I found
+embroidered on them, and which I ought to have read before offering them
+to her:
+
+  'En voyant chaque jour le bijou de ma belle,
+   Vous lui direz qu'Amour veut qu'il lui soit fidele.'
+
+Those verses, rather free I must confess, struck me as very comic. I
+burst out laughing, and my mirth increased when, to please her, I had to
+translate their meaning. As it was an idea entirely new to her, I found
+it necessary to enter into particulars which lighted an ardent fire in
+our veins.
+
+"Now," she observed, "I shall not dare to shew my garters to anybody, and
+I am very sorry for it."
+
+As I was rather thoughtful, she added,
+
+"Tell me what you are thinking of?"
+
+"I am thinking that those lucky garters have a privilege which perhaps I
+shall never enjoy. How I wish myself in their place: I may die of that
+wish, and die miserable."
+
+"No, dearest, for I am in the same position as you, and I am certain to
+live. Besides, we can hasten our marriage. As far as I am concerned, I am
+ready to become your wife to-morrow if you wish it. We are both free, and
+my father cannot refuse his consent."
+
+"You are right, for he would be bound to consent for the sake of his
+honour. But I wish to give him a mark of my respect by asking for your
+hand, and after that everything will soon be ready. It might be in a week
+or ten days."
+
+"So soon? You will see that my father will say that I am too young."
+
+"Perhaps he is right."
+
+"No; I am young, but not too young, and I am certain that I can be your
+wife."
+
+I was on burning coals, and I felt that it was impossible for me to
+resist any longer the ardent fire which was consuming me.
+
+"Oh, my best beloved!" I exclaimed, "do you feel certain of my love? Do
+you think me capable of deceiving you? Are you sure that you will never
+repent being my wife?"
+
+"More than certain, darling; for you could not wish to make me unhappy."
+
+"Well, then, let our marriage take place now. Let God alone receive our
+mutual pledges; we cannot have a better witness, for He knows the purity
+of our intentions. Let us mutually engage our faith, let us unite our
+destinies and be happy. We will afterwards legalize our tender love with
+your father's consent and with the ceremonies of the Church; in the mean
+time be mine, entirely mine."
+
+"Dispose of me, dearest. I promise to God, I promise to you that, from
+this very moment and for ever, I will be your faithful wife; I will say
+the same to my father, to the priest who will bless our union--in fact,
+to everybody."
+
+"I take the same oath towards you, darling, and I can assure you that we
+are now truly married. Come to my arms! Oh, dearest, complete my
+felicity!"
+
+"Oh, dear! am I indeed so near happiness!"
+
+After kissing her tenderly, I went down to tell the mistress of the house
+not to disturb us, and not to bring up our dinner until we called for it.
+During my short absence, my charming C---- C---- had thrown herself dressed
+on the bed, but I told her that the god of love disapproved of
+unnecessary veils, and in less than a minute I made of her a new Eve,
+beautiful in her nakedness as if she had just come out of the hands of
+the Supreme Artist. Her skin, as soft as satin, was dazzlingly white, and
+seemed still more so beside her splendid black hair which I had spread
+over her alabaster shoulders. Her slender figure, her prominent hips, her
+beautifully-modelled bosom, her large eyes, from which flashed the
+sparkle of amorous desire, everything about her was strikingly beautiful,
+and presented to my hungry looks the perfection of the mother of love,
+adorned by all the charms which modesty throws over the attractions of a
+lovely woman.
+
+Beside myself, I almost feared lest my felicity should not prove real, or
+lest it should not be made perfect by complete enjoyment, when
+mischievous love contrived, in so serious a moment, to supply me with a
+reason for mirth.
+
+"Is there by any chance a law to prevent the husband from undressing
+himself?" enquired beautiful C---- C----.
+
+"No, darling angel, no; and even if there were such a barbarous law, I
+would not submit to it."
+
+In one instant, I had thrown off all my garments, and my mistress, in her
+turn, gave herself up to all the impulse of natural instinct and
+curiosity, for every part of my body was an entirely new thing to her. At
+last, as if she had had enough of the pleasure her eyes were enjoying,
+she pressed me against her bosom, and exclaimed,
+
+"Oh! dearest, what a difference between you and my pillow!"
+
+"Your pillow, darling? You are laughing; what do you mean?"
+
+"Oh! it is nothing but a childish fancy; I am afraid you will be angry."
+
+"Angry! How could I be angry with you, my love, in the happiest moment of
+my life?"
+
+"Well, for several days past, I could not go to sleep without holding my
+pillow in my arms; I caressed it, I called it my dear husband; I fancied
+it was you, and when a delightful enjoyment had left me without movement,
+I would go to sleep, and in the morning find my pillow still between my
+arms."
+
+My dear C---- C---- became my wife with the courage of a true heroine, for
+her intense love caused her to delight even in bodily pain. After three
+hours spent in delicious enjoyment, I got up and called for our supper.
+The repast was simple, but very good. We looked at one another without
+speaking, for how could we find words to express our feelings? We thought
+that our felicity was extreme, and we enjoyed it with the certainty that
+we could renew it at will.
+
+The hostess came up to enquire whether we wanted anything, and she asked
+if we were not going to the opera, which everybody said was so beautiful.
+
+"Have you never been to the opera?"
+
+"Never, because it is too dear for people in our position. My daughter
+has such a wish to go, that, God forgive me for saying it! she would give
+herself, I truly believe, to the man who would take her there once."
+
+"That would be paying very dear for it," said my little wife, laughing.
+"Dearest, we could make her happy at less cost, for that hurts very
+much."
+
+"I was thinking of it, my love. Here is the key of the box, you can make
+them a present of it."
+
+"Here is the key of a box at the St. Moses Theatre," she said to the
+hostess; "it costs two sequins; go instead of us, and tell your daughter
+to keep her rose-bud for something better."
+
+"To enable you to amuse yourself, my good woman; take these two sequins,"
+I added. "Let your daughter enjoy herself well."
+
+The good hostess, thoroughly amazed at the generosity of her guests, ran
+in a great hurry to her daughter, while we were delighted at having laid
+ourselves under the pleasant necessity of again going to bed. She came up
+with her daughter, a handsome, tempting blonde, who insisted upon kissing
+the hands of her benefactors.
+
+"She is going this minute with her lover," said the mother. "He is
+waiting for her; but I will not let her go alone with him, for he is not
+to be trusted; I am going with them."
+
+"That is right, my good woman; but when you come back this evening, let
+the gondola wait for us; it will take us to Venice."
+
+"What! Do you mean to remain here until we return?"
+
+"Yes, for this is our wedding-day."
+
+"To-day? God bless you!"
+
+She then went to the bed, to put it to rights, and seeing the marks of my
+wife's virginity she came to my dear C---- C---- and, in her joy, kissed
+her, and immediately began a sermon for the special benefit of her
+daughter, shewing her those marks which, in her opinion, did infinite
+honour to the young bride: respectable marks, she said, which in our days
+the god of Hymen sees but seldom on his altar.
+
+The daughter, casting down her beautiful blue eyes, answered that the
+same would certainly be seen on her wedding-day.
+
+"I am certain of it," said the mother, "for I never lose sight of thee.
+Go and get some water in this basin, and bring it here. This charming
+bride must be in need of it."
+
+The girl obeyed. The two women having left us, we went to bed, and four
+hours of ecstatic delights passed off with wonderful rapidity. Our last
+engagement would have lasted longer, if my charming sweetheart had not
+taken a fancy to take my place and to reverse the position. Worn out with
+happiness and enjoyment, we were going to sleep, when the hostess came to
+tell us that the gondola was waiting for us. I immediately got up to open
+the door, in the hope that she would amuse us with her description of the
+opera; but she left that task to her daughter, who had come up with her,
+and she went down again to prepare some coffee for us. The young girl
+assisted my sweetheart to dress, but now and then she would wink at me in
+a manner which made me think that she had more experience than her mother
+imagined.
+
+Nothing could be more indiscreet than the eyes of my beloved mistress;
+they wore the irrefutable marks of her first exploits. It is true that
+she had just been fighting a battle which had positively made her a
+different being to what she was before the engagement.
+
+We took some hot coffee, and I told our hostess to get us a nice dinner
+for the next day; we then left in the gondola. The dawn of day was
+breaking when we landed at St. Sophia's Square, in order to set the
+curiosity of the gondoliers at fault, and we parted happy, delighted, and
+certain that we were thoroughly married. I went to bed, having made up my
+mind to compel M. de Bragadin, through the power of the oracle, to obtain
+legally for me the hand of my beloved C---- C----. I remained in bed until
+noon, and spent the rest of the day in playing with ill luck, as if Dame
+Fortune had wished to warn me that she did not approve of my love.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+Continuation of My Intrigues with C. C.--M. de Bragadin Asks the Hand of
+That Young Person for Me--Her Father Refuses, and Sends Her to a
+Convent--De la Haye--I Lose All my Money at the Faso-table--My
+Partnership with Croce Replenishes My Purse--Various Incidents
+
+The happiness derived from my love had prevented me from attaching any
+importance to my losses, and being entirely engrossed with the thought of
+my sweetheart my mind did not seem to care for whatever did not relate to
+her.
+
+I was thinking of her the next morning when her brother called on me with
+a beaming countenance, and said,
+
+"I am certain that you have slept with my sister, and I am very glad of
+it. She does not confess as much, but her confession is not necessary. I
+will bring her to you to-day."
+
+"You will oblige me, for I adore her, and I will get a friend of mine to
+ask her in marriage from your father in such a manner that he will not be
+able to refuse."
+
+"I wish it may be so, but I doubt it. In the mean time, I find myself
+compelled to beg another service from your kindness. I can obtain,
+against a note of hand payable in six months, a ring of the value of two
+hundred sequins, and I am certain to sell it again this very day for the
+same amount. That sum, is very necessary to me just now, but the
+jeweller, who knows you, will not let me have it without your security.
+Will you oblige me in this instance? I know that you lost a great deal
+last night; if you want some money I will give you one hundred sequins,
+which you will return when the note of hand falls due."
+
+How could I refuse him? I knew very well that I would be duped, but I
+loved his sister so much:
+
+"I am ready," said I to him, "to sign the note of hand, but you are wrong
+in abusing my love for your sister in such a manner."
+
+We went out, and the jeweller having accepted my security the bargain was
+completed. The merchant, who knew me only by name, thinking of paying me
+a great compliment, told P---- C---- that with my guarantee all his goods
+were at his service. I did not feel flattered by the compliment, but I
+thought I could see in it the knavery of P---- C----, who was clever
+enough to find out, out of a hundred, the fool who without any reason
+placed confidence in me when I possessed nothing. It was thus that my
+angelic C---- C----, who seemed made to insure my happiness, was the
+innocent cause of my ruin.
+
+At noon P---- C---- brought his sister; and wishing most likely to prove
+its honesty--for a cheat always tries hard to do that--he gave me back
+the letter of exchange which I had endorsed for the Cyprus wine, assuring
+me likewise that at our next meeting he would hand me the one hundred
+sequins which he had promised me.
+
+I took my mistress as usual to Zuecca; I agreed for the garden to be kept
+closed, and we dined under a vine-arbour. My dear C---- C---- seemed to me
+more beautiful since she was mine, and, friendship being united to love
+we felt a delightful sensation of happiness which shone on our features.
+The hostess, who had found me generous, gave us some excellent game and
+some very fine fish; her daughter served us. She also came to undress my
+little wife as soon as we had gone upstairs to give ourselves up to the
+sweet pleasures natural to a young married couple.
+
+When we were alone my loved asked me what was the meaning of the one
+hundred sequins which her brother had promised to bring me, and I told
+her all that had taken place between him and me.
+
+"I entreat you, darling," she said to me, "to refuse all the demands of
+my brother in future; he is, unfortunately, in such difficulties that he
+would at the end drag you down to the abyss into which he must fall."
+
+This time our enjoyment seemed to us more substantial; we relished it
+with a more refined delight, and, so to speak, we reasoned over it.
+
+"Oh, my best beloved!" she said to me, "do all in your power to render me
+pregnant; for in that case my father could no longer refuse his consent
+to my marriage, under the pretext of my being too young."
+
+It was with great difficulty that I made her understand that the
+fulfilment of that wish, however much I shared it myself, was not
+entirely in our power; but that, under the circumstances, it would most
+probably be fulfilled sooner or later.
+
+After working with all our might at the completion of that great
+undertaking, we gave several hours to a profound and delightful repose.
+As soon as we were awake I called for candles and coffee, and we set to
+work again in the hope of obtaining the mutual harmony of ecstatic
+enjoyment which was necessary to insure our future happiness. It was in
+the midst of our loving sport that the too early dawn surprised us, and
+we hurried back to Venice to avoid inquisitive eyes.
+
+We renewed our pleasures on the Friday, but, whatever delight I may feel
+now in the remembrance of those happy moments, I will spare my readers
+the description of my new enjoyment, because they might not feel
+interested in such repetitions. I must therefore only say that, before
+parting on that day, we fixed for the following Monday, the last day of
+the carnival, our last meeting in the Garden of Zuecca. Death alone could
+have hindered me from keeping that appointment, for it was to be the last
+opportunity of enjoying our amorous sport.
+
+On the Monday morning I saw P---- C----, who confirmed the appointment for
+the same hour, and at the place previously agreed upon, and I was there
+in good time. In spite of the impatience of a lover, the first hour of
+expectation passes rapidly, but the second is mortally long. Yet the
+third and the fourth passed without my seeing my beloved mistress. I was
+in a state of fearful anxiety; I imagined the most terrible disasters. It
+seemed to me that if C---- C---- had been unable to go out her brother ought
+to have come to let me know it.
+
+But some unexpected mishap might have detained him, and I could not go
+and fetch her myself at her house, even if I had feared nothing else than
+to miss them on the road. At last, as the church bells were tolling the
+Angelus, C---- C---- came alone, and masked.
+
+"I was certain," she said, "that you were here, and here I am in spite of
+all my mother could say. You must be starving. My brother has not put in
+an appearance through the whole of this day. Let us go quickly to our
+garden, for I am very hungry too, and love will console us for all we
+have suffered today."
+
+She had spoken very rapidly, and without giving me time to utter a single
+word; I had nothing more to ask her. We went off, and took a gondola to
+our garden. The wind was very high, it blew almost a hurricane, and the
+gondola having only one rower the danger was great. C---- C----, who had
+no idea of it, was playing with me to make up for the restraint under
+which she had been all day; but her movements exposed the gondolier to
+danger; if he had fallen into the water, nothing could have saved us, and
+we would have found death on our way to pleasure. I told her to keep
+quiet, but, being anxious not to frighten her, I dared not acquaint her
+with the danger we were running. The gondolier, however, had not the same
+reasons for sparing her feelings, and he called out to us in a stentorian
+voice that, if we did not keep quiet, we were all lost. His threat had
+the desired effect, and we reached the landing without mishap. I paid the
+man generously, and he laughed for joy when he saw the money for which he
+was indebted to the bad weather.
+
+We spent six delightful hours in our casino; this time sleep was not
+allowed to visit us. The only thought which threw a cloud over our
+felicity was that, the carnival being over, we did not know how to
+contrive our future meetings. We agreed, however, that on the following
+Wednesday morning I should pay a visit to her brother, and that she would
+come to his room as usual.
+
+We took leave of our worthy hostess, who, entertaining no hope of seeing
+us again, expressed her sorrow and overwhelmed us with blessings. I
+escorted my darling, without any accident, as far as the door of her
+house, and went home.
+
+I had just risen at noon, when to my great surprise I had a visit from De
+la Haye with his pupil Calvi, a handsome young man, but the very copy of
+his master in everything. He walked, spoke, laughed exactly like him; it
+was the same language as that of the Jesuits correct but rather harsh
+French. I thought that excess of imitation perfectly scandalous, and I
+could not help telling De la Haye that he ought to change his pupil's
+deportment, because such servile mimicry would only expose him to bitter
+raillery. As I was giving him my opinion on that subject, Bavois made his
+appearance, and when he had spent an hour in the company of the young man
+he was entirely of the same mind. Calvi died two or three years later. De
+la Haye, who was bent upon forming pupils, became, two or three months
+after Calvi's death, the tutor of the young Chevalier de Morosini, the
+nephew of the nobleman to whom Bavois was indebted for his rapid fortune,
+who was then the Commissioner of the Republic to settle its boundaries
+with the Austrian Government represented by Count Christiani.
+
+I was in love beyond all measure, and I would not postpone an application
+on which my happiness depended any longer. After dinner, and as soon as
+everybody had retired, I begged M. de Bragadin and his two friends to
+grant me an audience of two hours in the room in which we were always
+inaccessible. There, without any preamble, I told them that I was in love
+with C---- C----, and determined on carrying her off if they could not
+contrive to obtain her from her father for my wife. "The question at
+issue," I said to M. de Bragadin, "is how to give me a respectable
+position, and to guarantee a dowry of ten thousand ducats which the young
+lady would bring me." They answered that, if Paralis gave them the
+necessary instructions, they were ready to fulfil them. That was all I
+wanted. I spent two hours in forming all the pyramids they wished, and
+the result was that M. de Bragadin himself would demand in my name the
+hand of the young lady; the oracle explaining the reason of that choice
+by stating that it must be the same person who would guarantee the dowry
+with his own fortune. The father of my mistress being then at his
+country-house, I told my friends that they would have due notice of his
+return, and that they were to be all three together when M. de Bragadin
+demanded the young lady's hand.
+
+Well pleased with what I had done, I called on P---- C---- the next
+morning. An old woman, who opened the door for me, told me that he was
+not at home, but that his mother would see me. She came immediately with
+her daughter, and they both looked very sad, which at once struck me as a
+bad sign. C---- C---- told me that her brother was in prison for debt, and
+that it would be difficult to get him out of it because his debts
+amounted to a very large sum. The mother, crying bitterly, told me how
+deeply grieved she was at not being able to support him in the prison,
+and she shewed me the letter he had written to her, in which he requested
+her to deliver an enclosure to his sister. I asked C---- C---- whether I
+could read it; she handed it to me, and I saw that he begged her to speak
+to me in his behalf. As I returned it to her, I told her to write to him
+that I was not in a position to do anything for him, but I entreated the
+mother to accept twenty-five sequins, which would enable her to assist
+him by sending him one or two at a time. She made up her mind to take
+them only when her daughter joined her entreaties to mine.
+
+After this painful scene I gave them an account of what I had done in
+order to obtain the hand of my young sweetheart. Madame C---thanked me,
+expressed her appreciation of my honourable conduct, but she told me not
+to entertain any hope, because her husband, who was very stubborn in his
+ideas, had decided that his daughter should marry a merchant, and not
+before the age of eighteen. He was expected home that very day. As I was
+taking leave of them, my mistress contrived to slip in my hand a letter
+in which she told me that I could safely make use of the key which I had
+in my possession, to enter the house at midnight, and that I would find
+her in her brother's room. This news made me very happy, for,
+notwithstanding all the doubts of her mother, I hoped for success in
+obtaining her hand.
+
+When I returned home, I told M. de Bragadin of the expected arrival of
+the father of my charming C---- C----, and the kind old man wrote to him
+immediately in my presence. He requested him to name at what time he
+might call on him on important business. I asked M. de Bragadin not to
+send his letter until the following day.
+
+The reader can very well guess that C---- C---- had not to wait for me long
+after midnight. I gained admittance without any difficulty, and I found
+my darling, who received me with open arms.
+
+"You have nothing to fear," she said to me; "my father has arrived in
+excellent health, and everyone in the house is fast asleep."
+
+"Except Love," I answered, "which is now inviting us to enjoy ourselves.
+Love will protect us, dearest, and to-morrow your father will receive a
+letter from my worthy protector."
+
+At those words C---- C---- shuddered. It was a presentiment of the future.
+
+She said to me,
+
+"My father thinks of me now as if I were nothing but a child; but his
+eyes are going to be opened respecting me; he will examine my conduct,
+and God knows what will happen! Now, we are happy, even more than we were
+during our visits to Zuecca, for we can see each other every night
+without restraint. But what will my father do when he hears that I have a
+lover?"
+
+"What can he do? If he refuses me your hand, I will carry you off, and
+the patriarch would certainly marry us. We shall be one another's for
+life."
+
+"It is my most ardent wish, and to realize it I am ready to do anything;
+but, dearest, I know my father."
+
+We remained two hours together, thinking less of our pleasures than of
+our sorrow; I went away promising to see her again the next night. The
+whole of the morning passed off very heavily for me, and at noon M. de
+Bragadin informed me that he had sent his letter to the father, who had
+answered that he would call himself on the following day to ascertain M.
+de Bragadin's wishes. At midnight I saw my beloved mistress again, and I
+gave her an account of all that had transpired. C---- C---- told me that
+the message of the senator had greatly puzzled her father, because, as he
+had never had any intercourse with that nobleman, he could not imagine
+what he wanted with him. Uncertainty, a sort of anxious dread, and a
+confused hope, rendered our enjoyment much less lively during the two
+hours which we spent together. I had no doubt that M. Ch. C---- the father
+of my young friend, would 'go home immediately after his interview with
+M. de Bragadin, that he would ask his daughter a great many questions,
+and I feared lest C---- C----, in her trouble and confusion, should betray
+herself. She felt herself that it might be so, and I could see how
+painfully anxious she was. I was extremely uneasy myself, and I suffered
+much because, not knowing how her father would look at the matter, I
+could not give her any advice. As a matter of course, it was necessary
+for her to conceal certain circumstances which would have prejudiced his
+mind against us; yet it was urgent to tell him the truth and to shew
+herself entirely submissive to his will. I found myself placed in a
+strange position, and above all, I regretted having made the
+all-important application, precisely because it was certain to have too
+decisive a result. I longed to get out of the state of indecision in
+which I was, and I was surprised to see my young mistress less anxious
+than I was. We parted with heavy hearts, but with the hope that the next
+night would again bring us together, for the contrary did not seem to us
+possible.
+
+The next day, after dinner, M. Ch. C---- called upon M. de Bragadin, but I
+did not shew myself. He remained a couple of hours with my three friends,
+and as soon as he had gone I heard that his answer had been what the
+mother had told me, but with the addition of a circumstance most painful
+to me--namely, that his daughter would pass the four years which were to
+elapse, before she could think of marriage, in a convent. As a palliative
+to his refusal he had added, that, if by that time I had a
+well-established position in the world, he might consent to our wedding.
+
+That answer struck me as most cruel, and in the despair in which it threw
+me I was not astonished when the same night I found the door by which I
+used to gain admittance to C---- C---- closed and locked inside.
+
+I returned home more dead than alive, and lost twenty-four hours in that
+fearful perplexity in which a man is often thrown when he feels himself
+bound to take a decision without knowing what to decide. I thought of
+carrying her off, but a thousand difficulties combined to prevent the
+execution of that scheme, and her brother was in prison. I saw how
+difficult it would be to contrive a correspondence with my wife, for I
+considered C---- C---- as such, much more than if our marriage had received
+the sanction of the priest's blessing or of the notary's legal contract.
+
+Tortured by a thousand distressing ideas, I made up my mind at last to
+pay a visit to Madame C----. A servant opened the door, and informed me
+that madame had gone to the country; she could not tell me when she was
+expected to return to Venice. This news was a terrible thunder-bolt to
+me; I remained as motionless as a statue; for now that I had lost that
+last resource I had no means of procuring the slightest information.
+
+I tried to look calm in the presence of my three friends, but in reality
+I was in a state truly worthy of pity, and the reader will perhaps
+realize it if I tell him that in my despair I made up my mind to call on
+P---- C---- in his prison, in the hope that he might give me some
+information.
+
+My visit proved useless; he knew nothing, and I did not enlighten his
+ignorance. He told me a great many lies which I pretended to accept as
+gospel, and giving him two sequins I went away, wishing him a prompt
+release.
+
+I was racking my brain to contrive some way to know the position of my
+mistress--for I felt certain it was a fearful one--and believing her to
+be unhappy I reproached myself most bitterly as the cause of her misery.
+I had reached such a state of anxiety that I could neither eat nor sleep.
+
+Two days after the refusal of the father, M. de Bragadin and his two
+friends went to Padua for a month. I had not had the heart to go with
+them, and I was alone in the house. I needed consolation and I went to
+the gaming-table, but I played without attention and lost a great deal. I
+had already sold whatever I possessed of any value, and I owed money
+everywhere. I could expect no assistance except from my three kind
+friends, but shame prevented me from confessing my position to them. I
+was in that disposition which leads easily to self-destruction, and I was
+thinking of it as I was shaving myself before a toilet-glass, when the
+servant brought to my room a woman who had a letter for me. The woman
+came up to me, and, handing me the letter, she said,
+
+"Are you the person to whom it is addressed?"
+
+I recognized at once a seal which I had given to C---- C----; I thought I
+would drop down dead. In order to recover my composure, I told the woman
+to wait, and tried to shave myself, but my hand refused to perform its
+office. I put the razor down, turned my back on the messenger, and
+opening the letter I read the following lines,
+
+"Before I can write all I have to say, I must be sure of my messenger. I
+am boarding in a convent, and am very well treated, and I enjoy excellent
+health in spite of the anxiety of my mind. The superior has been
+instructed to forbid me all visitors and correspondence. I am, however,
+already certain of being able to write to you, notwithstanding these very
+strict orders. I entertain no doubt of your good faith, my beloved
+husband, and I feel sure that you will never doubt a heart which is
+wholly yours. Trust to me for the execution of whatever you may wish me
+to do, for I am yours and only yours. Answer only a few words until we
+are quite certain of our messenger.
+
+"Muran, June 12th."
+
+In less than three weeks my young friend had become a clever moralist; it
+is true that Love had been her teacher, and Love alone can work miracles.
+As I concluded the reading of her letter, I was in the state of a
+criminal pardoned at the foot of the scaffold. I required several minutes
+before I recovered the exercise of my will and my presence of mind.
+
+I turned towards the messenger, and asked her if she could read.
+
+"Ah, sir! if I could not read, it would be a great misfortune for me.
+There are seven women appointed for the service of the nuns of Muran. One
+of us comes in turn to Venice once a week; I come every Wednesday, and
+this day week I shall be able to bring you an answer to the letter which,
+if you like, you can write now."
+
+"Then you can take charge of the letters entrusted to you by the nuns?"
+
+"That is not supposed to be one of our duties but the faithful delivery
+of letters being the most important of the commissions committed to our
+care, we should not be trusted if we could not read the address of the
+letters placed in our hands. The nuns wanted to be sure that we shall not
+give to Peter the letter addressed to Paul. The good mothers are always
+afraid of our being guilty of such blunders. Therefore I shall be here
+again, without fail, this day week at the same hour, but please to order
+your servant to wake you in case you should be asleep, for our time is
+measured as if it were gold. Above all, rely entirely upon my discretion
+as long as you employ me; for if I did not know how to keep a silent
+tongue in my head I should lose my bread, and then what would become of
+me--a widow with four children, a boy eight years old, and three pretty
+girls, the eldest of whom is only sixteen? You can see them when you come
+to Muran. I live near the church, on the garden side, and I am always at
+home when I am not engaged in the service of the nuns, who are always
+sending me on one commission or another. The young lady--I do not know
+her name yet, for she has only been one week with us--gave me this
+letter, but so cleverly! Oh! she must be as witty as she is pretty, for
+three nuns who were there were completely bamboozled. She gave it to me
+with this other letter for myself, which I likewise leave in your hands.
+Poor child! she tells me to be discreet! She need not be afraid. Write to
+her, I entreat you, sir, that she can trust me, and answer boldly. I
+would not tell you to act in the same manner with all the other
+messengers of the convent, although I believe them to be honest--and God
+forbid I should speak ill of my fellow-creature--but they are all
+ignorant, you see; and it is certain that they babble, at least, with
+their confessors, if with nobody else. As for me, thank God! I know very
+well that I need not confess anything but my sins, and surely to carry a
+letter from a Christian woman to her brother in Christ is not a sin.
+Besides, my confessor is a good old monk, quite deaf, I believe, for the
+worthy man never answers me; but that is his business, not mine!"
+
+I had not intended to ask her any questions, but if such had been my
+intention she would not have given me time to carry it into execution;
+and without my asking her anything, she was telling me everything I cared
+to know, and she did so in her anxiety for me to avail myself of her
+services exclusively.
+
+I immediately sat down to write to my dear recluse, intending at first to
+write only a few lines, as she had requested me; but my time was too
+short to write so little. My letter was a screed of four pages, and very
+likely it said less than her note of one short page. I told her her
+letter had saved my life, and asked her whether I could hope to see her.
+I informed her that I had given a sequin to the messenger, that she would
+find another for herself under the seal of my letter, and that I would
+send her all the money she might want. I entreated her not to fail
+writing every Wednesday, to be certain that her letters would never be
+long enough to give me full particulars, not only of all she did, of all
+she was allowed to do, but also of all her thoughts respecting her
+release from imprisonment, and the overcoming of all the obstacles which
+were in the way of our mutual happiness; for I was as much hers as she
+was mine. I hinted to her the necessity of gaining the love of all the
+nuns and boarders, but without taking them into her confidence, and of
+shewing no dislike of her convent life. After praising her for the clever
+manner in which she had contrived to write to me, in spite of superior
+orders, I made her understand how careful she was to be to avoid being
+surprised while she was writing, because in such a case her room would
+certainly be searched and all her papers seized.
+
+"Burn all my letters, darling," I added, "and recollect that you must go
+to confession often, but without implicating our love. Share with me all
+your sorrows, which interest me even more than your joys."
+
+I sealed my letter in such a manner that no one could possibly guess that
+there was a sequin hidden under the sealing wax, and I rewarded the
+woman, promising her that I would give her the same reward every time
+that she brought me a letter from my friend. When she saw the sequin
+which I had put in her hand the good woman cried for joy, and she told me
+that, as the gates of the convent were never closed for her, she would
+deliver my letter the moment she found the young lady alone.
+
+Here is the note which C---- C---- had given to the woman, with the letter
+addressed to me:
+
+"God Himself, my good woman, prompts me to have confidence in you rather
+than in anybody else. Take this letter to Venice, and should the person
+to whom it is addressed not be in the city, bring it back to me. You must
+deliver it to that person himself, and if you find him you will most
+likely have an answer, which you must give me, but only when you are
+certain that nobody can see you."
+
+If Love is imprudent, it is only in the hope of enjoyment; but when it is
+necessary to bring back happiness destroyed by some untoward accident,
+Love foresees all that the keenest perspicacity could possibly find out.
+The letter of my charming wife overwhelmed me with joy, and in one moment
+I passed from a state of despair to that of extreme felicity. I felt
+certain that I should succeed in carrying her off even if the walls of
+the convent could boast of artillery, and after the departure of the
+messenger my first thought was to endeavour to spend the seven days,
+before I could receive the second letter, pleasantly. Gambling alone
+could do it, but everybody had gone to Padua. I got my trunk ready, and
+immediately sent it to the burchiello then ready to start, and I left for
+Frusina. From that place I posted, and in less than three hours I arrived
+at the door of the Bragadin Palace, where I found my dear protector on
+the point of sitting down to dinner. He embraced me affectionately, and
+seeing me covered with perspiration he said to me,
+
+"I am certain that you are in no hurry."
+
+"No," I answered, "but I am starving."
+
+I brought joy to the brotherly trio, and I enhanced their happiness when
+I told my friends that I would remain six days with them. De la Haye
+dined with us on that day; as soon as dinner was over he closeted himself
+with M. Dandoio, and for two hours they remained together. I had gone to
+bed during that time, but M. Dandolo came up to me and told me that I had
+arrived just in time to consult the oracle respecting an important affair
+entirely private to himself. He gave me the questions, and requested me
+to find the answers. He wanted to know whether he would act rightly if he
+accepted a project proposed to him by De la Haye.
+
+The oracle answered negatively.
+
+M. Dandolo, rather surprised, asked a second question: he wished Paralis
+to give his reasons for the denial.
+
+I formed the cabalistic pile, and brought out this answer:
+
+"I asked Casanova's opinion, and as I find it opposed to the proposal
+made by De la Haye, I do not wish to hear any more about it."
+
+Oh! wonderful power of self-delusion! This worthy man, pleased at being
+able to throw the odium of a refusal on me, left me perfectly satisfied.
+I had no idea of the nature of the affair to which he had been alluding,
+and I felt no curiosity about it; but it annoyed me that a Jesuit should
+interfere and try to make my friends do anything otherwise than through
+my instrumentality, and I wanted that intriguer to know that my influence
+was greater than his own.
+
+After that, I dressed, masked myself, and went to the opera, where I sat
+down to a faro-table and lost all my money. Fortune was determined to
+shew me that it does not always agree with love. My heart was heavy, I
+felt miserable; I went to bed. When I woke in the morning, I saw De la
+Haye come into my room with a beaming countenance, and, assuming an air
+of devoted friendship, he made a great show of his feelings towards me. I
+knew what to think of it all, and I waited for the 'denouement'.
+
+"My dear friend," he said to me at last, "why did you dissuade M. Dandolo
+from doing what I had insinuated to him?"
+
+"What had you insinuated to him?"
+
+"You know well enough."
+
+"If I knew it, I would not ask you!"
+
+"M. Dandolo himself told me that you had advised him against it."
+
+"Advised against, that may be, but certainly not dissuaded, for if he had
+been persuaded in his own mind he would not have asked my advice."
+
+"As you please; but may I enquire your reasons?"
+
+"Tell me first what your proposal was."
+
+"Has he not told you?"
+
+"Perhaps he has; but if you wish to know my reasons, I must hear the
+whole affair from your own lips, because M. Dandolo spoke to me under a
+promise of secrecy."
+
+"Of what good is all this reserve?"
+
+"Everyone has his own principles and his own way of thinking: I have a
+sufficiently good opinion of you to believe that you would act exactly as
+I do, for I have heard you say that in all secret matters one ought to
+guard against surprise."
+
+"I am incapable of taking such an advantage of a friend; but as a general
+rule your maxim is a right one; I like prudence. I will tell you the
+whole affair. You are aware that Madame Tripolo has been left a widow,
+and that M. Dandolo is courting her assiduously, after having done the
+same for fourteen years during the life of the husband. The lady, who is
+still young, beautiful and lovely, and also is very respectable, wishes
+to become his wife. It is to me that she has confided her wishes, and as
+I saw nothing that was not praiseworthy, either in a temporal or in a
+spiritual point of view, in that union, for after all we are all men, I
+took the affair in hand with real pleasure. I fancied even that M.
+Dandolo felt some inclination for that marriage when he told me that he
+would give me his decision this morning. I am not astonished at his
+having asked your advice in such an important affair, for a prudent man
+is right in asking the opinion of a wise friend before taking a decisive
+step; but I must tell you candidly that I am astonished at your
+disapproval of such a marriage. Pray excuse me if, in order to improve by
+the information, I ask why your opinion is exactly the reverse of mine."
+
+Delighted at having discovered the whole affair, at having arrived in
+time to prevent my friend who was goodness itself contracting an absurd
+marriage, I answered the hypocrite that I loved M. Dandolo, that I knew
+his temperament, and that I was certain that a marriage with a woman like
+Madame Tripolo would shorten his life.
+
+"That being my opinion," I added, "you must admit that as a true friend I
+was right in advising him against your proposal. Do you recollect having
+told me that you never married for the very same reason? Do you recollect
+your strong arguments in favour of celibacy while we were at Parma?
+Consider also, I beg, that every man has a certain small stock of
+selfishness, and that I may be allowed to have mine when I think that if
+M. Dandolo took a wife the influence of that wife would of course have
+some weight, and that the more she gained in influence over him the more
+I should lose. So you see it would not be natural for me to advise him to
+take a step which would ultimately prove very detrimental to my
+interests. If you can prove that my reasons are either trifling or
+sophistical, speak openly: I will tell M. Dandolo that my mind has
+changed; Madame Tripolo will become his wife when we return to Venice.
+But let me warn you that thorough conviction can alone move me."
+
+"I do not believe myself clever enough to convince you. I shall write to
+Madame Tripolo that she must apply to you."
+
+"Do not write anything of the sort to that lady, or she will think that
+you are laughing at her. Do you suppose her foolish enough to expect that
+I will give way to her wishes? She knows that I do not like her."
+
+"How can she possibly know that?"
+
+"She must have remarked that I have never cared to accompany M. Dandolo
+to her house. Learn from me once for all, that as long as I live with my
+three friends they shall have no wife but me. You may get married as soon
+as you please; I promise not to throw any obstacle in your way; but if
+you wish to remain on friendly terms with me give up all idea of leading
+my three friends astray."
+
+"You are very caustic this morning."
+
+"I lost all my money last night.
+
+"Then I have chosen a bad time. Farewell."
+
+From that day, De la Haye became my secret enemy, and to him I was in a
+great measure indebted, two years later, for my imprisonment under The
+Leads of Venice; not owing to his slanders, for I do not believe he was
+capable of that, Jesuit though he was--and even amongst such people there
+is sometimes some honourable feeling--but through the mystical
+insinuations which he made in the presence of bigoted persons. I must
+give fair notice to my readers that, if they are fond of such people,
+they must not read these Memoirs, for they belong to a tribe which I have
+good reason to attack unmercifully.
+
+The fine marriage was never again alluded to. M. Dandolo continued to
+visit his beautiful widow every day, and I took care to elicit from
+Paralis a strong interdiction ever to put my foot in her house.
+
+Don Antonio Croce, a young Milanese whom I had known in Reggio, a
+confirmed gambler, and a downright clever hand in securing the favours of
+Dame Fortune, called on me a few minutes after De la Haye had retired. He
+told me that, having seen me lose all my money the night before, he had
+come to offer me the means of retrieving my losses, if I would take an
+equal interest with him in a faro bank that he meant to hold at his
+house, and in which he would have as punters seven or eight rich
+foreigners who were courting his wife.
+
+"If you will put three hundred sequins in my bank," he added, "you shall
+be my partner. I have three hundred sequins myself, but that is not
+enough because the punters play high. Come and dine at my house, and you
+will make their acquaintance. We can play next Friday as there will be no
+opera, and you may rely upon our winning plenty of gold, for a certain
+Gilenspetz, a Swede, may lose twenty thousand sequins."
+
+I was without any resources, or at all events I could expect no
+assistance except from M. de Bragadin upon whom I felt ashamed of
+encroaching. I was well aware that the proposal made by Croce was not
+strictly moral, and that I might have chosen a more honourable society;
+but if I had refused, the purse of Madame Croce's admirers would not have
+been more mercifully treated; another would have profited by that stroke
+of good fortune. I was therefore not rigid enough to refuse my assistance
+as adjutant and my share of the pie; I accepted Croce's invitation.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+I Get Rich Again--My Adventure At Dolo--Analysis of a Long Letter From C.
+C.--Mischievous Trick Played Upon Me By P. C.--At Vincenza--A
+Tragi-comedy At the Inn
+
+Necessity, that imperious law and my only excuse, having made me almost
+the partner of a cheat, there was still the difficulty of finding the
+three hundred sequins required; but I postponed the task of finding them
+until after I should have made the acquaintance of the dupes of the
+goddess to whom they addressed their worship. Croce took me to the Prato
+delta Valle, where we found madame surrounded with foreigners. She was
+pretty; and as a secretary of the imperial ambassador, Count Rosemberg,
+had attached himself to her, not one of the Venetian nobles dared court
+her. Those who interested me among the satellites gravitating around that
+star were the Swede Gilenspetz, a Hamburger, the Englishman Mendez, who
+has already been mentioned, and three or four others to whore Croce
+called my attention.
+
+We dined all together, and after dinner there was a general call for a
+faro bank; but Croce did not accept. His refusal surprised me, because
+with three hundred sequins, being a very skilful player, he had enough to
+try his fortune. He did not, however, allow my suspicions to last long,
+for he took me to his own room and shewed me fifty pieces of eight, which
+were equal to three hundred sequins. When I saw that the professional
+gambler had not chosen me as his partner with the intention of making a
+dupe of me, I told him that I would certainly procure the amount, and
+upon that promise he invited everybody to supper for the following day.
+We agreed that we would divide the spoils before parting in the evening,
+and that no one should be allowed to play on trust.
+
+I had to procure the amount, but to whom could I apply? I could ask no
+one but M. de Bragadin. The excellent man had not that sum in his
+possession, for his purse was generally empty; but he found a usurer--a
+species of animal too numerous unfortunately for young men--who, upon a
+note of hand endorsed by him, gave me a thousand ducats, at five per
+cent. for one month, the said interest being deducted by anticipation
+from the capital. It was exactly the amount I required. I went to the
+supper; Croce held the bank until daylight, and we divided sixteen
+hundred sequins between us. The game continued the next evening, and
+Gilenspetz alone lost two thousand sequins; the Jew Mendez lost about one
+thousand. Sunday was sanctified by rest, but on Monday the bank won four
+thousand sequins. On the Tuesday we all dined together, and the play was
+resumed; but we had scarcely begun when an officer of the podesta made
+his appearance and informed Croce that he wanted a little private
+conversation with him. They left the room together, and after a short
+absence Croce came back rather crestfallen; he announced that by superior
+orders he was forbidden to hold a bank at his house. Madame fainted away,
+the punters hurried out, and I followed their example, as soon as I had
+secured one-half of the gold which was on the table. I was glad enough it
+was not worse. As I left, Croce told me that we would meet again in
+Venice, for he had been ordered to quit Padua within twenty-four hours. I
+expected it would be so, because he was to well known; but his greatest
+crime, in the opinion of the podesta, was that he attracted the players
+to his own house, whilst the authorities wanted all the lovers of play to
+lose their money at the opera, where the bankers were mostly noblemen
+from Venice.
+
+I left the city on horseback in the evening and in very bad weather, but
+nothing could have kept me back, because early the next morning I
+expected a letter from my dear prisoner. I had only travelled six miles
+from Padua when my horse fell, and I found my left leg caught under it.
+My boots were soft ones, and I feared I had hurt myself. The postillion
+was ahead of me, but hearing the noise made by the fall he came up and
+disengaged me; I was not hurt, but my horse was lame. I immediately took
+the horse of the postillion, to which I was entitled, but the insolent
+fellow getting hold of the bit refused to let me proceed. I tried to make
+him understand that he was wrong; but, far from giving way to my
+arguments, he persisted in stopping me, and being in a great hurry to
+continue my journey I fired one of my pistols in his face, but without
+touching him. Frightened out of his wits, the man let go, and I galloped
+off. When I reached the Dolo, I went straight to the stables, and I
+myself saddled a horse which a postillion, to whom I gave a crown,
+pointed out to me as being excellent. No one thought of being astonished
+at my other postillion having remained behind, and we started at full
+speed. It was then one o'clock in the morning; the storm had broken up
+the road, and the night was so dark that I could not see anything within
+a yard ahead of me; the day was breaking when we arrived in Fusina.
+
+The boatmen threatened me with a fresh storm; but setting everything at
+defiance I took a four-oared boat, and reached my dwelling quite safe but
+shivering with cold and wet to the skin. I had scarcely been in my room
+for a quarter of an hour when the messenger from Muran presented herself
+and gave me a letter, telling me that she would call for the answer in
+two hours. That letter was a journal of seven pages, the faithful
+translation of which might weary my readers, but here is the substance of
+it:
+
+After the interview with M. de Bragadin, the father of C---- C---- had gone
+home, had his wife and daughter to his room, and enquired kindly from the
+last where she had made my acquaintance. She answered that she had seen
+me five or six times in her brother's room, that I had asked her whether
+she would consent to be my wife, and that she had told me that she was
+dependent upon her father and mother. The father had then said that she
+was too young to think of marriage, and besides, I had not yet conquered
+a position in society. After that decision he repaired to his son's room,
+and locked the small door inside as well as the one communicating with
+the apartment of the mother, who was instructed by him to let me believe
+that she had gone to the country, in case I should call on her.
+
+Two days afterwards he came to C---- C----, who was beside her sick
+mother, and told her that her aunt would take her to a convent, where she
+was to remain until a husband had been provided for her by her parents.
+She answered that, being perfectly disposed to submit to his will, she
+would gladly obey him. Pleased with her ready obedience he promised to go
+and see her, and to let his mother visit her likewise, as soon as her
+health was better. Immediately after that conversation the aunt had
+called for her, and a gondola had taken them to the convent, where she
+had been ever since. Her bed and her clothes had been brought to her; she
+was well pleased with her room and with the nun to whom she had been
+entrusted, and under whose supervision she was. It was by her that she
+had been forbidden to receive either letters or visits, or to write to
+anybody, under penalty of excommunication from the Holy Father, of
+everlasting damnation, and of other similar trifles; yet the same nun had
+supplied her with paper, ink and books, and it was at night that my young
+friend transgressed the laws of the convent in order to write all these
+particulars to me. She expressed her conviction respecting the discretion
+and the faithfulness of the messenger, and she thought that she would
+remain devoted, because, being poor, our sequins were a little fortune
+for her.
+
+She related to me in the most assuring manner that the handsomest of all
+the nuns in the convent loved her to distraction, gave her a French
+lesson twice a-day, and had amicably forbidden her to become acquainted
+with the other boarders. That nun was only twenty-two years of age; she
+was beautiful, rich and generous; all the other nuns shewed her great
+respect. "When we are alone," wrote my friend, "she kisses me so tenderly
+that you would be jealous if she were not a woman." As to our project of
+running away, she did not think it would be very difficult to carry it
+into execution, but that it would be better to wait until she knew the
+locality better. She told me to remain faithful and constant, and asked
+me to send her my portrait hidden in a ring by a secret spring known only
+to us. She added that I might send it to her by her mother, who had
+recovered her usual health, and was in the habit of attending early mass
+at her parish church every day by herself. She assured me that the
+excellent woman would be delighted to see me, and to do anything I might
+ask her. "At all events," she concluded, "I hope to find myself in a few
+months in a position which will scandalize the convent if they are
+obstinately bent upon keeping me here."
+
+I was just finishing my answer when Laura, the messenger, returned for
+it. After I had paid the sequin I had promised her, I gave her a parcel
+containing sealing-wax, paper, pens, and a tinder-box, which she promised
+to deliver to C---- C----. My darling had told her that I was her cousin,
+and Laura feigned to believe it.
+
+Not knowing what to do in Venice, and believing that I ought for the sake
+of my honour to shew myself in Padua, or else people might suppose that I
+had received the same order as Croce, I hurried my breakfast, and
+procured a 'bolletta' from the booking-office for Rome; because I foresaw
+that the firing of my pistol and the lame horse might not have improved
+the temper of the post-masters; but by shewing them what is called in
+Italy a 'bolletta', I knew that they could not refuse to supply me with
+horses whenever they had any in their stables. As far as the pistol-shot
+was concerned I had no fear, for I had purposely missed the insolent
+postillion; and even if I had killed him on the spot it would not have
+been of much importance.
+
+In Fusina I took a two-wheeled chaise, for I was so tired that I could
+not have performed the journey on horseback, and I reached the Dolo,
+where I was recognized and horses were refused me.
+
+I made a good deal of noise, and the post-master, coming out, threatened
+to have me arrested if I did not pay him for his dead horse. I answered
+that if the horse were dead I would account for it to the postmaster in
+Padua, but what I wanted was fresh horses without delay.
+
+And I shewed him the dread 'bolletta', the sight of which made him lower
+his tone; but he told me that, even if he supplied me with horses, I had
+treated the postillion so badly that not one of his men would drive me.
+"If that is the case," I answered, "you shall accompany me yourself." The
+fellow laughed in my face, turned his back upon me, and went away. I took
+two witnesses, and I called with them at the office of a public notary,
+who drew up a properly-worded document, by which I gave notice to the
+post-master that I should expect an indemnity of ten sequins for each
+hour of delay until I had horses supplied to me.
+
+As soon as he had been made acquainted with the contents of this, he gave
+orders to bring out two restive horses. I saw at once that his intention
+was to have me upset along the road, and perhaps thrown into the river;
+but I calmly told the postillion that at the very moment my chaise was
+upset I would blow his brains out with a pistol-shot; this threat
+frightened the man; he took his horses back to the stables, and declared
+to his master that he would not drive me. At that very moment a courier
+arrived, who called for six carriage horses and two saddle ones. I warned
+the post-master that no one should leave the place before me, and that if
+he opposed my will there would be a sanguinary contest; in order to prove
+that I was in earnest I took out my pistols. The fellow began to swear,
+but, everyone saying that he was in the wrong, he disappeared.
+
+Five minutes afterwards whom should I see, arriving in a beautiful berlin
+drawn by six horses, but Croce with his wife, a lady's maid, and two
+lackeys in grand livery. He alighted, we embraced one another, and I told
+him, assuming an air of sadness, that he could not leave before me. I
+explained how the case stood; he said I was right, scolded loudly, as if
+he had been a great lord, and made everybody tremble. The postmaster had
+disappeared; his wife came and ordered the postillions to attend to my
+wants. During that time Croce said to me that I was quite right in going
+back to Padua, where the public rumour had spread the report of my having
+left the city in consequence of an order from the police. He informed me
+that the podesta had likewise expelled M. de Gondoin, a colonel in the
+service of the Duke of Modena, because he held a faro bank at his house.
+I promised him to pay him a visit in Venice in the ensuing week. Croce,
+who had dropped from the sky to assist me in a moment of great distress,
+had won ten thousand sequins in four evenings: I had received five
+thousand for my share; and lost no time in paying my debts and in
+redeeming all the articles which I had been compelled to pledge. That
+scamp brought me back the smiles of Fortune, and from that moment I got
+rid of the ill luck which had seemed to fasten on me.
+
+I reached Padua in safety, and the postillion, who very likely out of
+fear had driven me in good style, was well pleased with my liberality; it
+was the best way of making peace with the tribe. My arrival caused great
+joy to my three friends, whom my sudden departure had alarmed, with the
+exception of M. de Bragadin, in whose hands I had placed my cash-box the
+day before. His two friends had given credence to the general report,
+stating that the podesta had ordered me to leave Padua. They forgot that
+I was a citizen of Venice, and that the podesta could not pass such a
+sentence upon me without exposing himself to legal proceedings. I was
+tired, but instead of going to bed I dressed myself in my best attire in
+order to go to the opera without a mask. I told my friends that it was
+necessary for me to shew myself, so as to give the lie to all that had
+been reported about me by slandering tongues. De la Haye said to me,
+
+"I shall be delighted if all those reports are false; but you have no one
+to blame but yourself, for your hurried departure gave sufficient cause
+for all sorts of surmises."
+
+"And for slander."
+
+"That may be; but people want to know everything, and they invent when
+they cannot guess the truth."
+
+"And evil-minded fools lose no time in repeating those inventions
+everywhere."
+
+"But there can be no doubt that you wanted to kill the postillion. Is
+that a calumny likewise?"
+
+"The greatest of all. Do you think that a good shot can miss a man when
+he is firing in his very face, unless he does it purposely?"
+
+"It seems difficult; but at all events it is certain that the horse is
+dead, and you must pay for it."
+
+"No, sir, not even if the horse belonged to you, for the postillion
+preceded me. You know a great many things; do you happen to know the
+posting regulations? Besides, I was in a great hurry because I had
+promised a pretty woman to breakfast with her, and such engagements, as
+you are well aware, cannot be broken."
+
+Master de la Haye looked angry at the rather caustic irony with which I
+had sprinkled the dialogue; but he was still more vexed when, taking some
+gold out of my pocket, I returned to him the sum he had lent me in
+Vienna. A man never argues well except when his purse is well filled;
+then his spirits are pitched in a high key, unless he should happen to be
+stupefied by some passion raging in his soul.
+
+M. de Bragadin thought I was quite right to shew myself at the opera
+without a mask.
+
+The moment I made my appearance in the pit everybody seemed quite
+astonished, and I was overwhelmed with compliments, sincere or not. After
+the first ballet I went to the card-room, and in four deals I won five
+hundred sequins. Starving, and almost dead for want of sleep, I returned
+to my friends to boast of my victory. My friend Bavois was there, and he
+seized the opportunity to borrow from me fifty sequins, which he never
+returned; true, I never asked him for them.
+
+My thoughts being constantly absorbed in my dear C---- C----, I spent the
+whole of the next day in having my likeness painted in miniature by a
+skilful Piedmontese, who had come for the Fair of Padua, and who in after
+times made a great deal of money in Venice. When he had completed my
+portrait he painted for me a beautiful St. Catherine of the same size,
+and a clever Venetian jeweller made the ring, the bezel of which shewed
+only the sainted virgin; but a blue spot, hardly visible on the white
+enamel which surrounded it, corresponded with the secret spring which
+brought out my portrait, and the change was obtained by pressing on the
+blue spot with the point of a pin.
+
+On the following Friday, as we were rising from the dinner-table, a
+letter was handed to me. It was with great surprise that I recognized the
+writing of P---- C----. He asked me to pay him a visit at the "Star
+Hotel," where he would give me some interesting information. Thinking
+that he might have something to say concerning his sister, I went to him
+at once.
+
+I found him with Madame C----, and after congratulating him upon his
+release from prison I asked him for the news he had to communicate.
+
+"I am certain," he said, "that my sister is in a convent, and I shall be
+able to tell you the name of it when I return to Venice."
+
+"You will oblige me," I answered, pretending not to know anything.
+
+But his news had only been a pretext to make me come to him, and his
+eagerness to communicate it had a very different object in view than the
+gratification of my curiosity.
+
+"I have sold," he said to me, "my privileged contract for three years for
+a sum of fifteen thousand florins, and the man with whom I have made the
+bargain took me out of prison by giving security for me, and advanced me
+six thousand florins in four letters of exchange."
+
+He shewed me the letters of exchange, endorsed by a name which I did not
+know, but which he said was a very good one, and he continued,
+
+"I intend to buy six thousand florins worth of silk goods from the looms
+of Vicenza, and to give in payment to the merchants these letters of
+exchange. I am certain of selling those goods rapidly with a profit of
+ten per cent. Come with us to Vicenza; I will give you some of my goods
+to the amount of two hundred sequins, and thus you will find yourself
+covered for the guarantee which you have been kind enough to give to the
+jeweller for the ring. We shall complete the transaction within
+twenty-four hours."
+
+I did not feel much inclination for the trip, but I allowed myself to be
+blinded by the wish to cover the amount which I had guaranteed, and which
+I had no doubt I would be called upon to pay some day or other.
+
+"If I do not go with him," I said to myself "he will sell the goods at a
+loss of twenty-five per cent., and I shall get nothing."
+
+I promised to accompany him. He shewed me several letters of
+recommendation for the best houses in Vicenza, and our departure was
+fixed for early the next morning. I was at the "Star Hotel" by daybreak.
+A carriage and four was ready; the hotel-keeper came up with his bill,
+and P---- C---- begged me to pay it. The bill amounted to five sequins;
+four of which had been advanced in cash by the landlord to pay the driver
+who had brought them from Fusina. I saw that it was a put-up thing, yet I
+paid with pretty good grace, for I guessed that the scoundrel had left
+Venice without a penny. We reached Vicenza in three hours, and we put up
+at the "Cappello," where P---- C---- ordered a good dinner before leaving
+me with the lady to call upon the manufacturers.
+
+When the beauty found herself alone with me, she began by addressing
+friendly reproaches to me.
+
+"I have loved you," she said, "for eighteen years; the first time that I
+saw you we were in Padua, and we were then only nine years old."
+
+I certainly had no recollection of it. She was the daughter of the
+antiquarian friend of M. Grimani, who had placed me as a boarder with the
+accursed Sclavonian woman. I could not help smiling, for I recollected
+that her mother had loved me.
+
+Shop-boys soon began to make their appearance, bringing pieces of goods,
+and the face of Madame C---- brightened up. In less than two hours the
+room was filled with them, and P---- C---- came back with two merchants,
+whom he had invited to dinner. Madame allured them by her pretty manners;
+we dined, and exquisite wines were drunk in profusion. In the afternoon
+fresh goods were brought in; P---- C---- made a list of them with the
+prices; but he wanted more, and the merchants promised to send them the
+next day, although it was Sunday. Towards the evening several counts
+arrived, for in Vicenza every nobleman is a count. P---- C---- had left his
+letters of recommendation at their houses. We had a Count Velo, a Count
+Sesso, a Count Trento--all very amiable companions. They invited us to
+accompany them to the casino, where Madame C---- shone by her charms and
+her coquettish manners. After we had spent two hours in that place,
+P---- C---- invited all his new friends to supper, and it was a scene of
+gaiety and profusion. The whole affair annoyed me greatly, and therefore
+I was not amiable; the consequence was that no one spoke to me. I rose
+from my seat and went to bed, leaving the joyous company still round the
+festive board. In the morning I came downstairs, had my breakfast, and
+looked about me. The room was so full of goods that I did not see how
+P---- C---- could possibly pay for all with his six thousand florins. He
+told me, however, that his business would be completed on the morrow, and
+that we were invited to a ball where all the nobility would be present.
+The merchants with whom he had dealt came to dine with us, and the dinner
+was remarkable for its extreme profusion.
+
+We went to the ball; but I soon got very weary of it, for every body was
+speaking to Madame C---- and to P---- C----, who never uttered a word with
+any meaning, but whenever I opened my lips people would pretend not to
+hear me. I invited a lady to dance a minuet; she accepted, but she looked
+constantly to the right or to the left, and seemed to consider me as a
+mere dancing machine. A quadrille was formed, but the thing was contrived
+in such a manner as to leave me out of it, and the very lady who had
+refused me as a partner danced with another gentleman. Had I been in good
+spirits I should certainly have resented such conduct, but I preferred to
+leave the ball-room. I went to bed, unable to understand why the nobility
+of Vicenza treated me in such a way. Perhaps they neglected me because I
+was not named in the letters of introduction given to P---- C----, but I
+thought that they might have known the laws of common politeness. I bore
+the evil patiently, however, as we were to leave the city the next day.
+
+On Monday, the worthy pair being tired, they slept until noon, and after
+dinner P---- C---- went out to pay for the goods.
+
+We were to go away early on the Tuesday, and I instinctively longed for
+that moment. The counts whom P---- C---- had invited were delighted with
+his mistress, and they came to supper; but I avoided meeting them.
+
+On the Tuesday morning I was duly informed that breakfast was ready, but
+as I did not answer the summons quickly enough the servant came up again,
+and told me that my wife requested me to make haste. Scarcely had the
+word "wife" escaped his lips than I visited the cheek of the poor fellow
+with a tremendous smack, and in my rage kicked him downstairs, the bottom
+of which he reached in four springs, to the imminent risk of his neck.
+Maddened with rage I entered the breakfast-room, and addressing myself to
+P---- C----, I asked him who was the scoundrel who had announced me in the
+hotel as the husband of Madame C----. He answered that he did not know;
+but at the same moment the landlord came into the room with a big knife
+in his hand, and asked me why I had kicked his servant down the stairs. I
+quickly drew a pistol, and threatening him with it I demanded
+imperatively from him the name of the person who had represented me as
+the husband of that woman.
+
+"Captain P---- C----," answered the landlord, "gave the names, profession,
+etc., of your party."
+
+At this I seized the impudent villain by the throat, and pinning him
+against the wall with a strong hand I would have broken his head with the
+butt of my pistol, if the landlord had not prevented me. Madame had
+pretended to swoon, for those women can always command tears or fainting
+fits, and the cowardly P---- C---- kept on saying,
+
+"It is not true, it is not true!"
+
+The landlord ran out to get the hotel register, and he angrily thrust it
+under the nose of the coward, daring him to deny his having dictated:
+Captain P---- C----, with M. and Madame Casanova. The scoundrel answered
+that his words had certainly not been heard rightly, and the incensed
+landlord slapped the book in his face with such force that he sent him
+rolling, almost stunned, against the wall.
+
+When I saw that the wretched poltroon was receiving such degrading
+treatment without remembering that he had a sword hanging by his side, I
+left the room, and asked the landlord to order me a carriage to take me
+to Padua.
+
+Beside myself with rage, blushing for very shame, seeing but too late the
+fault I had committed by accepting the society of a scoundrel, I went up
+to my room, and hurriedly packed up my carpet-bag. I was just going out
+when Madame C---- presented herself before me.
+
+"Begone, madam," I said to her, "or, in my rage, I might forget the
+respect due to your sex."
+
+She threw herself, crying bitterly, on a chair, entreated me to forgive
+her, assuring me that she was innocent, and that she was not present when
+the knave had given the names. The landlady, coming in at that moment,
+vouched for the truth of her assertion. My anger began to abate, and as I
+passed near the window I saw the carriage I had ordered waiting for me
+with a pair of good horses. I called for the landlord in order to pay
+whatever my share of the expense might come to, but he told me that as I
+had ordered nothing myself I had nothing to pay. Just at that juncture
+Count Velo came in.
+
+"I daresay, count," I said, "that you believe this woman to be my wife."
+
+"That is a fact known to everybody in the city."
+
+"Damnation! And you have believed such a thing, knowing that I occupy
+this room alone, and seeing me leave the ball-room and the supper-table
+yesterday alone, leaving her with you all!"
+
+"Some husbands are blessed with such easy dispositions!"
+
+"I do not think I look like one of that species, and you are not a judge
+of men of honour, let us go out, and I undertake to prove it to you."
+
+The count rushed down the stairs and out of the hotel. The miserable
+C---- was choking, and I could not help pitying her; for a woman has in
+her tears a weapon which through my life I have never known to resist. I
+considered that if I left the hotel without paying anything, people might
+laugh at my anger and suppose that I had a share in the swindle; I
+requested the landlord to bring me the account, intending to pay half of
+it. He went for it, but another scene awaited me. Madame C----, bathed in
+tears, fell on her knees, and told me that if I abandoned her she was
+lost, for she had no money and nothing to leave as security for her hotel
+bill.
+
+"What, madam! Have you not letters of exchange to the amount of six
+thousand florins, or the goods bought with them?"
+
+"The goods are no longer here; they have all been taken away, because the
+letters of exchange, which you saw, and which we considered as good as
+cash, only made the merchants laugh; they have sent for everything. Oh!
+who could have supposed it?"
+
+"The scoundrel! He knew it well enough, and that is why he was so anxious
+to bring me here. Well, it is right that I should pay the penalty of my
+own folly."
+
+The bill brought by the landlord amounted to forty sequins, a very high
+figure for three days; but a large portion of that sum was cash advanced
+by the landlord, I immediately felt that my honour demanded that I should
+pay the bill in full; and I paid without any hesitation, taking care to
+get a receipt given in the presence of two witnesses. I then made a
+present of two sequins to the nephew of the landlord to console him for
+the thrashing he had received, and I refused the same sum to the wretched
+C----, who had sent the landlady to beg it for her.
+
+Thus ended that unpleasant adventure, which taught me a lesson, and a
+lesson which I ought not to have required. Two or three weeks later, I
+heard that Count Trento had given those two miserable beings some money
+to enable them to leave the city; as far as I was concerned, I would not
+have anything to do with them. A month afterwards P---- C---- was again
+arrested for debt, the man who had been security for him having become a
+bankrupt. He had the audacity to write a long letter to me, entreating me
+to go and see him, but I did not answer him. I was quite as inflexible
+towards Madame C----, whom I always refused to see. She was reduced to
+great poverty.
+
+I returned to Padua, where I stopped only long enough to take my ring and
+to dine with M. de Bragadin, who went back to Venice a few days
+afterwards.
+
+The messenger from the convent brought me a letter very early in the
+morning; I devoured its contents; it was very loving, but gave no news.
+In my answer I gave my dear C---- C---- the particulars of the infamous
+trick played upon me by her villainous brother, and mentioned the ring,
+with the secret of which I acquainted her.
+
+According to the information I had received from C---- C----, I placed
+myself, one morning, so as to see her mother enter the church, into which
+I followed her. Kneeling close to her, I told her that I wished to speak
+with her, and she followed me to the cloister. I began by speaking a few
+consoling words; then I told her that I would remain faithful to her
+daughter, and I asked her whether she visited her.
+
+"I intend," she said, "to go and kiss my dear child next Sunday, and I
+shall of course speak of you with her, for I know well enough that she
+will be delighted to have news of you; but to my great regret I am not at
+liberty to tell you where she is."
+
+"I do not wish you to tell me, my good mother, but allow me to send her
+this ring by you. It is the picture of her patroness, and I wish you to
+entreat her to wear it always on her finger; tell her to look at the
+image during her daily prayers, for without that protection she can never
+become my wife. Tell her that, on my side, I address every day a credo to
+St. James."
+
+Delighted with the piety of my feelings and with the prospect of
+recommending this new devotion to her daughter, the good woman promised
+to fulfil my commission. I left her, but not before I had placed in her
+hand ten sequins which I begged her to force upon her daughter's
+acceptance to supply herself with the trifles she might require. She
+accepted, but at the same time she assured me that her father had taken
+care to provide her with all necessaries. The letter which I received
+from C---- C----, on the following Wednesday, was the expression of the
+most tender affection and the most lively gratitude. She said that the
+moment she was alone nothing could be more rapid than the point of the
+pin which made St. Catherine cut a somersault, and presented to her eager
+eyes the beloved features of the being who was the whole world to her. "I
+am constantly kissing you," she added, "even when some of the nuns are
+looking at me, for whenever they come near me I have only to let the top
+part of the ring fall back and my dear patroness takes care to conceal
+everything. All the nuns are highly pleased with my devotion and with the
+confidence I have in the protection of my blessed patroness, whom they
+think very much like me in the face." It was nothing but a beautiful face
+created by the fancy of the painter, but my dear little wife was so
+lovely that beauty was sure to be like her.
+
+She said, likewise, that the nun who taught her French had offered her
+fifty sequins for the ring on account of the likeness between her and the
+portrait of the saint, but not out of veneration for her patroness, whom
+she turned into ridicule as she read her life. She thanked me for the ten
+sequins I had sent her, because, her mother having given them to her in
+the presence of several of the sisters, she was thus enabled to spend a
+little money without raising the suspicions of those curious and
+inquisitive nuns. She liked to offer trifling presents to the other
+boarders, and the money allowed her to gratify that innocent taste.
+
+"My mother," added she, "praised your piety very highly; she is delighted
+with your feelings of devotion. Never mention again, I beg, the name of
+my unworthy brother."
+
+For five or six weeks her letters were full of the blessed St. Catherine,
+who caused her to tremble with fear every time she found herself
+compelled to trust the ring to the mystic curiosity of the elderly nuns,
+who, in order to see the likeness better through their spectacles,
+brought it close to their eyes, and rubbed the enamel. "I am in constant
+fear," C---- C---- wrote, "of their pressing the invisible blue spot by
+chance. What would become of me, if my patroness, jumping up, discovered
+to their eyes a face--very divine, it is true, but which is not at all
+like that of a saint? Tell me, what could I do in such a case?"
+
+One month after the second arrest of P---- C----, the jeweller, who had
+taken my security for the ring, called on me for payment of the bill. I
+made an arrangement with him; and on condition of my giving him twenty
+sequins, and leaving him every right over the debtor, he exonerated me.
+From his prison the impudent P---- C---- harassed me with his cowardly
+entreaties for alms and assistance.
+
+Croce was in Venice, and engrossed a great share of the general
+attention. He kept a fine house, an excellent table, and a faro bank with
+which he emptied the pockets of his dupes. Foreseeing what would happen
+sooner or later, I had abstained from visiting him at his house, but we
+were friendly whenever we met. His wife having been delivered of a boy,
+Croce asked me to stand as god-father, a favour which I thought I could
+grant; but after the ceremony and the supper which was the consequence of
+it, I never entered the house of my former partner, and I acted rightly.
+I wish I had always been as prudent in my conduct.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+Croce Is Expelled From Venice--Sgombro--His Infamy and Death--Misfortune
+Which Befalls My Dear C. C.--I Receive An Anonymous Letter From a Nun,
+and Answer It--An Amorous Intrigue
+
+My former partner was, as I have said before, a skilful and experienced
+hand at securing the favours of Fortune; he was driving a good trade in
+Venice, and as he was amiable, and what is called in society a gentleman,
+he might have held that excellent footing for a long time, if he had been
+satisfied with gambling; for the State Inquisitors would have too much to
+attend to if they wished to compel fools to spare their fortunes, dupes
+to be prudent, and cheats not to dupe the fools; but, whether through the
+folly of youth or through a vicious disposition, the cause of his exile
+was of an extraordinary and disgusting nature.
+
+A Venetian nobleman, noble by birth, but very ignoble in his
+propensities, called Sgombro, and belonging to the Gritti family, fell
+deeply in love with him, and Croce, either for fun or from taste, shewed
+himself very compliant. Unfortunately the reserve commanded by common
+decency was not a guest at their amorous feats, and the scandal became so
+notorious that the Government was compelled to notify to Croce the order
+to quit the city, and to seek his fortune in some other place.
+
+Some time afterwards the infamous Sgombro seduced his own two sons, who
+were both very young, and, unfortunately for him, he put the youngest in
+such a state as to render necessary an application to a surgeon. The
+infamous deed became publicly known, and the poor child confessed that he
+had not had the courage to refuse obedience to his father. Such obedience
+was, as a matter of course, not considered as forming a part of the
+duties which a son owes to his father, and the State Inquisitors sent the
+disgusting wretch to the citadel of Cataro, where he died after one year
+of confinement.
+
+It is well known that the air of Cataro is deadly, and that the Tribunal
+sentences to inhale it only such criminals as are not judged publicly for
+fear of exciting too deeply the general horror by the publication of the
+trial.
+
+It was to Cataro that the Council of Ten sent, fifteen years ago, the
+celebrated advocate Cantarini, a Venetian nobleman, who by his eloquence
+had made himself master of the great Council, and was on the point of
+changing the constitution of the State. He died there at the end of the
+year. As for his accomplices, the Tribunal thought that it was enough to
+punish the four or five leaders, and to pretend not to know the others,
+who through fear of punishment returned silently to their allegiance.
+
+That Sgombro, of whom I spoke before, had a charming wife who is still
+alive, I believe. Her name was Cornelia Gitti; she was as celebrated by
+her wit as by her beauty, which she kept in spite of her years. Having
+recovered her liberty through the death of her husband, she knew better
+than to make herself a second time the prisoner of the Hymenean god; she
+loved her independence too much; but as she loved pleasure too, she
+accepted the homage of the lovers who pleased her taste.
+
+One Monday, towards the end of July, my servant woke me at day-break to
+tell me that Laura wished to speak to me. I foresaw some misfortune, and
+ordered the servant to shew her in immediately. These are the contents of
+the letter which she handed to me:
+
+"My dearest, a misfortune has befallen me last evening, and it makes me
+very miserable because I must keep it a secret from everyone in the
+convent. I am suffering from a very severe loss of blood, and I do not
+know what to do, having but very little linen. Laura tells me I shall
+require a great deal of it if the flow of blood continues. I can take no
+one into my confidence but you, and I entreat you to send me as much
+linen as you can. You see that I have been compelled to make a confidante
+of Laura, who is the only person allowed to enter my room at all times.
+If I should die, my dear husband, everybody in the convent would, of
+course, know the cause of my death; but I think of you, and I shudder.
+What will you do in your grief? Ah, darling love! what a pity!"
+
+I dressed myself hurriedly, plying Laura with questions all the time. She
+told me plainly that it was a miscarriage, and that it was necessary to
+act with great discretion in order to save the reputation of my young
+friend; that after all she required nothing but plenty of linen, and that
+it would be nothing. Commonplace words of consolation, which did not
+allay the fearful anxiety under which I was labouring. I went out with
+Laura, called on a Jew from whom I bought a quantity of sheets and two
+hundred napkins, and, putting it all in a large bag, I repaired with her
+to Muran. On our way there I wrote in pencil to my sweetheart, telling
+her to have entire confidence in Laura, and assuring her that I would not
+leave Muran until all danger had passed. Before we landed, Laura told me
+that, in order not to be remarked, I had better conceal myself in her
+house. At any other time it would have been shutting up the wolf in the
+sheep-fold. She left me in a miserable-looking small room on the ground
+floor, and concealing about herself as much linen as she could she
+hurried to her patient, whom she had not seen since the previous evening.
+I was in hopes that she would find her out of danger, and I longed to see
+her come back with that good news.
+
+She was absent about one hour, and when she returned her looks were sad.
+She told me that my poor friend, having lost a great deal of blood during
+the night, was in bed in a very weak state, and that all we could do was
+to pray to God for her, because, if the flooding of the blood did not
+stop soon, she could not possibly live twenty-four hours.
+
+When I saw the linen which she had concealed under her clothes to bring
+it out, I could not disguise my horror, and I thought the sight would
+kill me. I fancied myself in a slaughter-house! Laura, thinking of
+consoling me, told me that I could rely upon the secret being well kept.
+
+"Ah! what do I care!" I exclaimed. "Provided she lives, let the whole
+world know that she is my wife!"
+
+At any other time, the foolishness of poor Laura would have made me
+laugh; but in such a sad moment I had neither the inclination nor the
+courage to be merry.
+
+"Our dear patient," added Laura, "smiled as she was reading your letter,
+and she said that, with you so near her, she was certain not to die."
+
+Those words did me good, but a man needs so little to console him or to
+soothe his grief.
+
+"When the nuns are at their dinner," said Laura, "I will go back to the
+convent with as much linen as I can conceal about me, and in the mean
+time I am going to wash all this."
+
+"Has she had any visitors?"
+
+"Oh, yes! all the convent; but no one has any suspicion of the truth."
+
+"But in such hot weather as this she can have only a very light blanket
+over her, and her visitors must remark the great bulk of the napkins."
+
+"There is no fear of that, because she is sitting up in her bed."
+
+"What does she eat?"
+
+"Nothing, for she must not eat."
+
+Soon afterwards Laura went out, and I followed her. I called upon a
+physician, where I wasted my time and my money, in order to get from him
+a long prescription which was useless, for it would have put all the
+convent in possession of the secret, or, to speak more truly, her secret
+would have been known to the whole world, for a secret known to a nun
+soon escapes out of the convent's walls. Besides, the physician of the
+convent himself would most likely have betrayed it through a spirit of
+revenge.
+
+I returned sadly to my miserable hole in Laura's house. Half an hour
+afterwards she came to me, crying bitterly, and she placed in my hands
+this letter, which was scarcely legible:
+
+"I have not strength enough to write to you, my darling; I am getting
+weaker and weaker; I am losing all my blood, and I am afraid there is no
+remedy. I abandon myself to the will of God, and I thank Him for having
+saved me from dishonour. Do not make yourself unhappy. My only
+consolation is to know that you are near me. Alas! if I could see you but
+for one moment I would die happy."
+
+The sight of a dozen napkins brought by Laura made me shudder, and the
+good woman imagined that she afforded me some consolation by telling me
+that as much linen could be soaked with a bottle of blood. My mind was
+not disposed to taste such consolation; I was in despair, and I addressed
+to myself the fiercest reproaches, upbraiding myself as the cause of the
+death of that adorable creature. I threw myself on the bed, and remained
+there, almost stunned, for more than six hours, until Laura's return from
+the convent with twenty napkins entirely soaked. Night had come on, and
+she could not go back to her patient until morning. I passed a fearful
+night without food, without sleep, looking upon myself with horror, and
+refusing all the kind attentions that Laura's daughters tried to shew me.
+
+It was barely daylight when Laura same to announce to me, in the saddest
+tone, that my poor friend did not bleed any more. I thought she was dead,
+and I screamed loudly,
+
+"Oh! she is no more!"
+
+"She is still breathing, sir; but I fear she will not outlive this day,
+for she is worn out. She can hardly open her eyes, and her pulse is
+scarcely to be felt."
+
+A weight was taken off me; I was instinctively certain that my darling
+was saved.
+
+"Laura," I said, "this is not bad news; provided the flooding has ceased
+entirely, all that is necessary is to give her some light food."
+
+"A physician has been sent for. He will prescribe whatever is right, but
+to tell you the truth I have not much hope."
+
+"Only give me the assurance that she is still alive."
+
+"Yes, she is, I assure you; but you understand very well that she will
+not tell the truth to the doctor, and God knows what he will order. I
+whispered to her not to take anything, and she understood me."
+
+"You are the best of women. Yes, if she does not die from weakness before
+to-morrow, she is saved; nature and love will have been her doctors."
+
+"May God hear you! I shall be back by twelve."
+
+"Why not before?"
+
+"Because her room will be full of people."
+
+Feeling the need of hope, and almost dead for want of food, I ordered
+some dinner, and prepared a long letter for my beloved mistress, to be
+delivered to her when she was well enough to read it. The instants given
+to repentance are very sad, and I was truly a fit subject for pity. I
+longed to see Laura again, so as to hear what the doctor had said. I had
+very good cause for laughing at all sorts of oracles, yet through some
+unaccountable weakness I longed for that of the doctor; I wanted, before
+all, to find it a propitious one.
+
+Laura's young daughters waited upon me at dinner; I could not manage to
+swallow a mouthful, but it amused me to see the three sisters devour my
+dinner at the first invitation I gave them. The eldest sister, a very
+fine girl, never raised her large eyes once towards me. The two younger
+ones seemed to me disposed to be amiable, but if I looked at them it was
+only to feed my despair and the cruel pangs of repentance.
+
+At last Laura, whom I expected anxiously, came back; she told me that the
+dear patient remained in the same state of debility; the doctor had been
+greatly puzzled by her extreme weakness because he did not know to what
+cause to attribute it. Laura added,
+
+"He has ordered some restoratives and a small quantity of light broth; if
+she can sleep, he answers for her life. He has likewise desired her to
+have someone to watch her at night, and she immediately pointed her
+finger at me, as if she wished me to undertake that office. Now, I
+promise you never to leave her either night or day, except to bring you
+news."
+
+I thanked her, assuring her that I would reward her generously. I heard
+with great pleasure that her mother had paid her a visit, and that she
+had no suspicion of the real state of things, for she had lavished on her
+the most tender caresses.
+
+Feeling more at ease I gave six sequins to Laura, one to each of her
+daughters, and ate something for my supper: I then laid myself down on
+one of the wretched beds in the room. As soon as the two younger sisters
+saw me in bed, they undressed themselves without ceremony, and took
+possession of the second bed which was close by mine. Their innocent
+confidence pleased me. The eldest sister, who most likely had more
+practical experience, retired to the adjoining room; she had a lover to
+whom she was soon to be married. This time, however, I was not possessed
+with the evil spirit of concupiscence, and I allowed innocence to sleep
+peacefully without attempting anything against it.
+
+Early the next morning Laura was the bearer of good news. She came in
+with a cheerful air to announce that the beloved patient had slept well,
+and that she was going back soon to give her some soup. I felt an almost
+maddening joy in listening to her, and I thought the oracle of
+AEsculapius a thousand times more reliable than that of Apollo. But it
+was not yet time to exult in our victory, for my poor little friend had
+to recover her strength and to make up for all the blood she had lost;
+that could be done only by time and careful nursing. I remained another
+week at Laura's house, which I left only after my dear C---- C---- had
+requested me to do so in a letter of four pages. Laura, when I left, wept
+for joy in seeing herself rewarded by the gift of all the fine linen I
+had bought for my C---- C----, and her daughters were weeping likewise,
+most probably because, during the ten days I had spent near them, they
+had not obtained a single kiss from me.
+
+After my return to Venice, I resumed my usual habits; but with a nature
+like mine how could I possibly remain satisfied without positive love? My
+only pleasure was to receive a letter from my dear recluse every
+Wednesday, who advised me to wait patiently rather than to attempt
+carrying her off. Laura assured me that she had become more lovely than
+ever, and I longed to see her. An opportunity of gratifying my wishes
+soon offered itself, and I did not allow it to escape. There was to be a
+taking of the veil--a ceremony which always attracts a large number of
+persons. On those occasions the nuns always received a great many
+visitors, and I thought that the boarders were likely to be in the
+parlour on such an occasion. I ran no risk of being remarked any more
+than any other person, for I would mingle with the crowd. I therefore
+went without saying anything about it to Laura, and without acquainting
+my dear little wife of my intentions. I thought I would fall, so great
+was my emotion, when I saw her within four yards from me, and looking at
+me as if she had been in an ecstatic state. I thought her taller and more
+womanly, and she certainly seemed to me more beautiful than before. I saw
+no one but her; she never took her eyes off me, and I was the last to
+leave that place which on that day struck me as being the temple of
+happiness.
+
+Three days afterwards I received a letter from her. She painted with such
+vivid colours the happiness she had felt in seeing me, that I made up my
+mind to give her that pleasure as often as I could. I answered at once
+that I would attend mass every Sunday at the church of her convent. It
+cost me nothing: I could not see her, but I knew that she saw me herself,
+and her happiness made me perfectly happy. I had nothing to fear, for it
+was almost impossible that anyone could recognize me in the church which
+was attended only by the people of Muran.
+
+After hearing two or three masses, I used to take a gondola, the
+gondolier of which could not feel any curiosity about me. Yet I kept on
+my guard, for I knew that the father of C---- C---- wanted her to forget
+me, and I had no doubt he would have taken her away, God knew where if he
+had had the slightest suspicion of my being acquainted with the place
+where he had confined her.
+
+Thus I was reasoning in my fear to lose all opportunity of corresponding
+with my dear C---- C----, but I did not yet know the disposition and the
+shrewdness of the sainted daughters of the Lord. I did not suppose that
+there was anything remarkable in my person, at least for the inmates of a
+convent; but I was yet a novice respecting the curiosity of women, and
+particularly of unoccupied hearts; I had soon occasion to be convinced.
+
+I had executed my Sunday manoeuvering only for a month or five weeks,
+when my dear C---- C---- wrote me jestingly that I had become a living
+enigma for all the convent, boarders and nuns, not even excepting the old
+ones. They all expected me anxiously; they warned each other of my
+arrival, and watched me taking the holy water. They remarked that I never
+cast a glance toward the grating, behind which were all the inmates of
+the convent; that I never looked at any of the women coming in or going
+out of the church. The old nuns said that I was certainly labouring under
+some deep sorrow, of which I had no hope to be cured except through the
+protection of the Holy Virgin, and the young ones asserted that I was
+either melancholy or misanthropic.
+
+My dear wife, who knew better than the others, and had no occasion to
+lose herself in suppositions, was much amused, and she entertained me by
+sending me a faithful report of it all. I wrote to her that, if she had
+any fear of my being recognized I would cease my Sunday visits to the
+church. She answered that I could not impose upon her a more cruel
+privation, and she entreated me to continue my visits. I thought it would
+be prudent, however, to abstain from calling at Laura's house, for fear
+of the chattering nuns contriving to know it, and discovering in that
+manner a great deal more than I wished them to find out. But that
+existence was literally consuming me by slow degrees, and could not last
+long. Besides, I was made to have a mistress, and to live happily with
+her. Not knowing what to do with myself, I would gamble, and I almost
+invariably won; but, in spite of that, weariness had got hold of me and I
+was getting thinner every day.
+
+With the five thousand sequins which my partner Croce had won for me in
+Padua I had followed M. Bragadin's advice. I had hired a casino where I
+held a faro bank in partnership with a matador, who secured me against
+the frauds of certain noblemen--tyrants, with whom a private citizen is
+always sure to be in the wrong in my dear country.
+
+On All Saints' Day, in the year 1753, just as, after hearing mass, I was
+going to step into a gondola to return to Venice, I saw a woman, somewhat
+in Laura's style who, passing near me, looked at me and dropped a letter.
+I picked it up, and the woman, seeing me in possession of the epistle,
+quietly went on. The letter had no address, and the seal represented a
+running knot. I stepped hurriedly into the gondola, and as soon as we
+were in the offing I broke the seal. I read the following words.
+
+"A nun, who for the last two months and a half has seen you every Sunday
+in the church of her convent, wishes to become acquainted with you. A
+pamphlet which you have lost, and which chance has thrown into her hands,
+makes her believe that you speak French; but, if you like it better, you
+can answer in Italian, because what she wants above all is a clear and
+precise answer. She does not invite you to call for her at the parlour of
+the convent, because, before you place yourself under the necessity of
+speaking to her, she wishes you to see her, and for that purpose she will
+name a lady whom you can accompany to the parlour. That lady shall not
+know you and need not therefore introduce you, in case you should not
+wish to be known.
+
+"Should you not approve of that way to become acquainted, the nun will
+appoint a certain casino in Muran, in which you will find her alone, in
+the evening, any night you may choose. You will then be at liberty either
+to sup with her, or to retire after an interview of a quarter of an hour,
+if you have any other engagements.
+
+"Would you rather offer her a supper in Venice? Name the night, the hour,
+the place of appointment, and you will see her come out of a gondola.
+Only be careful to be there alone, masked and with a lantern.
+
+"I feel certain that you will answer me, and that you will guess how
+impatiently I am waiting for your letter. I entreat you, therefore, to
+give it to-morrow to the same woman through whom you will receive mine!
+you will find her one hour before noon in the church of St. Cancian, near
+the first altar on the right.
+
+"Recollect that, if I did not suppose you endowed with a noble soul and a
+high mind, I could never have resolved on taking a step which might give
+you an unfavorable opinion of my character."
+
+The tone of that letter, which I have copied word by word, surprised me
+even more than the offer it contained. I had business to attend to, but I
+gave up all engagements to lock myself in my room in order to answer it.
+Such an application betokened an extravagant mind, but there was in it a
+certain dignity, a singularity, which attracted me. I had an idea that
+the writer might be the same nun who taught French to C---- C----. She had
+represented her friend in her letters as handsome, rich, gallant, and
+generous. My dear wife had, perhaps, been guilty of some indiscretion. A
+thousand fancies whirled through my brain, but I would entertain only
+those which were favourable to a scheme highly pleasing to me. Besides,
+my young friend had informed me that the nun who had given her French
+lessons was not the only one in the convent who spoke that language. I
+had no reason to suppose that, if C---- C---- had made a confidante of her
+friend, she would have made a mystery of it to me. But, for all that, the
+nun who had written to me might be the beautiful friend of my dear little
+wife, and she might also turn out to be a different person; I felt
+somewhat puzzled. Here is, however, the letter which I thought I could
+write without implicating myself:
+
+"I answer in French, madam, in the hope that my letter will have the
+clearness and the precision of which you give me the example in yours.
+
+"The subject is highly interesting and of the highest importance,
+considering all the circumstances. As I must answer without knowing the
+person to whom I am writing, you must feel, madam, that, unless I should
+possess a large dose of vanity, I must fear some mystification, and my
+honour requires that I should keep on my guard.
+
+"If it is true that the person who has penned that letter is a
+respectable woman, who renders me justice in supposing me endowed with
+feeling as noble as her own, she will find, I trust, that I could not
+answer in any other way than I am doing now.
+
+"If you have judged me worthy, madam, of the honour which you do me by
+offering me your acquaintance, although your good opinion can have been
+formed only from my personal appearance, I feel it my duty to obey you,
+even if the result be to undeceive you by proving that I had unwittingly
+led you into a mistaken appreciation of my person.
+
+"Of the three proposals which you so kindly made in your letter, I dare
+not accept any but the first, with the restriction suggested by your
+penetrating mind. I will accompany to the parlour of your convent a lady
+who shall not know who I am, and, consequently, shall have no occasion to
+introduce me.
+
+"Do not judge too severely, madam, the specious reasons which compel me
+not to give you my name, and receive my word of honour that I shall learn
+yours only to render you homage. If you choose to speak to me, I will
+answer with the most profound respect. Permit me to hope that you will
+come to the parlour alone. I may mention that I am a Venetian, and
+perfectly free.
+
+"The only reason which prevents me from choosing one of the two other
+arrangements proposed by you, either of which would have suited me better
+because they greatly honour me, is, allow me to repeat it, a fear of
+being the victim of a mystification; but these modes of meeting will not
+be lost when you know me and when I have seen you. I entreat you to have
+faith in my honour, and to measure my patience by your own. Tomorrow, at
+the same place and at the same hour, I shall be anxiously expecting your
+answer."
+
+I went to the place appointed, and having met the female Mercury I gave
+her my letter with a sequin, and I told her that I would come the next
+day for the answer. We were both punctual. As soon as she saw me, she
+handed me back the sequin which I had given her the day before, and a
+letter, requesting me to read it and to let her know whether she was to
+wait for an answer. Here is the exact copy of the letter:
+
+"I believe, sir, that I have not been mistaken in anything. Like you, I
+detest untruth when it can lead to important consequences, but I think it
+a mere trifle when it can do no injury to anyone. Of my three proposals
+you have chosen the one which does the greatest honour to your
+intelligence, and, respecting the reasons which induce you to keep your
+incognito, I have written the enclosed to the Countess of S----, which I
+request you to read. Be kind enough to seal it before delivery of it to
+her. You may call upon her whenever convenient to yourself. She will name
+her own hour, and you will accompany her here in her gondola. The
+countess will not ask you any questions, and you need not give her any
+explanation. There will be no presentation; but as you will be made
+acquainted with my name, you can afterwards call on me here, masked,
+whenever you please, and by using the name of the countess. In that way
+we shall become acquainted without the necessity of disturbing you, or of
+your losing at night some hours which may be precious to you. I have
+instructed my servant to wait for your answer in case you should be known
+to the countess and object to her. If you approve of the choice I have
+made of her, tell the messenger that there is no answer."
+
+As I was an entire stranger to the countess, I told the woman that I had
+no answer to give, and she left me.
+
+Here are the contents of the note addressed by the nun to the countess,
+and which I had to deliver to her:
+
+"I beg of you, my dear friend, to pay me a visit when you are at leisure,
+and to let the masked gentleman-bearer of this note know the hour, so
+that he can accompany you. He will be punctual. Farewell. You will much
+oblige your friend."
+
+That letter seemed to me informed by a sublime spirit of intrigue; there
+was in it an appearance of dignity which captivated me, although I felt
+conscious that I was playing the character of a man on whom a favour
+seemed to be bestowed.
+
+In her last letter, my nun, pretending not to be anxious to know who I
+was, approved of my choice, and feigned indifference for nocturnal
+meetings; but she seemed certain that after seeing her I would visit her.
+I knew very well what to think of it all, for the intrigue was sure to
+have an amorous issue. Nevertheless, her assurance, or rather confidence,
+increased my curiosity, and I felt that she had every reason to hope, if
+she were young and handsome. I might very well have delayed the affair
+for a few days, and have learned from C---- C---- who that nun could be;
+but, besides the baseness of such a proceeding, I was afraid of spoiling
+the game and repenting it afterwards. I was told to call on the countess
+at my convenience, but it was because the dignity of my nun would not
+allow her to shew herself too impatient; and she certainly thought that I
+would myself hasten the adventure. She seemed to me too deeply learned in
+gallantry to admit the possibility of her being an inexperienced novice,
+and I was afraid of wasting my time; but I made up my mind to laugh at my
+own expense if I happened to meet a superannuated female. It is very
+certain that if I had not been actuated by curiosity I should not have
+gone one step further, but I wanted to see the countenance of a nun who
+had offered to come to Venice to sup with me. Besides, I was much
+surprised at the liberty enjoyed by those sainted virgins, and at the
+facility with which they could escape out of their walls.
+
+At three o'clock I presented myself before the countess and delivered the
+note, and she expressed a wish to see me the next day at the same hour.
+We dropped a beautiful reverence to one another, and parted. She was a
+superior woman, already going down the hill, but still very handsome.
+
+The next morning, being Sunday, I need not say that I took care to attend
+mass at the convent, elegantly dressed, and already unfaithful--at least
+in idea--to my dear C---- C----, for I was thinking of being seen by the
+nun, young or old, rather than of shewing myself to my charming wife.
+
+In the afternoon I masked myself again, and at the appointed time I
+repaired to the house of the countess who was waiting for me. We went in
+a two-oared gondola, and reached the convent without having spoken of
+anything but the weather. When we arrived at the gate, the countess asked
+for M---- M----. I was surprised by that name, for the woman to whom it
+belonged was celebrated. We were shewn into a small parlour, and a few
+minutes afterwards a nun came in, went straight to the grating, touched a
+spring, and made four squares of the grating revolve, which left an
+opening sufficiently large to enable the two friends to embrace the
+ingenious window was afterwards carefully closed. The opening was at
+least eighteen inches wide, and a man of my size could easily have got
+through it. The countess sat opposite the nun, and I took my seat a
+little on one side so as to be able to observe quietly and at my ease one
+of the most beautiful women that it was possible to see. I had no doubt
+whatever of her being the person mentioned by my dear C---- C---- as
+teaching her French. Admiration kept me in a sort of ecstacy, and I never
+heard one word of their conversation; the beautiful nun, far from
+speaking to me, did not even condescend to honour me with one look. She
+was about twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, and the shape of her
+face was most beautiful. Her figure was much above the ordinary height,
+her complexion rather pale, her appearance noble, full of energy, but at
+the same time reserved and modest; her eyes, large and full, were of a
+lovely blue; her countenance was soft and cheerful; her fine lips seemed
+to breathe the most heavenly voluptuousness, and her teeth were two rows
+of the most brilliant enamel. Her head-dress did not allow me to see her
+hair, but if she had any I knew by the colour of her eyebrows that it was
+of a beautiful light brown. Her hand and her arm, which I could see as
+far as the elbow, were magnificent; the chisel of Praxiteles never carved
+anything more grace fully rounded and plump, I was not sorry to have
+refused the two rendezvous which had been offered to me by the beauty,
+for I was sure of possessing her in a few days, and it was a pleasure for
+me to lay my desires at her feet. I longed to find myself alone with her
+near that grating, and I would have considered it an insult to her if,
+the very next day, I had not come to tell her how fully I rendered to her
+charms the justice they deserved. She was faithful to her determination
+not to look at me once, but after all I was pleased with her reserve. All
+at once the two friends lowered their voices, and out of delicacy I
+withdrew further. Their private conversation lasted about a quarter of an
+hour, during which I pretended to be intently looking at a painting; then
+they kissed one another again by the same process as at the beginning of
+the interview; the nun closed the opening, turned her back on us, and
+disappeared without casting one glance in my direction.
+
+As we were on our way back to Venice, the countess, tired perhaps of our
+silence, said to me, with a smile,
+
+"M---- M---- is beautiful and very witty."
+
+"I have seen her beauty, and I believe in her wit."
+
+"She did not address one word to you."
+
+"I had refused to be introduced to her, and she punished me by pretending
+not to know that I was present."
+
+The countess made no answer, and we reached her house without exchanging
+another word. At her door a very ceremonious curtesy, with these words,
+"Adieu, sir!" warned me that I was not to go any further. I had no wish
+to do so, and went away dreaming and wondering at the singularity of the
+adventure, the end of which I longed to see.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of To Paris And Prison: Venice
+by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+
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