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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eternal Quest: With Voltaire
+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: The Eternal Quest: With Voltaire
+       The Memoirs Of Jacques Casanova De Seingalt 1725-1798
+
+Author: Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+
+Release Date: October 31, 2006 [EBook #2965]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ETERNAL QUEST: WITH VOLTAIRE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA de SEINGALT 1725-1798
+
+THE ETERNAL QUEST, Volume 3e--WITH VOLTAIRE
+
+THE RARE UNABRIDGED LONDON EDITION OF 1894 TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR MACHEN TO
+WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED THE CHAPTERS DISCOVERED BY ARTHUR SYMONS.
+
+
+
+
+THE ETERNAL QUEST
+
+
+
+
+WITH VOLTAIRE
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+M. de Voltaire; My Discussions with That Great Man--Ariosto--The Duc de
+Villars--The Syndic and the Three Girls--Dispute with
+Voltaire--Aix-en-Savoie--The Marquis Desarmoises
+
+"M. de Voltaire," said I, "this is the happiest moment of my life. I have
+been your pupil for twenty years, and my heart is full of joy to see my
+master."
+
+"Honour me with your attendance on my course for twenty years more, and
+promise me that you will bring me my fees at the end of that time."
+
+"Certainly, if you promise to wait for me."
+
+This Voltairean sally made all present laugh, as was to be expected, for
+those who laugh keep one party in countenance at the other's expense, and
+the side which has the laughter is sure to win; this is the rule of good
+society.
+
+I was not taken by surprise, and waited to have my revenge.
+
+Just then two Englishmen came in and were presented to him.
+
+"These gentlemen are English," said Voltaire; "I wish I were."
+
+I thought the compliment false and out of place; for the gentlemen were
+obliged to reply out of politeness that they wished they had been French,
+or if they did not care to tell a lie they would be too confused to tell
+the truth. I believe every man of honour should put his own nation first.
+
+A moment after, Voltaire turned to me again and said that as I was a
+Venetian I must know Count Algarotti.
+
+"I know him, but not because I am a Venetian, as seven-eights of my dear
+countrymen are not even aware of his existence."
+
+"I should have said, as a man of letters."
+
+"I know him from having spent two months with him at Padua, seven years
+ago, and what particularly attracted my attention was the admiration he
+professed for M. de Voltaire."
+
+"That is flattering for me, but he has no need of admiring anyone."
+
+"If Algarotti had not begun by admiring others, he would never have made
+a name for himself. As an admirer of Newton he endeavoured to teach the
+ladies to discuss the theory of light."
+
+"Has he succeeded?"
+
+"Not as well as M. de Fontenelle in his 'Plurality of Worlds;' however,
+one may say he has succeeded."
+
+"True. If you see him at Bologna, tell him I am expecting to hear from
+him about Russia. He can address my letters to my banker, Bianchi, at
+Milan, and they will be sent on to me."
+
+"I will not fail to do so if I see him."
+
+"I have heard that the Italians do not care for his style."
+
+"No; all that he writes is full of French idioms. His style is wretched."
+
+"But do not these French turns increase the beauty of your language?"
+
+"They make it insufferable, as French would be mixed with Italian or
+German even though it were written by M. de Voltaire."
+
+"You are right; every language should preserve its purity. Livy has been
+criticised on this account; his Latin is said to be tainted with
+patavinity."
+
+"When I began to learn Latin, the Abbe Lazzarini told me he preferred
+Livy to Sallust."
+
+"The Abbe Lazzarini, author of the tragedy, 'Ulisse il giovine'? You must
+have been very young; I wish I had known him. But I knew the Abbe Conti
+well; the same that was Newton's friend, and whose four tragedies contain
+the whole of Roman history."
+
+"I also knew and admired him. I was young, but I congratulated myself on
+being admitted into the society of these great men. It seems as if it
+were yesterday, though it is many years ago; and now in your presence my
+inferiority does not humiliate me. I wish to be the younger son of all
+humanity."
+
+"Better so than to be the chief and eldest. May I ask you to what branch
+of literature you have devoted yourself?"
+
+"To none; but that, perhaps, will come afterwards. In the meantime I read
+as much as I can, and try to study character on my travels."
+
+"That is the way to become learned, but the book of humanity is too vast.
+Reading a history is the easier way."
+
+"Yes, if history did not lie. One is not sure of the truth of the facts.
+It is tiring, while the study of the world is amusing. Horace, whom I
+know by heart, is my guide-book."
+
+"Algarotti, too, is very fond of Horace. Of course you are fond of
+poetry?"
+
+"It is my passion."
+
+"Have you made many sonnets?"
+
+"Ten or twelve I like, and two or three thousand which in all probability
+I have not read twice."
+
+"The Italians are mad after sonnets."
+
+"Yes; if one can call it a madness to desire to put thought into measured
+harmony. The sonnet is difficult because the thought has to be fitted
+exactly into the fourteen lines."
+
+"It is Procrustes' bed, and that's the reason you have so few good ones.
+As for us, we have not one; but that is the fault of our language."
+
+"And of the French genius, which considers that a thought when extended
+loses all its force."
+
+"And you do not think so?"
+
+"Pardon me, it depends on the kind of thought. A witty saying, for
+example, will not make a sonnet; in French or Italian it belongs to the
+domain of epigram."
+
+"What Italian poet do you like best?"
+
+"Ariosto; but I cannot say I love him better than the others, for he is
+my only love."
+
+"You know the others, though?"
+
+"I think I have read them all, but all their lights pale before
+Ariosto's. Fifteen years ago I read all you have written against him, and
+I said that you, would retract when you had read his works."
+
+"I am obliged to you for thinking that I had not read them. As a matter
+of fact I had done so, but I was young. I knew Italian very imperfectly,
+and being prejudiced by the learned Italians who adore Tasso I was
+unfortunate enough to publish a criticism of Ariosto which I thought my
+own, while it was only the echo of those who had prejudiced me. I adore
+your Ariosto!"
+
+"Ah! M. de Voltaire, I breathe again. But be good enough to have the work
+in which you turned this great man into ridicule excommunicated."
+
+"What use would that be?  All my books are excommunicated; but I will
+give you a good proof of my retractation."
+
+I was astonished! The great man began to recite the two fine passages
+from the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth cantos, in which the divine poet
+speaks of the conversation of Astolpho with St. John and he did it
+without missing a single life or committing the slightest fault against
+the laws of prosody. He then pointed out the beauties of the passages
+with his natural insight and with a great man's genius. I could not have
+had anything better from the lips of the most skilled commentators in
+Italy. I listened to him with the greatest attention, hardly daring to
+breath, and waiting for him to make a mistake, but I had my trouble for
+nothing. I turned to the company crying that I was more than astonished,
+and that all Italy should know what I had seen. "And I, sir," said the
+great man, "will let all Europe know of the amends I owe to the greatest
+genius our continent has produced."
+
+Greedy of the praise which he deserved so well, Voltaire gave me the next
+day his translation which Ariosto begins thus:
+
+"Quindi avvien the tra principi a signori."
+
+At the end of the recitation which gained the applause of all who heard
+it, although not one of them knew Italian, Madame Denis, his niece, asked
+me if I thought the passage her uncle had just recited one of the finest
+the poet had written.
+
+"Yes, but not the finest."
+
+"It ought to be; for without it Signor Lodovico would not have gained his
+apotheosis."
+
+"He has been canonised, then? I was not aware of that."
+
+At these words the laugh, headed by Voltaire, went for Madame Denis.
+Everybody laughed except myself, and I continued to look perfectly
+serious.
+
+Voltaire was vexed at not seeing me laugh like the rest, and asked me the
+reason.
+
+"Are you thinking," said he, "of some more than human passage?"
+
+"Yes," I answered.
+
+"What passage is that?"
+
+"The last thirty-six stanzas of the twenty-third canto, where the poet
+describes in detail how Roland became mad. Since the world has existed no
+one has discovered the springs of madness, unless Ariosto himself, who
+became mad in his old age. These stanzas are terrible, and I am sure they
+must have made you tremble."
+
+"Yes, I remember they render love dreadful. I long to read them again."
+
+"Perhaps the gentleman will be good enough to recite them," said Madame
+Denis, with a side-glance at her uncle.
+
+"Willingly," said I, "if you will have the goodness to listen to me."
+
+"You have learn them by heart, then, have you?" said Voltaire.
+
+"Yes, it was a pleasure and no trouble. Since I was sixteen, I have read
+over Ariosto two or three times every year; it is my passion, and the
+lines naturally become linked in my memory without my having given myself
+any pains to learn them. I know it all, except his long genealogies and
+his historical tirades, which fatigue the mind and do not touch the
+heart. It is only Horace that I know throughout, in spite of the often
+prosaic style of his epistles, which are certainly far from equalling
+Boileau's."
+
+"Boileau is often too lengthy; I admire Horace, but as for Ariosto, with
+his forty long cantos, there is too much of him."
+
+"It is fifty-one cantos, M. de Voltaire."
+
+The great man was silent, but Madame Denis was equal to the occasion.
+
+"Come, come," said she, "let us hear the thirty-six stanzas which earned
+the author the title of divine, and which are to make us tremble."
+
+I then began, in an assured voice, but not in that monotonous tone
+adopted by the Italians, with which the French so justly reproach us. The
+French would be the best reciters if they were not constrained by the
+rhyme, for they say what they feel better than any other people. They
+have neither the passionate monotonous tone of my fellow-countrymen, nor
+the sentimentality of the Germans, nor the fatiguing mannerisms of the
+English; to every period they give its proper expression, but the
+recurrence of the same sounds partly spoils their recitation. I recited
+the fine verses of Ariosto, as if it had been rhythmic prose, animating
+it by the sound of my voice and the movements of my eyes, and by
+modulating my intonation according to the sentiments with which I wished
+to inspire my audience. They saw how hardly I could restrain my tears,
+and every eye was wet; but when I came to the stanza,
+
+   "Poiche allargare il freno al dolor puote,
+   Che resta solo senza altrui rispetto,
+   Giu dagli occhi rigando per le gote
+   Sparge un fiume de lacrime sul petto,"
+
+my tears coursed down my cheeks to such an extent that everyone began to
+sob. M. de Voltaire and Madame Denis threw their arms round my neck, but
+their embraces could not stop me, for Roland, to become mad, had to
+notice that he was in the same bed in which Angelica had lately been
+found in the arms of the too fortunate Medor, and I had to reach the next
+stanza. For my voice of sorrow and wailing I substituted the expression
+of that terror which arose naturally from the contemplation of his fury,
+which was in its effects like a tempest, a volcano, or an earthquake.
+
+When I had finished I received with a sad air the congratulations of the
+audience. Voltaire cried,
+
+"I always said so; the secret of drawing tears is to weep one's self, but
+they must be real tears, and to shed them the heart must be stirred to
+its depths. I am obliged to you, sir," he added, embracing me, "and I
+promise to recite the same stanzas myself to-morrow, and to weep like
+you."
+
+He kept his word.
+
+"It is astonishing," said Madame Denis, "that intolerant Rome should not
+have condemned the song of Roland."
+
+"Far from it," said Voltaire, "Leo X. excommunicated whoever should dare
+to condemn it. The two great families of Este and Medici interested
+themselves in the poet's favour. Without that protection it is probable
+that the one line on the donation of Rome by Constantine to Silvester,
+where the poet speaks 'puzza forte' would have sufficed to put the whole
+poem under an interdict."
+
+"I believe," said I, "that the line which has excited the most talk is
+that in which Ariosto throws doubt on the general resurrection. Ariosto,"
+I added, "in speaking of the hermit who would have hindered Rhodomonte
+from getting possession of Isabella, widow of Zerbin, paints the African,
+who wearied of the hermit's sermons, seizes him and throws him so far
+that he dashes him against a rock, against which he remains in a dead
+swoon, so that 'che al novissimo di forse fia desto'."
+
+This 'forse' which may possibly have only been placed there as a flower
+of rhetoric or as a word to complete the verse, raised a great uproar,
+which would doubtless have greatly amused the poet if he had had time!
+
+"It is a pity," said Madame Denis, "that Ariosto was not more careful in
+these hyperbolical expressions."
+
+"Be quiet, niece, they are full of wit. They are all golden grains, which
+are dispersed throughout the work in the best taste."
+
+The conversation was then directed towards various topics, and at last we
+got to the 'Ecossaise' we had played at Soleure.
+
+They knew all about it.
+
+M. de Voltaire said that if I liked to play it at his house he would
+write to M. de Chavigni to send the Lindane, and that he himself would
+play Montrose. I excused myself by saying that Madame was at Bale and
+that I should be obliged to go on my journey the next day. At this he
+exclaimed loudly, aroused the whole company against me, and said at last
+that he should consider my visit as an insult unless I spared him a week
+at least of my society.
+
+"Sir," said I, "I have only come to Geneva to have the honour of seeing
+you, and now that I have obtained that favour I have nothing more to do."
+
+"Have you come to speak to me, or for me to speak to you?"
+
+"In a measure, of course, to speak to you, but much more for you to speak
+to me."
+
+"Then stay here three days at least; come to dinner every day, and we
+will have some conversation."
+
+The invitation was so flattering and pressing that I could not refuse it
+with a good grace. I therefore accepted, and I then left to go and write.
+
+I had not been back for a quarter of an hour when a syndic of the town,
+an amiable man, whom I had seen at M. de Voltaire's, and whose name I
+shall not mention, came and asked me to give him supper. "I was present,"
+said he, "at your argument with the great man, and though I did not open
+my mouth I should much like to have an hour's talk with you." By way of
+reply, I embraced him, begging him to excuse my dressing-gown, and
+telling him that I should be glad if he would spend the whole night with
+me.
+
+The worthy man spent two hours with me, without saying a word on the
+subject of literature, but to please me he had no need to talk of books,
+for he was a disciple of Epicurus and Socrates, and the evening was spent
+in telling little stories, in bursts of laughter, and in accounts of the
+various kinds of pleasure obtainable at Geneva. Before leaving me he
+asked me to come and sup with him on the following evening, promising
+that boredom should not be of the party.
+
+"I shall wait for you," said I.
+
+"Very good, but don't tell anyone of the party."
+
+I promised to follow his instructions.
+
+Next morning, young Fox came to see me with the two Englishmen I had seen
+at M. de Voltaire's. They proposed a game of quinze, which I accepted,
+and after losing fifty louis I left off, and we walked about the town
+till dinner-time.
+
+We found the Duc de Villars at Delices; he had come there to consult Dr.
+Tronchin, who had kept him alive for the last ten years.
+
+I was silent during the repast, but at dessert, M. de Voltaire, knowing
+that I had reasons for not liking the Venetian Government, introduced the
+subject; but I disappointed him, as I maintained that in no country could
+a man enjoy more perfect liberty than in Venice.
+
+"Yes," said he, "provided he resigns himself to play the part of a dumb
+man."
+
+And seeing that I did not care for the subject, he took me by the arm to
+his garden, of which, he said, he was the creator. The principal walk led
+to a pretty running stream.
+
+"'Tis the Rhone," said he, "which I send into France."
+
+"It does not cost you much in carriage, at all events," said I.
+
+He smiled pleasantly and shewed me the principal street of Geneva, and
+Mont Blanc which is the highest point of the Alps.
+
+Bringing back the conversation to Italian literature, he began to talk
+nonsense with much wit and learning, but always concluding with a false
+judgment. I let him talk on. He spoke of Homer, Dante, and Petrarch, and
+everybody knows what he thought of these great geniuses, but he did
+himself wrong in writing what he thought. I contented myself with saying
+that if these great men did not merit the esteem of those who studied
+them; it would at all events be a long time before they had to come down
+from the high place in which the praise of centuries, had placed them.
+
+The Duc de Villars and the famous Tronchin came and joined us. The
+doctor, a tall fine man, polite, eloquent without being a
+conversationalist, a learned physician, a man of wit, a favourite pupil
+of Boerhaeve, without scientific jargon, or charlatanism, or
+self-sufficiency, enchanted me. His system of medicine was based on
+regimen, and to make rules he had to be a man of profound science. I have
+been assured, but can scarcely believe it, that he cured a consumptive
+patient of a secret disease by means of the milk of an ass, which he had
+submitted to thirty strong frictions of mercury by four sturdy porters.
+
+As to Villars he also attracted my attention, but in quite a different
+way to Tronchin. On examining his face and manner I thought I saw before
+me a woman of seventy dressed as a man, thin and emaciated, but still
+proud of her looks, and with claims to past beauty. His cheeks and lips
+were painted, his eyebrows blackened, and his teeth were false; he wore a
+huge wig, which, exhaled amber, and at his buttonhole was an enormous
+bunch of flowers, which touched his chin. He affected a gracious manner,
+and he spoke so softly that it was often impossible to hear what he said.
+He was excessively polite and affable, and his manners were those of the
+Regency. His whole appearance was supremely ridiculous. I was told that
+in his youth he was a lover of the fair sex, but now that he was no
+longer good for anything he had modestly made himself into a woman, and
+had four pretty pets in his employ, who took turns in the disgusting duty
+of warming his old carcase at night.
+
+Villars was governor of Provence, and had his back eaten up with cancer.
+In the course of nature he should have been buried ten years ago, but
+Tronchin kept him alive with his regimen and by feeding the wounds on
+slices of veal. Without this the cancer would have killed him. His life
+might well be called an artificial one.
+
+I accompanied M. de Voltaire to his bedroom, where he changed his wig and
+put on another cap, for he always wore one on account of the rheumatism
+to which he was subject. I saw on the table the Summa of St. Thomas, and
+among other Italian poets the 'Secchia Rapita' of Tassoni.
+
+"This," said Voltaire, "is the only tragicomic poem which Italy has.
+Tassoni was a monk, a wit and a genius as well as a poet."
+
+"I will grant his poetical ability but not his learning, for he ridiculed
+the system of Copernicus, and said that if his theories were followed
+astronomers would not be able to calculate lunations or eclipses."
+
+"Where does he make that ridiculous remark?"
+
+"In his academical discourses."
+
+"I have not read them, but I will get them."
+
+He took a pen and noted the name down, and said,--
+
+"But Tassoni has criticised Petrarch very ingeniously."
+
+"Yes, but he has dishonoured taste and literature, like Muratori."
+
+"Here he is. You must allow that his learning is immense."
+
+"Est ubi peccat."
+
+Voltaire opened a door, and I saw a hundred great files full of papers.
+
+"That's my correspondence," said he. "You see before you nearly fifty
+thousand letters, to which I have replied."
+
+"Have you a copy of your answers?"
+
+"Of a good many of them. That's the business of a servant of mine, who
+has nothing else to do."
+
+"I know plenty of booksellers who would give a good deal to get hold of
+your answers.
+
+"Yes; but look out for the booksellers when you publish anything, if you
+have not yet begun; they are greater robbers than Barabbas."
+
+"I shall not have anything to do with these gentlemen till I am an old
+man."
+
+"Then they will be the scourge of your old age."
+
+Thereupon I quoted a Macaronic verse by Merlin Coccaeus.
+
+"Where's that from?"
+
+"It's a line from a celebrated poem in twenty-four cantos."
+
+"Celebrated?"
+
+"Yes; and, what is more, worthy of being celebrated; but to appreciate it
+one must understand the Mantuan dialect."
+
+"I could make it out, if you could get me a copy."
+
+"I shall have the honour of presenting you with one to-morrow."
+
+"You will oblige me extremely."
+
+We had to leave his room and spend two hours in the company, talking over
+all sorts of things. Voltaire displayed all the resources of his
+brilliant and fertile wit, and charmed everyone in spite of his sarcastic
+observations which did not even spare those present, but he had an
+inimitable manner of lancing a sarcasm without wounding a person's
+feelings. When the great man accompanied his witticisms with a graceful
+smile he could always get a laugh.
+
+He kept up a notable establishment and an excellent table, a rare
+circumstance with his poetic brothers, who are rarely favourites of
+Plutus as he was. He was then sixty years old, and had a hundred and
+twenty thousand francs a year. It has been said maliciously that this
+great man enriched himself by cheating his publishers; whereas the fact
+was that he fared no better than any other author, and instead of duping
+them was often their dupe. The Cramers must be excepted, whose fortune he
+made. Voltaire had other ways of making money than by his pen; and as he
+was greedy of fame, he often gave his works away on the sole condition
+that they were to be printed and published. During the short time I was
+with him, I was a witness of such a generous action; he made a present to
+his bookseller of the "Princess of Babylon," a charming story which he
+had written in three days.
+
+My epicurean syndic was exact to his appointment, and took me to a house
+at a little distance where he introduced me to three young ladies, who,
+without being precisely beautiful, were certainly ravishing. Two of them
+were sisters. I had an easy and pleasant welcome, and from their
+intellectual appearance and gay manners I anticipated a delightful
+evening, and I was not disappointed. The half hour before supper was
+passed in conversation, decent but without restraint, and during supper,
+from the hints the syndic gave me, I guessed what would happen after
+dessert.
+
+It was a hot evening, and on the pretext of cooling ourselves, we
+undressed so as to be almost in a state of nature. What an orgy we had! I
+am sorry I am obliged to draw a veil over the most exciting details. In
+the midst of our licentious gaiety, whilst we were heated by love,
+champagne, and a discourse of an exciting nature, I proposed to recite
+Grecourt's 'Y Gyec'. When I had finished the voluptuous poem, worthy of
+an abbe's pen, I saw that the eyes of the three beauties were all aflame,
+and said,--
+
+"Ladies, if you like, I will shew you all three, one after the other, why
+the sentence, 'Gaudeant bene nati', was uttered"; and without waiting for
+their reply, I succeeded in making them happy. The syndic was radiant, he
+was pleased at having given me a present entirely to my taste; and I
+fancied that the entertainment was not displeasing to the three Graces,
+who were kept low by the Sybarite, as his powers were almost limited to
+desires. The girls lavished their thanks on me, while I endeavoured to
+assure them of my gratitude; but they leapt for joy when they heard the
+syndic asking me to come next day.
+
+As he was taking me back to my inn I told him how great a pleasure he had
+given me, and he said he had brought up the three jewels himself.
+
+"You," he added, "are the only man besides myself they know. You shall
+see them again, but I beg you will take care not to leave anything behind
+you, for in this town of prejudices that would be a great misfortune for
+them and for me."
+
+"You are always moderate in your enjoyment, then?" I said to him.
+
+"Unfortunately, that is no merit as far as I am concerned. I was born for
+the service of love, and Venus has punished me for worshipping her when I
+was too young."
+
+After a good night's sleep I awoke in an active mood, and began to write
+a letter to Voltaire in blank verse, which cost me four times the pains
+that rhymed verses would have done. I sent it to him with the poem of
+Theophile Falengue, but I made a mistake in doing so, as I might have
+known he would not care for it; one cannot appreciate what one does not
+understand. I then went to Mr. Fox, where I found the two Englishmen who
+offered me my revenge. I lost a hundred Louis, and was glad to see them
+set out for Lausanne.
+
+The syndic had told me that the three young ladies belonged to
+respectable families, but were not rich. I puzzled my head to think of
+some useful present I might make them without offending them, and at last
+I hit on a plan of the most ridiculous nature, as the reader will see. I
+went to a jeweller and told him to make me three golden balls, each of
+two ounces in weight.
+
+At noon I went to M. de Voltaire's. He was not to be seen, but Madame
+Denis consoled me for his absence. She had wit, learning without
+pretension, taste, and a great hatred for the King of Prussia, whom she
+called a villain. She asked about my beautiful housekeeper, and
+congratulated me on having married her to a respectable man. Although I
+feel now that she was quite right, I was far from thinking so then; the
+impression was too fresh on my mind. Madame Denis begged me to tell her
+how I had escaped from The Leads, but as the story was rather a long one
+I promised to satisfy her another time.
+
+M. de Voltaire did not dine with us; he appeared, however, at five
+o'clock, holding a letter in his hand.
+
+"Do you know," said he, "the Marquis Albergati Capacelli, senator of
+Bologna, and Count Paradisi?"
+
+"I do not know Paradisi, but I know Albergati by sight and by reputation;
+he is not a senator, but one of the Forty, who at Bologna are Fifty."
+
+"Dear me! That seems rather a riddle!"
+
+"Do you know him?"
+
+"No, but he has sent me Goldoni's 'Theatre,' the translation of my
+Tancred, and some Bologna sausages, and he says he will come and see me."
+
+"He will not come; he is not such a fool."
+
+"How a fool? Would there be anything foolish in coming to see me?"
+
+"Certainly not, as far as you are concerned; but very much so far his own
+sake."
+
+"Would you mind telling me why?"
+
+"He knows what he would lose; for he enjoys the idea you seem to have of
+him, and if he came you would see his nothingness, and good-bye to the
+illusion. He is a worthy man with six thousand sequins a year, and a
+craze for the theatre. He is a good actor enough, and has written several
+comedies in prose, but they are fit neither for the study nor the stage."
+
+"You certainly give him a coat which does not make him look any bigger."
+
+"I assure you it is not quite small enough."
+
+"But tell me how he can belong to the Forty and the Fifty?"
+
+"Just as at Bale noon is at eleven."
+
+"I understand; just as your Council of Ten is composed of seventeen
+members."
+
+"Exactly; but the cursed Forty of Bologna are men of another kind."
+
+"Why cursed?"
+
+"Because they are not subject to the fisc, and are thus enabled to commit
+whatever crimes they like with perfect impunity; all they have got to do
+is to live outside the state borders on their revenues."
+
+"That is a blessing, and not a curse; but let me return to our subject. I
+suppose the Marquis Albergati is a man of letters?"
+
+"He writes well enough, but he is fond of the sound of his own voice, his
+style is prolix, and I don't think he has much brains."
+
+"He is an actor, I think you said?"
+
+"Yes, and a very good one, above all, when he plays the lover's part in
+one of his own plays."
+
+"Is he a handsome man?"
+
+"Yes, on the stage, but not elsewhere; his face lacks expression."
+
+"But his plays give satisfaction?"
+
+"Not to persons who understand play writing; they would be hissed if they
+were intelligible."
+
+"And what do you think of Goldoni?"
+
+"I have the highest opinion of him. Goldoni is the Italian Moliere."
+
+"Why does he call himself poet to the Duke of Parma?"
+
+"No doubt to prove that a wit as well as a fool has his weak points; in
+all probability the duke knows nothing about it. He also calls himself a
+barrister, though he is such only in his own imagination. Goldoni is a
+good play writer, and nothing more. Everybody in Venice knows me for his
+friend, and I can therefore speak of him with authority. He does not
+shine in society, and in spite of the fine satire of his works he is a
+man of an extremely gentle disposition."
+
+"So I have been told. He is poor, and wants to leave Venice. The managers
+of the theatres where they play his pieces will not like that."
+
+"People talked about getting him a pension, but the project has been
+relegated to the Greek Kalends, as they said that if he had a pension he
+would write no more."
+
+"Cumae refused to give a pension to Homer, for fear that all the blind
+men would ask for a pension."
+
+We spent a pleasant day, and he thanked me heartily for the copy of the
+Macaronicon, which he promised to read. He introduced me to a Jesuit he
+had in his household, who was called Adam, and he added, after telling me
+his name, "not the first Adam." I was told afterwards that Voltaire used
+to play backgammon with him, and when he lost he would throw the dice and
+the box at his head. If Jesuits were treated like that all the world
+over, perhaps we should have none but inoffensive Jesuits at last, but
+that happy time is still far off.
+
+I had scarcely got to my inn in the evening when I received my three
+golden balls, and as soon as the syndic came we set off to renew our
+voluptuous orgy. On the way he talked about modesty, and said,--
+
+"That feeling which prevents our shewing those parts which we have been
+taught to cover from our childhood, may often proceed from virtue, but is
+weaker than the force of education, as it cannot resist an attack when
+the attacking party knows what he is about. I think the easiest way to
+vanquish modesty is to ignore its presence, to turn it into ridicule, to
+carry it by storm. Victory is certain. The hardihood of the assailer
+subdues the assailed, who usually only wishes to be conquered, and nearly
+always thanks you for your victory.
+
+"Clement of Alexandria, a learned man and a philosopher, has remarked
+that the modesty which appears so deeply rooted in women's hearts really
+goes no farther than the clothes they wear, and that when these are
+plucked off no trace of it remains."
+
+We found the three girls lightly clad and sitting on a large sopha, and
+we sat down opposite to them. Pleasant talk and a thousand amorous kisses
+occupied the half hour just before supper, and our combat did not begin
+till we had eaten a delicious repast, washed down with plenty of
+champagne.
+
+We were sure of not being interrupted by the maid and we put ourselves at
+our ease, whilst our caresses became more lively and ardent. The syndic,
+like a careful man, drew a packet of fine French letters from his pocket,
+and delivered a long eulogium on this admirable preservative from an
+accident which might give rise to a terrible and fruitless repentance.
+The ladies knew them, and seemed to have no objection to the precaution;
+they laughed heartily to see the shape these articles took when they were
+blown out. But after they had amused themselves thus for some time, I
+said,
+
+"My dear girls, I care more for your honour than your beauty; but do not
+think I am going to shut myself in a piece of dead skin to prove that I
+am alive. Here," I added, drawing out the three golden balls, "is a surer
+and less disagreeable way of securing you from any unpleasant
+consequences. After fifteen years' experience I can assure you that with
+these golden balls you can give and take without running the least risk.
+For the future you will have no need of those humiliating sheaths. Trust
+in me and accept this little present from a Venetian who adores you."
+
+"We are very grateful," said the elder of the two sisters, "but how are
+these pretty balls used?"
+
+"The ball has to be at the rear of the temple of love, whilst the amorous
+couple are performing the sacrifice. The antipathy communicated to the
+metal by its being soaked for a certain time in an alkaline solution
+prevents impregnation."
+
+"But," said the cousin, "one must take great care that the ball is not
+shaken out by the motion before the end of the sacrifice."
+
+"You needn't be afraid of that if you place yourself in a proper
+position."
+
+"Let us see how it's done," said the syndic, holding a candle for me to
+put the ball in place.
+
+The charming cousin had gone too far to turn back; she had to submit to
+the operation. I placed the ball in such a position that it could not
+fall out before I was in; however, it fell out towards the end, just as
+we were separating. The victim perceived that I had taken her in.
+However, she said nothing, picked up the ball, and challenged the two
+sisters to submit to the pleasant experiment, to which they lent
+themselves with the greatest interest; while the syndic, who had no faith
+in the virtues of the metal, contented himself with looking on. After
+half an hour's rest I began again, without balls, assuring them that I
+would be careful, and I kept my word, without depriving them of the
+pleasure in the slightest degree.
+
+When it was time to part, these girls, who had formerly been scantily
+provided for, threw their arms round my neck, overwhelmed me with
+caresses, and declared how much they owed me. The syndic told them that I
+was going in two days, and suggested that they should make me stay a day
+longer in Geneva, and I made this sacrifice joyfully. The worthy syndic
+had an engagement on the following day, and I sorely needed a holiday
+myself. He took me back to my inn, thanking me almost as heartily as his
+charming nymphs.
+
+After having enjoyed a calm and refreshing sleep ten hours, I felt myself
+able to enjoy the delightful society of M. de Voltaire. I went to his
+house, but I was disappointed in my hopes, as it pleased the great man to
+be in a fault-finding and sarcastic mood the whole day. He knew I had to
+leave on the morrow.
+
+He began by thanking me at table for my present of Merlin Coccaeus.
+
+"You certainly gave it me with good intentions," said he, "but I owe you
+no thanks for praising it so highly, as you made me lose four hours in
+reading nonsense."
+
+I felt my hair stand on end, but I mastered my emotions, and told him
+quietly enough that one day, perhaps, he would find himself obliged to
+praise the poem more highly than I had done. I quoted several instances
+of the insufficiency of a first perusal.
+
+"That's true," said he; "but as for your Merlin, I will read him no more.
+I have put him beside Chapelain's 'Pucelle'."
+
+"Which pleases all the critics, in spite of its bad versification, for it
+is a good poem, and Chapelain was a real poet though he wrote bad verses.
+I cannot overlook his genius."
+
+My freedom must have shocked him, and I might have guessed it when he
+told me he had put the 'Macaronicon' beside the 'Pucelle'. I knew that
+there was a poem of the same title in circulation, which passed for
+Voltaire's; but I also knew that he disavowed it, and I thought that
+would make him conceal the vexation my explanation must have caused him.
+It was not so, however; he contradicted me sharply, and I closed with
+him.
+
+"Chapelain," said I, "has the merit of having rendered his subject-matter
+pleasant, without pandering to the tastes of his readers by saying things
+shocking to modesty and piety. So thinks my master Crebillon:"
+
+"Crebillon! You cite a weighty authority. But how is my friend Crebillon
+your master, may I ask?"
+
+"He taught me to speak French in less than two years, and as a mark of my
+gratitude I translated his Radamiste into Italian Alexandrines. I am the
+first Italian who has dared to use this metre in our language."
+
+"The first? I beg your pardon, as that honour belongs to my friend Pierre
+Jacques Martelli."
+
+"I am sorry to be obliged to tell you that you are making a mistake."
+
+"Why, I have his works, printed at Bologna, in my room!"
+
+"I don't deny that, I am only talking about the metre used by Martelli.
+What you are thinking of must be verses of fourteen syllables; without
+alternative masculine and feminine rhymes. However, I confess that he
+thinks he has imitated the French Alexandrines, and his preface made me
+explode with laughter. Did you read it?"
+
+"Read it? I always read prefaces, and Martelli proves there that his
+verses have the same effect in Italian as our Alexandrine verses have in
+French."
+
+"Exactly, that's what's so amusing. The worthy man is quite mistaken, and
+I only ask you to listen to what I have to say on the subject. Your
+masculine verse has only twelve poetic syllables, and the feminine
+thirteen. All Martelli's lines have fourteen syllables, except those that
+finish with a long vowel, which at the end of a line always counts as two
+syllables. You will observe that the first hemistitch in Martelli always
+consists of seven syllables, while in French it only has six. Your friend
+Pierre Jacques was either stone deaf or very hard of hearing."
+
+"Then you have followed our theory of versification rigorously."
+
+"Just so, in spite of the difficulty, as nearly all our words end with a
+short syllable."
+
+"What reception has been accorded to your innovation?"
+
+"It has not been found pleasing, because nobody knows how to recite my
+verses; but I hope to triumph when I deliver them myself before our
+literary clubs."
+
+"Do you remember any of your version of the Radamiste?"
+
+"I remember it all."
+
+"You have a wonderful memory; I should be glad to hear it."
+
+I began to recite the same scene that I had recited to Crebillon ten
+years before, and I thought M. de Voltaire listened with pleasure.
+
+"It doesn't strike one as at all harsh," said he.
+
+This was the highest praise he would give me. In his turn the great man
+recited a passage from Tancred which had not as yet been published, and
+which was afterwards considered, and rightly, as a masterpiece.
+
+We should have got on very well if we had kept to that, but on my quoting
+a line of Horace to praise one of his pieces, he said that Horace was a
+great master who had given precepts which would never be out of date.
+Thereupon I answered that he himself had violated one of them, but that
+he had violated it grandly.
+
+"Which is that?"
+
+"You do not write, 'Contentus paucis lectoribus'."
+
+"If Horace had had to combat the hydra-headed monster of superstition, he
+would have written as I have written--for all the world."
+
+"It seems to me that you might spare yourself the trouble of combating
+what you will never destroy."
+
+"That which I cannot finish others will, and I shall always have the
+glory of being the first in the field."
+
+"Very good; but supposing you succeed in destroying superstition, what
+are you going to put in its place?"
+
+"I like that. If I deliver the race of man from a wild beast which is
+devouring it, am I to be asked what I intend to put in its place?"
+
+"It does not devour it; on the contrary, it is necessary to its
+existence."
+
+"Necessary to its existence! That is a horrible blasphemy, the falsity of
+which will be seen in the future. I love the human race; I would fain see
+men like myself, free and happy, and superstition and freedom cannot go
+together. Where do you find an enslaved and yet a happy people?"
+
+"You wish, then, to see the people sovereign?"
+
+"God forbid! There must be a sovereign to govern the masses."
+
+"In that case you must have superstition, for without it the masses will
+never obey a mere man decked with the name of monarch."
+
+"I will have no monarch; the word expresses despotism, which I hate as I
+do slavery."
+
+"What do you mean, then? If you wish to put the government in the hands
+of one man, such a man, I maintain, will be a monarch."
+
+"I would have a sovereign ruler of a free people, of which he is the
+chief by an agreement which binds them both, which would prevent him from
+becoming a tyrant."
+
+"Addison will tell you that such a sovereign is a sheer impossibility. I
+agree with Hobbes, of two evils choose the least. A nation without
+superstition would be a nation of philosophers, and philosophers would
+never obey. The people will only be happy when they are crushed and
+down-trodden, and bound in chains."
+
+"This is horrible; and you are of the people yourself. If you have read
+my works you must have seen how I shew that superstition is the enemy of
+kings."
+
+"Read your works? I have read and re-read them, especially in places
+where I have differed from you. Your ruling passion is the love of
+humanity. 'Est ubi peccas'. This blinds you. Love humanity, but love it
+as it is. It is not fit to receive the blessings you would lavish on it,
+and which would only make it more wretched and perverse. Leave men their
+devouring monster, it is dear to them. I have never laughed so heartily
+as at Don Quixote assailed by the galley-slaves whom his generosity had
+set free."
+
+"I am sorry that you have such a bad opinion of your fellow-creatures.
+And by the way, tell me whether there is freedom in Venice."
+
+"As much as can be expected under an aristocracy. Our liberty is not so
+great as that which the English enjoy, but we are content."
+
+"Even under The Leads?"
+
+"My imprisonment was certainly despotic; but as I had knowingly abused my
+liberty I am satisfied that the Government was within its rights in
+shutting me up without the usual formalities."
+
+"All the same, you made your escape."
+
+"I used my rights as they had used theirs."
+
+"Very good! But as far as I can see, no one in Venice is really free."
+
+"That may be; but you must agree that the essence of freedom consists in
+thinking you have it."
+
+"I shall not agree to that so easily. You and I see liberty from very
+different points of view. The aristocrats, the members of the Government
+even, are not free at Venice; for example, they cannot travel without
+permission."
+
+"True, but that is a restriction of their own making to preserve their
+power. Would you say that a Bernese is not free, because he is subject to
+the sumptuary laws, which he himself had made."
+
+"Well, well, I wish the people made the laws everywhere."
+
+After this lively answer, he abruptly asked me what part I came from.
+
+"From Roche," said I. "I should have been very sorry to leave Switzerland
+without seeing the famous Haller. In my travels I render homage to my
+learned contemporaries, and you come the last and best."
+
+"You must have liked Haller."
+
+"I spent three of the happiest days of my life with him."
+
+"I congratulate you. He is a great man and worthy of all honour."
+
+"I think as you do, and I am glad to hear you doing him justice; I am
+sorry he was not so just towards you."
+
+"Well, you see we may be both of us mistaken."
+
+At this reply, the quickness of which constituted its chief merit,
+everybody present began to laugh and applaud.
+
+No more was said of literature, and I became a silent actor till M. de
+Voltaire retired, when I approached Madame Denis, and asked her if she
+had any commands for me at Rome. I went home well pleased at having
+compelled the giant of intellect to listen to reason, as I then thought
+foolishly enough; but there was a rankling feeling left in my heart
+against him which made me, ten years later, criticise all he had written.
+
+I am sorry now for having done so, though on reading my censures over
+again I find that in many places I was right. I should have done better,
+however, to have kept silence, to have respected his genius, and to have
+suspected my own opinions. I should have considered that if it had not
+been for those quips and cranks which made me hate him on the third day,
+I should have thought him wholly sublime. This thought alone should have
+silenced me, but an angry man always thinks himself right. Posterity on
+reading my attack will rank me among the Zoyluses, and the humble apology
+I now make to the great man's shades may not be read.
+
+If we meet in the halls of Pluto, the more peccant parts of our mortal
+nature purged away, all will be made up; he will receive my heartfelt
+apologies, and he will be my friend, I his sincere admirer.
+
+I spent part of the night and the whole of the following day in writing
+down my conversations with Voltaire, and they amounted nearly to a
+volume, of which I have only given a mere abridgment. Towards the evening
+my Epicurean syndic called on me, and we went to sup with the three
+nymphs, and for five hours we indulged in every species of wantonness, in
+which I had a somewhat fertile imagination. On leaving I promised to call
+on them again on my return from Rome, and I kept my word. I set out the
+next day, after dining with the syndic, who accompanied me as far as
+Anneci, where I spent the night. Next day I dined at Aix, with the
+intention of lying at Chamberi, but my destiny ordered otherwise.
+
+Aix is a villainous hole where the mineral waters attract people of
+fashion towards the end of the summer--a circumstance of which I was then
+ignorant. I dined hastily, wishing to set out immediately for Chamberi,
+when in the middle of my repast a crowd of fashionable people burst into
+the room. I looked at them without stirring, replying with an inclination
+of the head to the bows which some of them made me. I soon discovered
+from their conversation that they had all come to take the waters. A
+gentleman of a fine presence came up to me and asked if I were going to
+Turin; I answered that my way was to Marseilles.
+
+Their dinner was served, and everybody sat down. Among them I noticed
+several pleasant-looking ladies, with gentlemen who were either their
+husbands or their lovers. I concluded that I might find some amusement
+with them, as they all spoke French with that easy tone of good society
+which is so attractive, and I felt that I should be inclined to stay
+without much pressing, for that day at all events.
+
+I finished my dinner before the company had come to the end of their
+first course, and as my coach could not go for another hour I went up to
+a pretty woman, and complimented her on the good the waters of Aix seemed
+to have done her, for her appetite made all who looked at her feel
+hungry.
+
+"I challenge you to prove that you are speaking the truth," said she,
+with a smile. I sat down next to her, and she gave me a nice piece of the
+roast which I ate as if I had been fasting.
+
+While I was talking with the lady, and eating the morsels she gave me, I
+heard a voice saying that I was in the abbe's place, and another voice
+replying that the abbe had been gone for half an hour.
+
+"Why has he gone?" asked a third, "he said he was going to stay here for
+another week." At this there was some whispering, but the departure of an
+abbe had nothing interesting in it for me, and I continued eating and
+talking. I told Le Duc, who was standing behind my chair, to get me some
+champagne. I offered the lady some, she accepted, and everyone began to
+call for champagne. Seeing my neighbour's spirits rising, I proceeded to
+make love to her, and asked her if she were always as ready to defy those
+who paid their court to her.
+
+"So many of them," she answered, "are not worthy the trouble."
+
+She was pretty and quick-witted, and I took a fancy to her, and wished
+for some pretext on which I could put off my departure, and chance came
+to my aid.
+
+"The place next to you was conveniently empty," said a lady to my
+neighbour who was drinking with me.
+
+"Very conveniently, for my neighbour wearied me."
+
+"Had he no appetite?" said I.
+
+"Gamesters only have an appetite for money."
+
+"Usually, but your power is extraordinary; for I have never made two
+dinners on one day before now."
+
+"Only out of pride; as I am sure you will eat no supper."
+
+"Let us make a bet on it."
+
+"We will; we will bet the supper."
+
+"All right."
+
+All the guests began to clap, and my fair neighbour blushed with
+pleasure. I ordered Le Duc to tell my coachman that I should not be going
+till the next day.
+
+"It is my business," said the lady, "to order the supper."
+
+"Yes, you are right; for he who pays, orders. My part will be to oppose
+you to the knife, and if I eat as much as you I shall be the winner."
+
+"Very good."
+
+At the end of dinner, the individual who had addressed me before called
+for cards, and made a small bank of faro. He put down twenty-five
+Piedmontese pistoles, and some silver money to amuse the
+ladies--altogether it amounted nearly to forty louis. I remained a
+spectator during the first deal, and convinced myself that the banker
+played very well.
+
+Whilst he was getting ready for the second deal, the lady asked me why I
+did not play. I whispered to her that she had made me lose my appetite
+for money. She repaid this compliment with a charming smile.
+
+After this declaration, feeling myself entitled to play, I put down forty
+louis, and lost them in two deals. I got up, and on the banker saying
+very politely that he was sorry for my loss, I replied that it was a mere
+nothing, but that I always made it a rule never to risk a sum of money
+larger than the bank. Somebody then asked me if I knew a certain Abbe
+Gilbert.
+
+"I knew a man of that name," said I, "at Paris; he came from Lyons, and
+owes me a pair of ears, which I mean to cut off his head when I meet
+him."
+
+My questioner made no reply to this, and everybody remained silent, as if
+nothing had been said. From this I concluded that the abbe aforesaid must
+be the same whose place I had occupied at dinner. He had doubtless seen
+me on my arrival and had taken himself off. This abbe was a rascal who
+had visited me at Little Poland, to whom I had entrusted a ring which had
+cost me five thousand florins in Holland; next day the scoundrel had
+disappeared.
+
+When everybody had left the table, I asked Le Duc if I were well lodged.
+
+"No," said he; "would you like to see your room?"
+
+He took me to a large room, a hundred paces from the inn, whose sole
+furniture consisted of its four walls, all the other rooms being
+occupied. I complained vainly to the inn-keeper, who said,
+
+"It's all I can offer you, but I will have a good bed, a table, and
+chairs taken there."
+
+I had to content myself with it, as there was no choice.
+
+"You will sleep in my room," said I to Le Duc, "take care to provide
+yourself with a bed, and bring my baggage in."
+
+"What do you think of Gilbert, sir?" said my Spaniard; "I only recognized
+him just as he was going, and I had a lively desire to take him by the
+back of his neck."
+
+"You would have done well to have satisfied that desire."
+
+"I will, when I see him again."
+
+As I was leaving my big room, I was accosted politely by a man who said
+he was glad to be my neighbour, and offered to take me to the fountain if
+I were going there. I accepted his offer. He was a tall fair man, about
+fifty years old; he must once have been handsome, but his excessive
+politeness should have made me suspect him; however, I wanted somebody to
+talk to, and to give me the various pieces of information I required. On
+the way he informed me of the condition of the people I had seen, and I
+learnt that none of them had come to Aix for the sake of the waters.
+
+"I am the only one," said he, "who takes them out of necessity. I am
+consumptive; I get thinner every day, and if the waters don't do me any
+good I shall not last much longer."
+
+So all the others have only come here for amusement's sake?"
+
+"And to game, sir, for they are all professional gamesters."
+
+"Are they French?"
+
+"They are all from Piedmont or Savoy; I am the only Frenchman here."
+
+"What part of France do you come from?"
+
+"From Lorraine; my father, who is eighty years old, is the Marquis
+Desarmoises. He only keeps on living to spite me, for as I married
+against his wishes he has disinherited me. However, as I am his only son,
+I shall inherit his property after his death, in spite of him. My house
+is at Lyons, but I never go there, as I have the misfortune to be in love
+with my eldest daughter, and my wife watches us so closely as to make my
+courtship hopeless."
+
+"That is very fine; otherwise, I suppose, your daughter would take pity
+on her amorous papa?"
+
+"I daresay, for she is very fond of me, and has an excellent heart."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+My Adventures at Aix--My Second M. M.--Madame Zeroli
+
+This man, who, though he did not know me, put the utmost confidence in
+me, so far from thinking he was horrifying me by the confession of such
+wickedness, probably considered he was doing me a great honour. While I
+listened to him I reflected that though depraved he might have his good
+points, and that his weakness might have a pitiable if not a pardonable
+side. However, wishing to know more of him, I said,--
+
+"In spite of your father's sternness, you live very well."
+
+"On the contrary, I live very ill. I enjoy a pension from the Government,
+which I surrender to my wife, and as for me I make a livelihood on my
+travels. I play black gammon and most other games perfectly. I win more
+often than I lose, and I live on my winnings."
+
+"But is what you have told me about your daughter known to the visitors
+here?"
+
+"Everybody knows it; why should I hide it? I am a man of honour and
+injure no one; and, besides, my sword is sharp."
+
+"Quite so; but would you tell me whether you allow your daughter to have
+a lover?"
+
+"I should have no objection, but my wife is religious."
+
+"Is your daughter pretty?"
+
+"Very; if you are going to Lyons, you can go and see her; I will give you
+a letter of introduction for her."
+
+"Thank you, but I am going to Italy. Can you tell me the name of the
+gentleman who kept the bank?"
+
+"That is the famous Parcalier, Marquis de Prie since the death of his
+father, whom you may have known as ambassador at Venice. The gentleman
+who asked you if you knew the Abbe Gilbert is the Chevalier Zeroli,
+husband of the lady you are to sup with. The rest are counts, marquises,
+and barons of the usual kind, some from Piedmont and some from Savoy. Two
+or three are merchants' sons, and the ladies are all their friends or
+relations. They are all professional gamblers and sharp-witted. When a
+stranger comes here they know how to get over him, and if he plays it is
+all up with him, for they go together like pickpockets at a fair. They
+think they have got you, so take care of yourself."
+
+In the evening we returned to the inn, and found all the company playing,
+and my companion proceeded to play with a Count de Scarnafisch.
+
+The Chevalier Zeroli offered to play faro with me for forty sequins, and
+I had just lost that sum when supper was served. My loss had not affected
+my spirits, and the lady finding me at once hungry and gay paid the bet
+with a good grace. At supper I surprised her in certain side-glances,
+which warned me that she was going to try to dupe me; I felt myself safe
+as far as love was concerned, but I had reason to dread fortune, always
+the friend of those who keep a bank at faro, especially as I had already
+lost. I should have done well to go, but I had not the strength; all I
+could do was to promise myself that I would be extremely prudent. Having
+large sums in paper money and plenty of gold, it was not difficult for me
+to be careful.
+
+Just after supper the Marquis de Prie made a bank of about three hundred
+sequins. His staking this paltry sum shewed me that I had much to lose
+and little to win, as it was evident that he would have made a bank of a
+thousand sequins if he had had them. I put down fifty Portuguese crowns,
+and said that as soon as I had lost them I should go to bed. In the
+middle of the third deal I broke the bank.
+
+"I am good for another two hundred louis," said the marquis.
+
+"I should be glad to continue playing," I replied, "if I had not to go at
+day-break"; and I thereupon left the room.
+
+Just as I was going to bed, Desarmoises came and asked me to lend him
+twelve louis. I had expected some such request, and I counted them out to
+him. He embraced me gratefully, and told me that Madame Zeroli had sworn
+to make me stay on at least for another day. I smiled and called Le Duc,
+and asked him if my coachman knew that I was starting early; he replied
+that he would be at the door by five o'clock.
+
+"Very good," said Desarmoises, "but I will wager that you will not go for
+all that."
+
+He went out and I went to bed, laughing at his prophecy.
+
+At five o'clock next morning the coachman came to tell me that one of the
+horses was ill and could not travel. I saw that Desarmoises had had an
+inkling of some plot, but I only laughed. I sent the man roughly about
+his business, and told Le Duc to get me post-horses at the inn. The
+inn-keeper came and told me that there were no horses, and that it would
+take all the morning to find some, as the Marquis de Prie, who was
+leaving at one o'clock in the morning, had emptied his stables. I
+answered that in that case I would dine at Aix, but that I counted on his
+getting me horses by two o'clock in the afternoon.
+
+I left the room and went to the stable, where I found the coachman
+weeping over one of his horses stretched out on the straw. I thought it
+was really an accident, and consoled the poor devil, paying him as if he
+had done his work, and telling him I should not want him any more. I then
+went towards the fountain, but the reader will be astonished by a meeting
+of the most romantic character, but which is yet the strict truth.
+
+At a few paces from the fountain I saw two nuns coming from it. They were
+veiled, but I concluded from their appearance that one was young and the
+other old. There was nothing astonishing in such a sight, but their habit
+attracted my attention, for it was the same as that worn by my dear
+M---- M----, whom I had seen for the last time on July 24th, 1755, five
+years before. The look of them was enough, not to make me believe that
+the young nun was M---- M----, but to excite my curiosity. They were
+walking towards the country, so I turned to cut them off that I might see
+them face to face and be seen of them. What was my emotion when I saw the
+young nun, who, walking in front, and lifting her veil, disclosed the
+veritable face of M---- M----. I could not doubt that it was she, and I
+began to walk beside her; but she lowered her veil, and turned to avoid
+me.
+
+The reasons she might have for such a course passed in a moment through
+my mind, and I followed her at a distance, and when she had gone about
+five hundred paces I saw her enter a lonely house of poor appearance that
+was enough for me. I returned to the fountain to see what I could learn
+about the nun.
+
+On my way there I lost myself in a maze of conjectures.
+
+"The too charming and hapless M---- M----," said I to myself, "must have
+left her convent, desperate--nay, mad; for why does she still wear the
+habit of her order?  Perhaps, though, she has got a dispensation to come
+here for the waters; that must be the reason why she has a nun with her,
+and why she has not left off her habit. At all events the journey must
+have been undertaken under false pretences. Has she abandoned herself to
+some fatal passion, of which the result has been pregnancy?  She is
+doubtless perplexed, and must have been pleased to see me. I will not
+deceive her expectations; I will do all in my power to convince her that
+I am worthy of her."
+
+Lost in thought I did not notice I had arrived at the fountain, round
+which stood the whole host of gamesters. They all crowded round me, and
+said how charmed they were to see me still there. I asked the Chevalier
+Zeroli after his wife, and he told me she was still abed, and that it
+would be a good thing if I would go and make her get up. I was just going
+when the doctor of the place accosted me, saying, that the waters of the
+Aix would increase my good health. Full of the one idea, I asked him
+directly if he were the doctor in attendance on a pretty nun I had seen.
+
+"She takes the waters," he replied, "but she does not speak to anyone."
+
+"Where does she come from?"
+
+"Nobody knows; she lives in a peasant's house."
+
+I left the doctor, and instead of going towards the inn, where the hussy
+Zeroli was doubtless waiting for me, I made my way towards the peasant's
+house, which already seemed to me the temple of the most blissful
+deities, determined to obtain the information I required as prudently as
+might be. But as if love had favoured my vows, when I was within a
+hundred paces of the cottage I saw the peasant woman coming out to meet
+me.
+
+"Sir," said she, accosting me, "the young nun begs you to return this
+evening at nine o'clock; the lay-sister will be asleep then, and she will
+be able to speak freely to you."
+
+There could be no more doubt. My heart leapt with joy. I gave the
+country-woman a louis, and promised to be at the house at nine exactly.
+
+With the certainty of seeing my dear M---- M---- again I returned to the
+inn, and on ascertaining which was Madame Zeroli's room I entered without
+ceremony, and told her that her husband had sent me to make her get up.
+
+"I thought you were gone?"
+
+"I am going at two."
+
+I found her still more enticing in bed than at table. I helped her to put
+on her stays, and the sight of her charms inflamed my ardour, but I
+experienced more resistance than I had anticipated. I sat down at the
+foot of the bed, and told her how fervently I loved her, and how unhappy
+I was at not being able to give her marks of my love before I left.
+
+"But," said she, laughing, "you have only got to stay."
+
+"Give me some hope, and I will stay till to-morrow."
+
+"You are in too much of a hurry, take things more quietly."
+
+I contented myself with the few favours she granted me, pretending as
+usual only to yield to violence, when I was obliged to restrain myself on
+the appearance of her husband, who took the precaution of making a noise
+before he came in. As soon as she saw him, she said, without the
+slightest perturbation, "I have persuaded the gentleman to stay tell the
+day after to-morrow."
+
+"I am all the more pleased to hear it, my dear," said the chevalier, "as
+I owe him his revenge."
+
+With these words he took up a pack of cards, which came as readily to his
+hands as if they had been placed there on purpose, and seating himself
+beside his wife, whom he made into the table, he began to deal.
+
+I could not draw back, and as my thoughts were distracted I kept on
+losing till they came to tell me dinner was ready.
+
+"I have no time to dress," said the lady, "so I will have my dinner in
+bed, if you gentlemen will keep me company."
+
+How could I refuse?  The husband went out to order the dinner, and
+feeling myself authorized by the loss of twenty Louis, I told the hussy
+that if she would not give me a plain promise to make me happy that
+afternoon I should go away when I had had my dinner.
+
+"Breakfast with me to-morrow morning. We shall be alone."
+
+After receiving from her certain earnests of her promise, I promised to
+stay on.
+
+We dined by her bedside, and I told Le Duc that I should not be going
+till the afternoon of the next day, which made the husband and wife
+radiant. When we had done, the lady said she would like to get up; and I
+went out, promising to return and play piquet with her. I proceeded to
+reline my purse, and I met Desarmoises, who said,
+
+"I have found out the secret; they gave her coachman two Louis to
+substitute a sick horse for his own."
+
+"It's a matter of give and take," said I; "I am in love with the
+chevalier's wife, and I am putting off my departure till I have got all I
+want out of her."
+
+"I am afraid you will have to pay pretty dearly for your pleasure.
+However, I will do what I can for your interests."
+
+I thanked him smilingly, and returned to the lady, whom I left at eight
+o'clock under pretext of a violent headache, after having lost ten louis
+to her. I reminded her of her promise for next morning at nine o'clock,
+and I left her in the midst of the company.
+
+It was a fine moonlight night as I walked towards the peasant's house,
+where I was to see my dear M---- M---- once more. I was impatient to see
+what the visit, on which the rest of my life might depend, would bring
+forth.
+
+I had taken the precaution to provide myself with a pair of pistols, and
+my sword hung at my side, for I was not wholly devoid of suspicion in
+this place, where there were so many adventurers; but at twenty paces
+from the cottage I saw the woman coming towards me. She told me that the
+nun could not come down, so I must be content to enter through the
+window, by means of a ladder which she had placed there for the purpose.
+I drew near, and not seeing any light I should not have easily decided on
+going up, if I had not heard the voice I thought I knew so well, saying,
+"Fear nothing; come." Besides, the window was not very high up, and there
+could not be much danger of a trap. I ascended, and thought for certain
+that I held my dear M---- M---- in my arms, as I covered her face with my
+ardent kisses.
+
+"Why," said I, in Venetian, "have you not a light? I hope you are going
+to inform me of an event which seems wonderful to me; quick, dearest,
+satisfy my impatience."
+
+The reader will guess my surprise when he learns that on hearing her
+voice close to me I found that she was not M---- M----. She told me that
+she did not understand Venetian, and that I did not require a light to
+tell her what M. de Coudert had decided on doing to save her from her
+peril.
+
+"You surprise me; I do not know M. de Coudert. What! Are you not a
+Venetian? Are you not the nun I saw this morning?"
+
+"Hapless one! I have made a mistake. I am the nun you saw this morning,
+but I am French. In the name of God keep my counsel and begone, for I
+have nothing to say to you! Whisper, for if the lay-sister woke up I
+should be undone."
+
+"Do not be afraid of my discretion. What deceived me was your exact
+likeness to a nun of your order who will be always dear to me: and if you
+had not allowed me to see your features I should not have followed you.
+Forgive the tenderness I shewed towards you, though you must think me
+very audacious."
+
+"You astonished me very much, but you did not offend me. I wish I were
+the nun in whom you are interested. I am on the brink of a fearful
+precipice."
+
+"If ten louis are any good to you, it will be an honour for me to give
+you them."
+
+"Thank you, I have no need of money. Allow me to give you back the louis
+you sent me this morning."
+
+"The louis was for the country-woman. You increase my surprise; pray tell
+me what is the misfortune under which you labour, for which money can do
+nothing."
+
+"Perhaps God has sent you to my aid. Maybe you will give me good advice.
+Listen to what I am about to tell you."
+
+"I am at your service, and I will listen with the greatest attention. Let
+us sit down."
+
+"I am afraid there is neither seat nor bed."
+
+"Say on, then; we will remain standing."
+
+"I come from Grenoble. I was made to take the veil at Chamberi. Two years
+after my profession, M. de Coudert found means to see me. I received him
+in the convent garden, the walls of which he scaled, and at last I was so
+unfortunate as to become pregnant. The idea of giving birth to a child at
+the convent was too dreadful--I should have languished till I died in a
+terrible dungeon--and M. de Coudert thought of a plan for taking me out
+of the convent. A doctor whom he gained over with a large sum of money
+declared that I should die unless I came here to take the waters, which
+he declared were the only cure for my illness. A princess whom M. de
+Coudert knew was partly admitted to the secret, and she obtained the
+leave of absence for three months from the Bishop of Chamberi, and the
+abbess consented to my going.
+
+"I thus hoped to be delivered before the expiration of the three months;
+but I have assuredly made a mistake, for the time draws to an end and I
+feel no signs of a speedy delivery. I am obliged to return to the
+convent, and yet I cannot do so. The lay-sister who is with me is a
+perfect shrew. She has orders not to let me speak to anybody, and never
+to let my face be seen. She it was who made me turn when she saw you
+following us. I lifted my veil for you to see that I was she of whom I
+thought you were in search, and happily the lay-sister did not notice me.
+She wants me to return with her to the convent in three days, as she
+thinks I have an incurable dropsy. She does not allow me to speak to the
+doctor, whom I might, perhaps, have gained over by telling him the truth.
+I am only twenty-one, and yet I long for death."
+
+"Do not weep so, dear sister, and tell me how you expect to be delivered
+here without the lay-sister being aware of it?"
+
+"The worthy woman with whom I am staying is an angel of goodness. I have
+confided in her, and she promised me that when I felt the pangs coming on
+she would give that malicious woman a soporific, and thus we should be
+freed from all fears of her. By virtue of the drug she now sleeps soundly
+in the room under this garret."
+
+"Why was I not let in by the door?"
+
+"To prevent the woman's brother seeing you; he is a rude boor."
+
+"What made you think that I had anything to do with M. de Coudert?"
+
+"Ten or twelve days ago, I wrote to him and told him of my dreadful
+position. I painted my situation with such lively colours that I thought
+he must do all in his power to help me. As the wretched cling to every
+straw, I thought, when I saw you following me, that you were the
+deliverer he had sent."
+
+"Are you sure he got your letter?"
+
+"The woman posted it at Anneci."
+
+"You should write to the princess."
+
+"I dare not."
+
+"I will see her myself, and I will see M. de Coudert. In fine, I will
+move heaven and earth, I will even go to the bishop, to obtain an
+extension of your leave; for it is out of the question for you to return
+to the convent in your present situation. You must decide, for I can do
+nothing without your consent. Will you trust in me? If so, I will bring
+you a man's clothes to-morrow and take you to Italy with me, and while I
+live I swear I will care for you."
+
+For reply, I only heard long-drawn sobs, which distressed me beyond
+words, for I felt acutely the situation of this poor creature whom Heaven
+had made to be a mother, and whom the cruelty of her parents had
+condemned to be a useless nun.
+
+Not knowing what else to say, I took her hand and promised to return the
+next day and hear her decision, for it was absolutely necessary that she
+should decide on some plan. I went away by the ladder, and gave a second
+louis to the worthy woman, telling her that I should be with her on the
+morrow at the same hour, but that I should like to be able to enter by
+the door. I begged her to give the lay-sister a stronger dose of opium,
+so that there should be no fear of her awaking while I talked with the
+young nun.
+
+I went to bed glad at heart that I had been wrong in thinking that the
+nun was M---- M----. Nevertheless the great likeness between them made me
+wish to see her nearer at hand, and I was sure that she would not refuse
+me the privilege of looking at her the next day. I smiled at the thought
+of the ardent kisses I had given her, but I felt that I could not leave
+her to her fate. I was glad to find that I did not need any sensual
+motive to urge me to a good deed, for as soon as I found that it was not
+M---- M---- who had received those tender kisses I felt ashamed of having
+given them. I had not even given her a friendly kiss when I left her.
+
+In the morning Desarmoises came and told me that all the company, not
+seeing me at supper, had been puzzling itself to find out what had become
+of me. Madame Zeroli had spoken enthusiastically about me, and had taken
+the jests of the two other ladies in good part, boasting that she could
+keep me at Aix as long as she remained there herself. The fact was that I
+was not amorous but curious where she was concerned, and I should have
+been sorry to have left the place without obtaining complete possession
+of her, for once at all events.
+
+I kept my appointment, and entered her room at nine o'clock exactly. I
+found her dressed, and on my reproaching her she said that it should be
+of no consequence to me whether she were dressed or undressed. I was
+angry, and I took my chocolate without so much as speaking to her. When I
+had finished she offered me my revenge at piquet, but I thanked her and
+begged to be excused, telling her that in the humour in which she had put
+me I should prove the better player, and that I did not care to win
+ladies' money. So saying I rose to leave the room.
+
+"At least be kind enough to take me to the fountain."
+
+"I think not. If you take me for a freshman, you make a mistake, and I
+don't care to give the impression that I am pleased when I am displeased.
+You can get whomsoever you please to take you to the fountain, but as for
+me I must beg to be excused. Farewell, madam."
+
+With these words I went out, paying no attention to her efforts to recall
+me.
+
+I found the inn-keeper, and told him that I must leave at three o'clock
+without a fail. The lady, who was at her window, could hear me. I went
+straight to the fountain where the chevalier asked me what had become of
+his wife, and I answered that I had left her in her room in perfect
+health. In half an hour we saw her coming with a stranger, who was
+welcomed by a certain M. de St. Maurice. Madame Zeroli left him, and
+tacked herself on to me, as if there had been nothing the matter. I could
+not repulse her without the most troublesome consequences, but I was very
+cold. After complaining of my conduct she said that she had only been
+trying me, that if I really loved her I should put off my departure, and
+that I should breakfast with her at eight o'clock the next day. I
+answered coolly that I would think it over. I was serious all
+dinner-time, and said once or twice that I must go at three o'clock, but
+as I wanted to find some pretext for staying on account of the nun, I let
+myself be persuaded into making a bank at faro.
+
+I staked all the gold I had, and I saw every face light up as I put down
+about four hundred louis in gold, and about six hundred francs in silver.
+"Gentlemen," said I, "I shall rise at eight o'clock precisely." The
+stranger said, with a smile, that possibly the bank might not live so
+long, but I pretended not to understand him. It was just three o'clock. I
+begged Desarmoises to be my croupier, and I began to deal with due
+deliberation to eighteen or twenty punters, all professional gamblers. I
+took a new pack at every deal.
+
+By five o'clock I had lost money. We heard carriage wheels, and they said
+it was three Englishmen from Geneva, who were changing horses to go on to
+Chamberi. A moment after they came in, and I bowed. It was Mr. Fox and
+his two friends, who had played quinze with me. My croupier gave them
+cards, which they received gladly, and went ten louis, playing on two and
+three cards, going paroli, seven and the 'va', as well as the 'quinze',
+so that my bank was in danger of breaking. However, I kept up my face,
+and even encouraged them to play, for, God being neutral, the chances
+were in my favour. So it happened, and at the third deal I had cleared
+the Englishmen out, and their carriage was ready.
+
+While I was shuffling a fresh pack of cards, the youngest of them drew
+out of his pocket-book a paper which he spewed to his two companions. It
+was a bill of exchange. "Will you stake the value of this bill on a card,
+without knowing its value?" said he.
+
+"Yes," I replied, "if you will tell me upon whom it is drawn, and
+provided that it does not exceed the value of the bank."
+
+After a rapid glance at the pile of gold before me, he said, "The bill is
+not for so large a sum as your bank, and it is payable at sight by
+Zappata, of Turin."
+
+I agreed, he cut, and put his money on an ace, the two friends going half
+shares. I drew and drew and drew, but no ace appeared. I had only a dozen
+cards left.
+
+"Sir," said I, calmly to the punter, "you can draw back if you like."
+
+"No, go on."
+
+Four cards more, and still no ace; I had only eight cards left.
+
+"My lord," said I, "it's two to one that I do not hold the ace, I repeat
+you can draw back."
+
+"No, no, you are too generous, go on."
+
+I continued dealing, and won; I put the bill of exchange in my pocket
+without looking at it. The Englishmen shook me by the hand and went off
+laughing. I was enjoying the effect this bold stroke had made on the
+company, when young Fox came in and with a roar of laughter begged me to
+lend him fifty Louis. I counted them out with the greatest pleasure, and
+he paid me them back in London three years later.
+
+Everyone was curious to know the value of the bill of exchange, but I was
+not polite enough to satisfy their curiosity. It was for eight thousand
+Piedmontese francs, as I saw as soon as I was alone. The Englishmen had
+brought me good luck, for when they had gone fortune declared for the
+bank. I rose at eight o'clock, some ladies having won a few louis, all
+the others were dried up. I had won more than a thousand louis, and I
+gave twenty-five to Desarmoises, who jumped for joy. I locked up my
+money, put my pistols in my pocket, and set out towards the
+meeting-place.
+
+The worthy peasant woman brought me in by the door, telling me that
+everybody was asleep, and that she had not found it necessary to renew
+the lay-sister's dose, as she was still asleep.
+
+I was terrified. I went upstairs, and by the light of a single candle I
+saw the wretched, veiled figure of the nun, extended upon a sack which
+the peasant woman had placed along the wall instead of a sofa. The candle
+which lighted this dreary place was fixed in a bottle.
+
+"What have you decided on doing?" said I.
+
+"I have decided on nothing, for an unforeseen incident has confounded us.
+The lay-sister has been asleep for eighteen hours."
+
+"She will die of convulsions or of an apoplectic fit to-night if you do
+not call a doctor, who may possibly restore her to life with a dose of
+castor oil."
+
+"We have thought of that, but we did not dare to take that step for fear
+of consequences; for whether he restores her or not, he will say that we
+have poisoned her."
+
+"I pity you, upon my soul! Indeed, I believe that it is too late, and
+that a doctor could do nothing. One must obey the laws of prudence and
+let her die. The mischief is done, and I see no remedy."
+
+"At any rate, we ought to think of her soul and send for a priest."
+
+"A priest would do her no good, as she is in a perfect lethargy; her soul
+is safe enough. Besides, an ignorant priest would find out too much, and
+would tell the whole story either through malice or stupidity. It will be
+time to call a priest when she has ceased to breathe. You must tell him
+that she died very suddenly; you must weep a great deal, and give him a
+fee, and he will think only of calming your grief, and nothing about the
+sudden death."
+
+"Then we must let her die?"
+
+"We must leave her to nature."
+
+"If she dies I will send a messenger to the abbess, who will dispatch
+another lay-sister."
+
+"Yes, and that will give you another ten days. During that time you may
+be delivered, and you will confess that every cloud has a silver lining.
+Do not grieve so, but let us endeavour to submit to the will of God. Send
+for the country-woman, for I must give her some hints as to her conduct
+in this delicate matter, on which the honour and life of all three may
+depend. For instance, if it were discovered that I had come here, I might
+be taken for the poisoner."
+
+The woman came, and I shewed her how necessary it was for her to be
+prudent and discreet. She understood me perfectly, perceived her own
+dangerous position, and promised that she would not send for the priest
+till she was certain of the sister's death. I then made her accept ten
+louis in case of need.
+
+Seeing herself made rich by my liberality, she kissed my hands, knelt
+down, and bursting into tears promised to follow my advice carefully.
+When she had left us, the nun began to weep bitterly, accusing herself of
+the murder of the lay-sister, and thinking that she saw hell opening
+beneath her feet. I sought in vain to calm her; her grief increased, and
+at last she fell in a dead faint on the sack. I was extremely distressed,
+and not knowing what to do I called to the woman to bring some vinegar,
+as I had no essences about me. All at once I remembered the famous
+hellebore, which had served me so well with Madame and, taking the little
+box, I held it to her nostrils. It took effect just as the woman brought
+the vinegar. "Rub her temples," said I. She took off her cap, and the
+blackness of her hair was the only thing that convinced me it was not my
+fair Venetian. The hellebore having brought her to her senses, she opened
+her large black eyes, and from that moment I fell madly in love with her.
+The peasant woman, seeing that she was herself again and out of danger,
+went away, and taking her between my arms I covered her with fiery
+kisses, in spite of her continuous sneezes.
+
+"Please let me put on my veil again," said she, "or else I shall be
+excommunicated."
+
+I laughed at her fears, and continued to lavish my burning kisses on her
+face.
+
+"I see you do not believe me, but I assure you that the abbess threatened
+me with excommunication if I let myself be seen by a man."
+
+"Fear these bolts no longer, dear, they cannot hurt you."
+
+But she sneezed more violently than ever, and fearing lest her efforts
+might bring on her delivery I called the woman again, and left the nun in
+her care, promising to return at the same hour on the next day.
+
+It would not have been like me to leave this interesting creature in her
+distress, but my devotion to her cause had no merit, since I was madly in
+love with this new M---- M---- with black eyes; and love always makes men
+selfish, since all the sacrifices they make for the beloved object are
+always ultimately referable to their own desires.
+
+I had determined, then, to do all in my power for her, and certainly not
+to allow her to return to the convent in the state she was in. I
+concluded that to save her would be an action pleasing to God, since God
+alone could have made her so like my beloved, and God had willed that I
+should win a good deal of money, and had made me find the Zeroli, who
+would serve as a shield to my actions and baffle the curiosity of spies.
+The philosophers and the mystics may perhaps laugh at me, but what do I
+care?  I have always delighted in referring all the actions of my life to
+God, and yet people have charged me with Atheism!
+
+Next morning I did not forget the Zeroli, and I went to her room at eight
+and found her asleep. Her maid begged me to go in quietly for fear of
+awakening her, and then left me and shut the door. I knew my part, for I
+remembered how, twenty years before, a Venetian lady, whose sleep I had
+foolishly respected, had laughed at me and sent me about my business. I
+therefore knew what to do; and having gently uncovered her, I gave myself
+up to those delicate preliminary delights which sweeten the final
+pleasure. The Zeroli wisely continued to sleep; but at last, conquered by
+passion, she seconded my caresses with greater ardour than my own, and
+she was obliged to laugh at her stratagem. She told me that her husband
+had gone to Geneva to buy a repeating watch, and that he would not return
+till next day, and that she could spend the night with me.
+
+"Why the night, dearest, while we have the day before us? The night is
+for slumber, and in the day one enjoys double bliss, since the light
+allows all the senses to be satisfied at once. If you do not expect
+anybody, I will pass the whole morning with you."
+
+"Very good; nobody will interrupt us."
+
+I was soon in her arms, and for four hours we gave ourselves up to every
+kind of pleasure, cheating each other the better to succeed, and laughing
+with delight each time we convinced each other of our love. After the
+last assault she asked me, in return for her kindness, to spend three
+more days at Aix.
+
+"I promise you," I said, "to stay here as long as you continue giving me
+such marks of your love as you have given me this morning."
+
+"Let us get up, then, and go to dinner."
+
+"In company, dearest? Look at your eyes."
+
+"All the better. People will guess what has happened, and the two
+countesses will burst with envy. I want everybody to know that it is for
+me alone that you are remaining at Aix."
+
+"I am not worth the trouble, my angel, but so be it; I will gladly oblige
+you, even though I lose all my money in the next three days."
+
+"I should be in despair if you lost; but if you abstain from punting you
+will not lose, though you may let yourself be robbed."
+
+"You may be sure that I know what I am about, and that I shall only allow
+ladies to rob me. You have had some money out of me yourself."
+
+"Yes, but not nearly so much as the countesses, and I am sorry you
+allowed them to impose on you, as they no doubt put it down to your being
+in love with them."
+
+"They are quite wrong, poor dears, for neither would have kept me here a
+day."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it. But let me tell you what the Marquis of St.
+Maurice was saying about you yesterday."
+
+"Say on. I hope he did not allow himself any offensive remarks."
+
+"No; he only said that you should never have offered the Englishman to be
+off at eight cards, as you had as much chance as he, and if he had won he
+might have thought that you knew the card was there."
+
+"Very good, but tell the marquis that a gentleman is incapable of such a
+thought, and besides I knew the character of the young nobleman, and I
+was almost sure he would not accept my offer."
+
+When we appeared in the dining-room we were received with applause. The
+fair Zeroli had the air of regarding me as her property, and I affected
+an extremely modest manner. No one dared to ask me to make a bank after
+dinner; the purses were too empty, and they contented themselves with
+trente-quarante, which lasted the whole day, and which cost me a score of
+louis.
+
+I stole away as usual towards evening, and after having ordered Le Duc
+not to leave my room for a moment during my stay at Aix, I went towards
+the cottage where the unfortunate nun was no doubt expecting me
+anxiously. Soon, in spite of the darkness, I thought I made out somebody
+following me. I stopped short, and some persons passed me. In two or
+three minutes I went on again, and I saw the same people, whom I could
+not have caught up if they had not slackened their pace. It might all be
+accidental, but I wanted to be sure about it. I left the road without
+losing my reckoning, feeling quite sure of finding my way when I ceased
+to be followed; but I soon felt sure that my steps were dogged, as I saw
+the same shadowy figures at a little distance off. I doubled my speed,
+hid behind a tree, and as soon as I saw the spies fired a pistol in the
+air. I looked round shortly after, saw no one, and went on my way.
+
+I went upstairs and found the nun in bed, with two candles on the table.
+
+"Are you ill?"
+
+"I was ill for a time, but praised be God! I am now quite well, having
+given birth to a fine boy at two o'clock this morning."
+
+"Where is the child?"
+
+"Alas! I did but kiss him once, and my good hostess carried him away I
+know not where. The Holy Virgin heard my prayers, for my pains, though
+sharp, were soon over, and a quarter of an hour after my delivery I was
+still sneezing. Tell me whether you are a man or an angel, for I fear
+lest I sin in adoring you."
+
+"This is good news indeed. And how about the lay-sister?"
+
+"She still breathes, but we have no hope that she will recover. Her face
+is terribly distorted. We have sinned exceedingly, and God will punish me
+for it."
+
+"No, dearest, God will forgive you, for the Most Holy judges by the
+heart, and in your heart you had no evil thoughts. Adore Divine
+Providence, which doeth all things well."
+
+"You console me. The country-woman assures me that you are an angel, for
+the powder you gave me delivered me. I shall never forget you, though I
+do not know your name."
+
+The woman then came, and I thanked her for the care she had taken of the
+invalid. I again warned her to be prudent, and above all to treat the
+priest well when the lay-sister breathed her last, and thus he would not
+take notice of anything that might involve leer in disaster.
+
+"All will be well," said she, "for no one knows if the lay-sister is well
+or ill, or why the lady does not leave her bed."
+
+"What have you done with the child?"
+
+"I took him with my own hands to Anneci, where I bought everything
+necessary for the well-being of this lady and for the death of the other
+one."
+
+"Doesn't your brother know anything about it?"
+
+"Lord preserve us--no! He went away yesterday, and will not be back for a
+week. We have nothing to fear."
+
+I gave her another ten louis, begging her to buy some furniture, and to
+get me something to eat by the time I came next day. She said she had
+still plenty of money left, and I thought she would go mad when I told
+her that whatever was over was her own. I thought the invalid stood in
+need of rest, and I left her, promising to return at the same hour on the
+following day.
+
+I longed to get this troublesome matter safely over, and I knew that I
+could not regard myself as out of the wood till the poor lay-sister was
+under the sod. I was in some fear on this account, for if the priest was
+not an absolute idiot he must see that the woman had been poisoned.
+
+Next morning I went to see the fair Zeroli, and I found her and her
+husband examining the watch he had bought her. He came up to me, took my
+hand, and said he was happy that his wife had the power to keep me at
+Aix. I replied that it was an easy task for her, and a "bravo" was all he
+answered.
+
+The chevalier was one of those men who prefer to pass for good-natured
+than foolish husbands. His wife took my arm, and we left him in his room
+while we proceeded to the fountain. On the way she said she would be
+alone the next day, and that she would no longer indulge her curiosity in
+my nocturnal excursions.
+
+"Oh! it is you who have had me followed, is it?"
+
+"No, it is I who followed you, but to no effect. However, I did not think
+you were so wicked. You frightened me dreadfully! Do you know, sir, you
+might have killed me if your shot had not luckily missed."
+
+"I missed on purpose, dearest; for though I did not suspect that it was
+you, I fired in the air, feeling certain that that would be enough to
+scare off the spies."
+
+"You won't be troubled with them any more."
+
+"If they like to follow me, perhaps I shall let them, for my walk is
+quite innocent. I am always back by ten."
+
+While we were at table we saw a travelling carriage and six horses drawn
+up. It was the Marquis de Prie, with a Chevalier de St. Louis and two
+charming ladies, of whom one, as the Zeroli hastened to inform me, was
+the Marquis's mistress. Four places were laid, and while the newcomers
+were waiting to be served, they were told the story of my bet with the
+Englishman.
+
+The marquis congratulated me, telling me that he had not hoped to find me
+at Aix on his return; and here Madame Zeroli put in her word, and said
+that if it had not been for her he would not have seen me again. I was
+getting used to her foolish talk, and I could only agree with a good
+grace, which seemed to delight her intensely although her husband was
+present, but he seemed to share her triumph.
+
+The marquis said that he would make a little bank for me, and feeling
+obliged to accept I soon lost a hundred louis. I went to my room to write
+some letters, and at twilight I set out to see my nun.
+
+"What news have you?"
+
+"The lay-sister is dead, and she is to be buried tomorrow. To-morrow is
+the day we were to have returned to the convent. This is the letter I am
+sending to the abbess. She will dispatch another laysister, unless she
+orders the country-woman to bring me back to the convent."
+
+"What did the priest say?"
+
+"He said the lay-sister died of a cerebral lethargy, which super-induced
+an attack of apoplexy."
+
+"Very good, very good."
+
+"I want him to say fifteen masses for her, if you will let me?"
+
+"Certainly, my dear, they will serve as the priest's reward, or rather as
+the reward of his happy ignorance."
+
+I called the peasant woman, and gave her the order to have the masses
+said, and bade her tell the priest that the masses were to be said for
+the intention of the person who paid for them. She told me that the
+aspect of the dead sister was dreadful, and that she had to be guarded by
+two women who sprinkled her with holy water, lest witches, under the form
+of cats, should come and tear her limb from limb. Far from laughing at
+her, I told her she was quite right, and asked where she had got the
+laudanum.
+
+"I got it from a worthy midwife, and old friend of mine. We got it to
+send the poor lay-sister to sleep when the pains of child-birth should
+come on."
+
+"When you put the child at the hospital door, were you recognized?"
+
+"Nobody saw me as I put it into the box, and I wrote a note to say the
+child had not been baptized."
+
+"Who wrote the note?"
+
+"I did."
+
+"You will, of course, see that the funeral is properly carried out?"
+
+"It will only cost six francs, and the parson will take that from two
+louis which were found on the deceased; the rest will do for masses to
+atone for her having had the money."
+
+"What! ought she not to have had the two louis?"
+
+"No," said the nun, "we are forbidden to have any money without the
+knowledge of the abbess, under pain of excommunication."
+
+"What did they give you to come here?"
+
+"Ten Savoy sols a day. But now I live like a princess, as you shall see
+at supper, for though this worthy woman knows the money you gave her is
+for herself she lavishes it on me."
+
+"She knows, dear sister, that such is my intention, and here is some more
+to go on with."
+
+So saying I took another ten louis from my purse, and bade the
+country-woman spare nothing for the invalid's comfort. I enjoyed the
+worthy woman's happiness; she kissed my hands, and told me that I had
+made her fortune, and that she could buy some cows now.
+
+As soon as I was alone with the charming nun, whose face recalled to my
+memory the happy hours I had passed with M---- M----, my imagination began
+to kindle, and drawing close to her I began to talk of her seducer,
+telling her I was surprised that he had not helped her in the cruel
+position in which he had placed her. She replied that she was debarred
+from accepting any money by her vow of poverty and obedience, and that
+she had given up to the abbess what remained of the alms the bishop had
+procured her.
+
+"As to my state when I was so fortunate as to meet you, I think he cannot
+have received my letter."
+
+"Possibly, but is he a rich or handsome man?"
+
+"He is rich but certainly not handsome. On the contrary, he is extremely
+ugly, deformed, and over fifty."
+
+"How did you become amorous of a fellow like that?"
+
+"I never loved him, but he contrived to gain my pity. I thought he would
+kill himself, and I promised to be in the garden on the night he
+appointed, but I only went there with the intention of bidding him
+begone, and he did so, but after he had carried his evil designs into
+effect."
+
+"Did he use violence towards you, then?"
+
+"No, for that would have been no use. He wept, threw himself on his
+knees, and begged so hard, that I let him do what he liked on the
+condition that he would not kill himself, and that he would come no more
+to the garden."
+
+"Had you no fear of consequences?"
+
+"I did not understand anything about it; I always thought that one could
+not conceive under three times at least."
+
+"Unhappy ignorance! how many woes are caused by it! Then he did not ask
+you to give him any more assignations?"
+
+"He often asked me, but I would not grant his request because our
+confessor made me promise to withstand him thenceforth, if I wished to be
+absolved."
+
+"Did you tell him the name of the seducer?"
+
+"Certainly not; the good confessor would not have allowed me to do so; it
+would have been a great sin."
+
+"Did you tell your confessor the state you were in?"
+
+"No, but he must have guessed it. He is a good old man, who doubtless
+prayed to God for me, and my meeting you was, perhaps, the answer to his
+prayers."
+
+I was deeply moved, and for a quarter of an hour I was silent, and
+absorbed in my thoughts. I saw that this interesting girl's misfortune
+proceeded from her ignorance, her candour, her perfect innocence, and a
+foolish feeling of pity, which made her grant this monster of lubricity a
+thing of which she thought little because she had never been in love. She
+was religious, but from mere habit and not from reflection, and her
+religion was consequently very weak. She abhorred sin, because she was
+obliged to purge herself of it by confession under pain of everlasting
+damnation, and she did not want to be damned. She had plenty of natural
+common sense, little wit, for the cultivation of which she had no
+opportunities, and she was in a state of ignorance only pardonable in a
+nun. On weighing these facts I foresaw that I should find it a difficult
+task to gain those favours which she had granted to Coudert; her
+repentance had been too bitter for her to expose herself to the same
+danger over again.
+
+The peasant woman returned, laid the table for two, and brought us our
+supper. Everything was new--napkins, plates, glasses, spoons, knives,
+etc., and everything was exquisitely clean. The wines were excellent, and
+the dishes delightful in their simplicity. We had roast game, fish,
+cheese with cream, and very good fruit. I spent an hour and a half at
+supper, and drank two bottles of wine as I talked to the nun, who ate
+very little.
+
+I was in the highest spirits, and the woman, delighted with my praise of
+her provision, promised I should be served the same way every evening.
+
+When I was alone with the nun, whose face filled me with such burning
+recollections, I began to speak of her health, and especially of the
+inconveniences attached to child-birth. She said she felt quite well, and
+would be able to return to Chamberi on foot. "The only thing that
+troubles me is my breasts, but the woman assures me that the milk will
+recede to-morrow, and that they will then assume their usual shape."
+
+"Allow me to examine them, I know something about it."
+
+"Look!"
+
+She uncovered her bosom, not thinking it would give me any pleasure, but
+wishing to be polite, without supposing I had any concealed desires. I
+passed my hands over two spheres whose perfect shape and whiteness would
+have restored Lazarus to life. I took care not to offend her modesty, but
+in the coolest manner possible asked her how she felt a little lower
+down, and as I put the question I softly extended my hand. However, she
+kept it back gently, telling me not to go any further as she still felt a
+little uneasy. I begged her pardon, and said I hoped I should find
+everything quite right by the next day.
+
+"The beauty of your bosom," I added, "makes me take a still greater
+interest in you."
+
+So saying I let my mouth meet hers, and I felt a kiss escape as if
+involuntarily from her lips. It ran like fire through my veins, my brain
+began to whirl, and I saw that unless I took to a speedy flight I should
+lose all her confidence. I therefore left her, calling her "dear
+daughter" as I bade her farewell.
+
+It poured with rain, and I got soaked through before I reached my
+lodging. This was a bath well fitted to diminish the ardour of my
+passion, but it made me very late in rising the next morning.
+
+I took out the two portraits of M---- M----, one in a nun's dress, and the
+other nude, as Venus. I felt sure they would be of service to me with the
+nun.
+
+I did not find the fair Zeroli in her room, so I went to the fountain,
+where she reproached me with a tenderness I assessed at its proper value,
+and our quarrel was made up in the course of our walk. When dinner was
+over the Marquis the Prie made a bank, but as he only put down a hundred
+louis I guessed that he wanted to win a lot and lose a little. I put down
+also a hundred louis, and he said that it would be better sport if I did
+not stake my money on one card only. I replied that I would stake a louis
+on each of the thirteen.
+
+"You will lose."
+
+"We will see. Here is my hand on the table, and I stake a louis on each
+of the thirteen cards."
+
+According to the laws of probability, I should certainly have lost, but
+fate decided otherwise and I won eighty louis. At eight o'clock I bowed
+to the company, and I went as usual to the place where my new love dwelt.
+I found the invalid ravishing. She said she had had a little fever, which
+the country-woman pronounced to be milk fever, and that she would be
+quite well and ready to get up by the next day. As I stretched out my
+hand to lift the coverlet; she seized it and covered it with kisses,
+telling me that she felt as if she must give me that mark of her filial
+affection. She was twenty-one, and I was thirty-five. A nice daughter for
+a man like me! My feelings for her were not at all of a fatherly
+character. Nevertheless, I told her that her confidence in me, as shewn
+by her seeing me in bed, increased my affection for her, and that I
+should be grieved if I found her dressed in her nun's clothes next day.
+
+"Then I will stop in bed," said she; "and indeed I shall be very glad to
+do so, as I experience great discomfort from the heat of my woollen
+habit; but I think I should please you more if I were decently dressed;
+however, as you like it better, I will stop in bed."
+
+The country-woman came in at that moment, and gave her the abbess' letter
+which her nephew had just brought from Chamberi. She read it and gave it
+to me. The abbess told her that she would send two lay-sisters to bring
+her back to the convent, and that as she had recovered her health she
+could come on-foot, and thus save money which could be spent in better
+ways. She added that as the bishop was away, and she was unable to send
+the lay-sisters without his permission, they could not start for a week
+or ten days. She ordered her, under pain of the major excommunication,
+never to leave her room, never to speak to any man, not even to the
+master of the house, and to have nothing to do with anybody except with
+the woman. She ended by saying that she was going to have a mass said for
+the repose of the departed sister's soul.
+
+"I am obliged to you for having shewn me this letter, but be pleased to
+tell me if I may visit you for the next week or ten days, without doing
+hurt to your conscience; for I must tell you I am a man. I have only
+stopped in this place because of the lively interest with which you have
+inspired me, but if you have the least objection to receive me on account
+of the singular excommunication with which you are threatened, I will
+leave Aix tomorrow. Speak."
+
+"Sir, our abbess is lavish of these thunders, and I have already incurred
+the excommunication with which she threatens me; but I hope it will not
+be ratified by God, as my fault has made me happy and not miserable. I
+will be sincere with you; your visits are my only joy, and that joy is
+doubled when you tell me you like to come. But if you can answer my
+question without a breach of confidence, I should like to know for whom
+you took me the first time you saw me; you cannot imagine how you
+astonished and frightened me. I have never felt such kisses as those you
+lavished on me, but they cannot increase my sin as I was not a consenting
+party, and you told me yourself that you thought you were kissing
+another."
+
+"I will satisfy your curiosity. I think I can do so as you are aware by
+this time that the flesh is weak, or rather stronger than the spirit, and
+that it compels the strongest intellects to commit faults against right
+reason. You shall hear the history of an amour that lasted for two years
+with the fairest and the best of all the nuns of Venice."
+
+"Tell me all, sir. I have fallen myself, and I should be cruel and unjust
+if I were to take offence at anything you may tell me, for you cannot
+have done anything with her that Coudert did not do to me."
+
+"I did much more and much less, for I never gave her a child. If I had
+been so unfortunate I should have carried her off to Rome, where we
+should have fallen at the feet of the Holy Father, who would have
+absolved her from her vows, and my dear M---- M---- would now be my wife."
+
+"Good heavens M---- M---- is my name."
+
+This circumstance, which was really a mere coincidence, rendered our
+meeting still more wonderful, and astonished me as much as it did her.
+Chance is a curious and fickle element, but it often has the greatest
+influence on our lives.
+
+After a brief silence I told her all that had taken place between the
+fair Venetian and myself. I painted our amorous combats in a lively and
+natural manner, for, besides my recollections, I had her living picture
+before my eyes, and I could follow on her features the various emotions
+aroused by my recital. When I had finished she said,
+
+"But is your M---- M---- really so like me, that you mistook me for her?"
+
+Drawing from my pocket-book the portrait in which M---- M---- was dressed
+as a nun, I gave it to her, saying,
+
+"Judge for yourself."
+
+"She really is; it might pass for my portrait. It is my dress and my
+face; it is wonderful. To this likeness I owe all my good fortune. Thanks
+be to God that you do not love me as you loved her, whom I am glad to
+call my sister. There are indeed two M---- M---- s. Mighty Providence, all
+Thy least ways are wonderful, and we are at best poor, weak, ignorant
+mortals."
+
+The worthy country-woman came up and have us a still better supper than
+on the previous night. The invalid only ate soup, but she promised to do
+better by the following evening.
+
+I spent an hour with her after supper, and I convinced her by my reserve
+that she had made a mistake in thinking that I only loved her as a
+daughter. Of her own accord she shewed me that her breast had regained
+its usual condition. I assured myself of the fact by my sense of touch,
+to which she made no opposition, not thinking that I could be moved by
+such a trifle. All the kisses which I lavished on her lips and eyes she
+put down to the friendship for her. She said, smiling, that she thanked
+God she was not fair like her sister, and I smiled myself at her
+simplicity.
+
+But I could not keep up this sort of thing for long, and I had to be
+extremely careful. As soon as I felt that passion was getting the upper
+hand, I gave her a farewell kiss and went away. When I got home Le Duc
+gave me a note from Madame Zeroli, who said she would expect me at the
+fountain, as she was going to breakfast with the marquis's mistress.
+
+I slept well, but in my dreams I saw again and again the face of the new
+M---- M----. Next day, as soon as I got to the fountain, Madame Zeroli
+told me that all the company maintained that I ought to have lost in
+playing on thirteen cards at once, as it was not true that one card won
+four times in each deal; however, the marquis, though he agreed with the
+rest, had said that he would not let me play like that again.
+
+"I have only one objection to make to that--namely, that if I wanted to
+play in the same way again he could only prevent me by fighting for it."
+
+"His mistress swears she will make you play in the usual way."
+
+I smiled, and thanked her for her information.
+
+When I got back to the inn I played a game of quinze with the marquis,
+and lost fifty louis; afterwards I let myself be persuaded to hold a
+bank. I put down five hundred louis, and defied fortune. Desarmoises was
+my croupier, and I warned the company that every card must have the stake
+placed on it, and that I should rise at half-past seven. I was seated
+between two ladies. I put the five hundred louis on the board, and I got
+change from the inn-keeper to the amount of a hundred crowns, to amuse
+the ladies with. But something happened. All the cards before me were
+loose packs, and I called for new ones. The inn-keeper said he had sent
+to Chamberi for a hundred packs, and that the messenger would be back
+soon.
+
+"In the meanwhile," said he, "you can use the cards on the table, which
+are as good as new."
+
+"I want them new, not as good as new. I have my prejudices, and they are
+so strong as to be invincible. In the meanwhile I shall remain a
+spectator, though I am sorry to keep the ladies waiting."
+
+Nobody dared say a word, and I rose, after replacing my money in my
+cash-box. The Marquis de Prie took the bank, and played splendidly. I
+stood beside Madame Zeroli, who made me her partner, and gave me five or
+six Louis the next day. The messenger who was to be back soon did not
+return till midnight, and I thanked my stars for the escape I had had,
+for in such a place, full of professional gamesters, there are people
+whose eyes are considerably sharper than a lynx's. I put the money back
+in my room, and proceeded on my usual way.
+
+I found my fair nun in bed, and asked her,
+
+"How do you feel to-day, madam?"
+
+"Say daughter, that name is so sweet to me that I would you were my
+father that I might clasp you in my arms without fearing anyone."
+
+"Well, my dear daughter, do not fear anything, but open your arms to me."
+
+"I will; we will embrace one another."
+
+"My little ones are prettier than they were yesterday let me suck them."
+
+"You silly papa, you are drinking your daughter's milk."
+
+"It is so sweet, darling, and the little drop I tasted has made me feel
+so happy. You cannot be angry at my enjoying this harmless privilege."
+
+"Of course I am not angry; you delighted me. But I shall have to call you
+baby, not papa."
+
+"How glad I am to find you in better spirits to-night!"
+
+"You have 'given me back my happiness, and I feel at peace once more. The
+country-woman told me that in a few days I should be just the same as if
+I had never seen Coudert."
+
+"That is not quite true; how about your stomach, for instance?"
+
+"Be quiet; you can't know anything about such things, and I am quite
+astonished myself."
+
+"Let me see."
+
+"Oh, no; you mustn't see, but you may feel."
+
+"All right."
+
+"Oh! please don't go there."
+
+"Why not? You can't be made differently from your sister, who would be
+now about thirty. I want to shew you her portrait naked."
+
+"Have you got it with you? I should so like to see it."
+
+I drew it out and gave it to her. She admired it, kissed it, and asked me
+if the painter had followed nature in all respects.
+
+"Certainly," said I. "She knew that such a picture would give me
+pleasure."
+
+"It is very fine. It is more like me than the other picture. But I
+suppose the long hair is only put in to please you?"
+
+"Not at all. Italian nuns are allowed to wear their hair as long as they
+please, provided they do not shew it.
+
+"We have the same privilege. Our hair is cut once, and then we may let it
+grow as long as we like."
+
+"Then you have long hair?"
+
+"As long as in the picture; but you would not like my hair as it is
+black."
+
+"Why, black is my favourite colour. In the name of God, let me see it."
+
+"You ask me in God's name to commit a sin; I shall incur another
+excommunication, but I cannot refuse you anything. You shall see my hair
+after supper, as I don't want to scandalize the countrywoman."
+
+"You are right; I think you are the sweetest of your sex. I shall die of
+grief when you leave this cottage to return to your sad prison."
+
+"I must indeed return and do penance for my sins."
+
+"I hope you have the wit to laugh at the abbess's silly
+excommunications?"
+
+"I begin not to dread them so much as I used to."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it, as I see you will make me perfectly happy
+after supper."
+
+The country-woman came up, and I gave her another ten louis; but it
+suddenly dawned upon me that she took me for a madman. To disabuse her of
+this idea I told her that I was very rich, and that I wanted to make her
+understand that I could not give her enough to testify my gratitude to
+her for the care she had taken of the good nun. She wept, kissed my hand,
+and served us a delicious supper. The nun ate well and drank
+indifferently, but I was in too great a hurry to see the beautiful black
+hair of this victim to her goodness of heart, and I could not follow her
+example. The one appetite drove out the other.
+
+As soon as we were relieved of the country-woman's presence, she removed
+her hood, and let a mass of ebon hair fall upon her alabaster shoulders,
+making a truly ravishing contrast. She put the portrait before her, and
+proceeded to arrange her hair like the first M---- M----.
+
+"You are handsomer than your sister," said I, "but I think she was more
+affectionate than you."
+
+"She may have been more affectionate, but she had not a better heart."
+
+"She was much more amorous than you."
+
+"I daresay; I have never been in love."
+
+"That is strange; how about your nature and the impulse of the senses?"
+
+"We arrange all that easily at the convent. We accuse ourselves to the
+confessor, for we know it is a sin, but he treats it as a childish fault,
+and absolves us without imposing any penances."
+
+"He knows human nature, and makes allowances for your sad position."
+
+"He is an old man, very learned, and of ascetic habits, but he is all
+indulgence. It will be a sad day when we lose him."
+
+"But in your amorous combats with another nun, don't you feel as if you
+would like her to change into a man?"
+
+"You make me laugh. To be sure, if my sweetheart became a man I should
+not be sorry, but we do not desire such a miracle."
+
+"That is, perhaps, through a coldness of temperament. In that your sister
+was better, for she liked me much more than C---- C----, and you do not
+like me as well as the sweetheart you left behind you at the convent."
+
+"Certainly not, for with you I should violate my own chastity and expose
+myself to consequences I tremble to think of."
+
+"You do not love me, then?"
+
+"What are you saying? I adore you, and I am very sorry you are not a
+woman."
+
+"I love you too, but your desire makes me laugh; for I would rather not
+be turned into a woman to please you, especially as I expect I should not
+think you nearly as beautiful. Sit down, my dear, and let me see your
+fine hair flowing over your beautiful body."
+
+"Do you want me to take off my chemise?"
+
+"Of course; how handsome you look without it. Let me suck your pretty
+breasts, as I am your baby."
+
+She granted me this privilege, and looking at me with a face full of
+pleasure, she allowed me to press her naked body to my breast, not
+seeing, or pretending not to see, the acuteness of my enjoyment. She then
+said,
+
+"If such delights as these were allowed friendship, I should say it is
+better than love; for I have never experienced so great pleasure as when
+you put your lips to my bosom. Let me do the same to you."
+
+"I wish you could, but you will find nothing there."
+
+"Never mind; it will amuse us."
+
+After she had fulfilled her desire, we spent a quarter of an hour in
+mutual embraces, and my excitement was more than I could bear.
+
+"Tell me truly," said I, "amidst our kisses, amidst these ecstacies which
+we call child-like, do you not feel a desire for something more?"
+
+"I confess that I do, but such desires are sinful; and as I am sure that
+your passions are as high as mine, I think we had better stop our
+agreeable employment; for, papa dear, our friendship is becoming burning
+love, is it not?"
+
+"Yes, love, and love that cannot be overcome."
+
+"I know it."
+
+"If you know it, let us perform to love the sweetest of all sacrifices."
+
+"No, no; on the contrary, let us stop and be more prudent in the future,
+lest we become the victims of love. If you love me, you should say so
+too."
+
+With these words she slipped gently from my arms, put back her beautiful
+hair under her cap, and when I had helped her on with her chemise, the
+coarseness of which horrified me, I told her she might calm herself. I
+told her how sorry I felt to see her delicate body frayed by so coarse a
+stuff, and she told me it was of the usual material, and that all the
+nuns wore chemises of the same kind.
+
+My mind was in a state of consternation, for the constraint I had imposed
+on myself seemed much greater than the utmost pleasure I could have
+gained. I neither determined on persevering in nor on abandoning the
+pursuit; all I wanted was to be sure that I should not encounter the
+least resistance. A folded rose-leaf spoilt the repose of the famous
+Smindyrides, who loved a soft bed. I preferred, therefore, to go away,
+than to risk finding the rose-leaf which troubled the voluptuous
+Sybarite. I left the cottage in love and unhappy, and as I did not go to
+bed till two o'clock in the morning I slept till mid-day.
+
+When I woke up Le Duc gave me a note which he should have given me the
+night before. He had forgotten it, and I was not sorry. The note came
+from Madame Zeroli, who said she would expect me at nine o'clock in the
+morning, as she would be alone. She told me that she was going to give a
+supper-party, that she was sure I would come, and that as she was leaving
+Aix directly after, she counted on my coming too--at any rate, as far as
+Chamberi. Although I still liked her, her pretensions made me laugh. It
+was too late now to be with her at nine, I could not go to her
+supper-party because of my fair nun, whom I would not have left just then
+for the seraglio of the Grand Turk; and it was impossible for me to
+accompany her to Chamberi, as when I came back I might no longer find the
+only object which kept me at Aix.
+
+However, as soon as I had finished dressing, I went to see her and found
+her furious. I excused myself by saying that I had only had her letter
+for an hour, but she went away without giving me time to tell her that I
+could not sup with her or go to Chamberi with her. She scowled at me at
+table, and when the meal was over the Marquis de Prie told me that they
+had some new cards, and that everybody was longing to see me make a bank.
+I went for my money, and I made a bank of five hundred louis. At seven
+o'clock I had lost more than half that sum, but for all that I put the
+rest in my pocket and rose from the table.
+
+After a sad glance in the direction of Madame Zeroli I went to the
+cottage, where I found my angel in a large new bed, with a small but
+pretty bed beside it which was meant for me. I laughed at the incongruity
+of these pieces of furniture with our surroundings, but by way of
+thanking the thoughtful country-woman I drew fifty louis from my purse
+and gave them to her, telling her it was for the remainder of the time
+the lady was with her, and I told her to spend no more money in
+furniture.
+
+This was done in true gamester fashion. I had lost nearly three hundred
+louis, but I had risked more than five hundred, and I looked on the
+difference as pure profit. If I had gained as much as I had lost I should
+probably have contented myself with giving her ten louis, but I fancied I
+was losing the fifty louis on a card. I have always liked spending money,
+but I have never been careless with it except in gaming.
+
+I was in an ecstasy to see the face of my M---- M---- light up with delight
+and astonishment.
+
+"You must be very rich," said she.
+
+"Don't think it, dearest, but I love you passionately; and not being able
+to give you anything by reason of your unfortunate vow of poverty, I
+lavish what I possess on this worthy woman, to induce her to spare
+nothing for your comfort while you are here. Perhaps, too--though it is
+not a definite thought--I hope that it will make you love me more."
+
+"How can I love you more than I do?  The only thing that makes me unhappy
+is the idea of returning to the convent."
+
+"But you told me yesterday that it was exactly that idea which made you
+happy."
+
+"I have changed my mind since yesterday. I passed a cruel night, for as
+soon as I fell asleep I was in your arms, and I awoke again and again on
+the point of consummating the greatest of crimes."
+
+"You did not go through such a struggle before committing the same crime
+with a man you did--not love."
+
+"It is exactly because I did not love him that my sin struck me as
+venial. Do you understand what I mean?"
+
+"It's a piece of superstitious metaphysics, but I understand you
+perfectly."
+
+"You have made me happy, and I feel very grateful to you, and I feel glad
+and certain of conquering when I reflect that your situation is different
+to mine."
+
+"I will not dispute it with you, although I am sorry for what you say."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because you think yourself in duty bound to refuse caresses which would
+not hurt you, and which would give me new life and happiness."
+
+"I have thought it over."
+
+"Are you weeping?"
+
+"Yes, and what is more, these tears are dear to me."
+
+"I do not understand."
+
+"I have two favours to ask of you."
+
+"Say on, and be sure you will obtain what you ask."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+End of My Adventure with the Nun from Chamberi--My Flight from Aix
+
+"Yesterday," said the charming nun, "you left in my hands the two
+portraits of my Venetian sister. I want you to give them to me."
+
+"They are yours."
+
+"I thank you. My second favour is, that you will be good enough to take
+my portrait in exchange; you shall have it to-morrow."
+
+"I shall be delighted. It will be the most precious of all my jewels, but
+I wonder how you can ask me to take it as a favour, whereas you are doing
+me a favour I should never have dared to demand. How shall I make myself
+worthy of giving you my portrait?"
+
+"Ah, dearest! it would be a dear possession, but God preserve me from
+having it at the convent!"
+
+"I will get myself painted under the costume of St. Louis of Gonzaga, or
+St. Anthony of Padua."
+
+"I shall be damned eternally."
+
+"We will say no more about it."
+
+She had on a dimity corset, trimmed with red ribbon, and a cambric
+chemise. I was surprised, but politeness did not allow me to ask where
+they came from, so I contented myself with staring at them. She guessed
+my thoughts, and said, smilingly, that it was a present from the
+countrywoman.
+
+"Seeing her fortune made, the worthy woman tries every possible way to
+convince her benefactor that she is grateful to him. Look at the bed; she
+was certainly thinking of you, and look at these fine materials. I
+confess I enjoy their softness extremely. I shall sleep better to-night
+if I am not plagued by those seductive dreams which tormented me last
+night."
+
+"Do you think that the bed and the fine linen will deliver you from the
+dreams you fear?"
+
+"No doubt they will have a contrary effect, for softness irritates the
+passions. I shall leave everything with the good woman. I do not know
+what they would say if I took them with me to the convent."
+
+"You are not so comfortable there?"
+
+"Oh, no! A straw bed, a couple of blankets, and sometimes, as a great
+favour, a thin mattress and two coarse sheets. But you seem sad; you were
+so happy yesterday."
+
+"How can I be happy when I can no longer toy with you without making you
+unhappy."
+
+"You should have said without giving me the greatest delight."
+
+"Then will you consent to receive pleasure in return for that which you
+give me?"
+
+"But yours is innocent and mine is not."
+
+"What would you do, then, if mine and yours were the same?"
+
+"You might have made me wretched yesterday, for I could not have refused
+you anything."
+
+"Why wretched? You would have had none of those dreams, but would have
+enjoyed a quiet night. I am very sorry the peasant woman has given you
+that corset, as otherwise I might at least have seen my little pets
+without fear of bad dreams."
+
+"But you must not be angry with the good woman, for she knows that a
+corset is easy to unlace. And I cannot bear to see you sad."
+
+With these words she turned her ardent gaze upon me, and I covered her
+with kisses which she returned with interest. The country-woman came up
+to lay the pretty new table, just as I was taking off her corset without
+her offering the least resistance.
+
+This good omen put me in high spirits, but as I looked at her I saw a
+shadow passing across her face. I took care not to ask her the reason,
+for I guessed what was the matter, and I did not wish to discuss those
+vows which religion and honour should have made inviolable. To distract
+her mind from these thoughts, I made her eat by the example I set, and
+she drank the excellent claret with as much pleasure as I, not thinking
+that as she was not used to it it would put her in a frame of mind not
+favourable to continence. But she did not notice this, for her gaiety
+made her look prettier than before, and aroused her passions.
+
+When we were alone I congratulated her on her high spirits, telling her
+that my sadness had fled before her gaiety, and that the hours I could
+spend with her would be all too short.
+
+"I should be blithe," said she, "if it were only to please you."
+
+"Then grant me the favour you accorded me yesterday evening."
+
+"I would rather incur all the excommunications in the world than run the
+risk of appearing unjust to you. Take me."
+
+So saying, she took off her cap, and let down her beautiful hair. I
+unlaced her corset, and in the twinkling of an eye I had before me such a
+siren as one sees on the canvas of Correggio. I could not look upon her
+long without covering her with my burning kisses, and, communicating my
+ardour, before long she made a place for me beside herself. I felt that
+there was no time for thinking, that nature had spoken out, and that love
+bade me seize the opportunity offered by that delicious weakness. I threw
+myself on her, and with my lips glued to hers I pressed her between my
+amorous arms, pending the moment of supreme bliss.
+
+But in the midst of these joys, she turned her head, closed her eyelids,
+and fell asleep. I moved away a little, the better to contemplate the
+treasures that love displayed before me. The nun slept, as I thought; but
+even if her sleep was feigned, should I be angry with her for the
+stratagem?  Certainly not; true or feigned, the sleep of a loved one
+should always be respected by a delicate lover, although there are some
+pleasures he may allow himself. If the sleep is real there is no harm
+done, and if it is put on the lover only responds to the lady's desires.
+All that is necessary is so to manage one's caresses that they are
+pleasant to the beloved object. But M---- M---- was really asleep; the
+claret had numbed her senses, and she had yielded to its influence
+without any ulterior motives. While I gazed at her I saw that she was
+dreaming. Her lips uttered words of which I could not catch the meaning,
+but her voluptuous aspect told me of what she dreamt. I took off my
+clothes; and in two minutes I had clasped her fair body to mine, not
+caring much whether she slept on or whether I awoke her and brought our
+drama to a climax, which seemed inevitable.
+
+I was not long uncertain, for the instinctive movements she made when she
+felt the minister that would fain accomplish the sacrifice at the door of
+the sanctuary, convinced me that her dream still lasted, and that I could
+not make her happier than by changing it into reality. I delicately moved
+away all obstacles, and gently and by degrees consummated this sweet
+robbery, and when at last I abandoned myself to all the force of passion,
+she awoke with a sigh of bliss, murmuring,
+
+"Ah! it is true then."
+
+"Yes, my angel! are you happy?"
+
+For all reply she drew me to her and fastened her lips on mine, and thus
+we awaited the dawn of day, exhausting all imaginable kinds of pleasure,
+exciting each other's desires, and only wishing to prolong our enjoyment.
+
+"Alas!" said she, "I am happy now, but you must leave me till the
+evening. Let us talk of our happiness, and enjoy it over again."
+
+"Then you do not repent having made me a happy man?"
+
+"No; it is you who have made me happy. You are an angel from heaven. We
+loved, we crowned our love; I cannot have done aught to offend God. I am
+free from all my fears. We have obeyed nature and our destinies. Do you
+love me still?"
+
+"Can you ask me? I will shew you to-night."
+
+I dressed myself as quickly as possible while we talked of our love, and
+I left her in bed, bidding her rest.
+
+It was quite light when I got home. Le Duc had not gone to bed, and gave
+me a letter from the fair Zeroli, telling me that it had been delivered
+at eleven o'clock. I had not gone to her supper, and I had not escorted
+her to Chamberi; I had not had time to give her a moment's thought. I was
+sorry, but I could not do anything. I opened her letter which consisted
+of only six lines, but they were pregnant ones. She advised me never to
+go to Turin, for if I went there she would find means to take vengeance
+on me for the dastardly affront I had put upon her. She reproached me
+with having put her to public shame, said I had dishonoured her, and
+vowed she would never forgive me. I did not distress myself to any great
+extent; I tore up the friendly missive, and after I had had my hair done
+I went to the fountain.
+
+Everybody flew at me for not having been at Madame Zeroli's supper. I
+defended myself as best I could, but my excuses were rather tame, about
+which I did not trouble myself. I was told that all was known, and this
+amused me as I was aware that nothing was known. The marquis's mistress
+took hold of my arm, and told me, without any circumlocution, that I had
+the reputation of being inconstant, and by way of reply I observed
+politely that I was wrongfully accused, but that if there was any ground
+for the remark it was because I had never served so sweet a lady as
+herself. She was flattered by my compliment, and I bit my lip when I
+heard her ask in the most gracious manner why I did not breakfast
+sometimes with the marquis.
+
+"I was afraid of disturbing him," said I.
+
+"How do you mean?"
+
+"I should be interrupting him in his business."
+
+"He has no business, and he would be delighted to see you. Come
+to-morrow, he always breakfasts in my room."
+
+This lady was the widow of a gentleman of quality; she was young,
+undoubtedly pretty, and possessing in perfection the jargon of good
+society; nevertheless, she did not attract me. After recently enjoying
+the fair Zeroli, and finding my suit with the fair nun at the height of
+its prosperity, I was naturally hard to please, and in plain words--I was
+perfectly contented with my situation. For all that, I had foolishly
+placed myself in such a position that I was obliged to give her to
+understand that she had delighted me by her preference.
+
+She asked the marquis if she could return to the inn.
+
+"Yes," said he, "but I have some business in hand, and cannot come with
+you."
+
+"Would you be kind enough to escort me?" said she to me. I bowed in
+assent.
+
+On the way she told me that if Madame Zeroli were still there she would
+not have dared to take my arm. I could only reply by equivocating, as I
+had no wish to embark in a fresh intrigue. However, I had no choice; I
+was obliged to accompany her to her room and sit down beside her; but as
+I had had no sleep the night before I felt tired and began to yawn, which
+was not flattering for the lady. I excused myself to the best of my
+ability, telling her that I was ill, and she believed me or pretended to
+believe me. But I felt sleep stealing upon me, and I should have
+infallibly dropped off if it had not been for my hellebore, which kept me
+awake by making me sneeze.
+
+The marquis came in, and after a thousand compliments he proposed a game
+of quinze. I begged him to excuse me, and the lady backed me up, saying I
+could not possibly play in the midst of such a sneezing fit. We went down
+to dinner, and afterwards I easily consented to make a bank, as I was
+vexed at my loss of the day before. As usual I staked five hundred louis,
+and about seven o'clock, though two-thirds of the bank had gone, I
+announced the last deal. The marquis and two other heavy gamesters then
+endeavoured to break the bank, but fortune turned, and I not only got
+back my losses but won three hundred Louis besides. Thereupon I rose,
+promising the company to begin again next day. All the ladies had won, as
+Desarmoises had orders to let them play as they liked up to a certain
+limit.
+
+I locked up my money, and warning my faithful Spaniard that I should not
+be coming back, I went to my idol, having got wet through on the way, and
+being obliged to undress as soon as I arrived. The good woman' of the
+house took care to dry my clothes.
+
+I found the fair nun dressed in her religious habit, and lying on the
+small bed.
+
+"Why are you not in your own bed, dearest?"
+
+"Because I feel quite well again, my darling, and I wished to sup with
+you at table. We will go to bed afterwards, if that will give you any
+pleasure."
+
+"It will give me pleasure if you share in my delight."
+
+"Alas! I am undone, and I shall doubtless die when I have to leave you."
+
+"Do not leave me, sweetheart; come with me to Rome; and leave the matter
+in my hands. I will make you my wife, and we will live happily together
+ever after."
+
+"That would be too great a bliss, but I could never make up my mind to
+it; say no more about it."
+
+I was sure of spending a delicious night--in the possession of all her
+charms, and we stayed an hour at table, seasoning the dishes with sweet
+converse. When we had done, the woman came up, gave her a packet, and
+went away again, wishing us good night.
+
+"What does this packet contain, darling?"
+
+"It is the present I have got for you-my portrait, but you must not see
+it till I am in bed."
+
+"I will indulge you in that fancy, although I am very curious to see the
+portrait."
+
+"You will say I am right afterwards."
+
+I wanted to undress her myself, and she submitted like a lamb. When she
+was in bed, she opened the packet, and shewed me her portrait, naked, and
+very like the naked portrait of M---- M----. I praised the painter for the
+excellence of the copy he had made; nothing was altered but the colour of
+the hair and eyes.
+
+"It isn't a copy," she said, "there would not have been time. He only
+made the eyes and hair black, and the latter more abundant. Thus you have
+in it a portrait of the first and also of the second M---- M----, in whom
+you must forget the first. She has also vanished from the clothed
+portrait, for you see the nun has black eyes. I could shew this picture
+to anyone as my portrait."
+
+"You do not know how precious your present is to me! Tell me, dearest,
+how you succeeded in carrying out your plan so well."
+
+"I told the country-woman about it yesterday morning, and she said that
+she had a foster-son at Anneci, who was a miniature painter. Through him
+she sent the two miniatures to a more skilful painter at Geneva, who made
+the change you see for four or five Louis; he was probably able to do it
+in two or three hours. I entrusted the two portraits to him, and you see
+how well he did his work. The woman has no doubt just received them, and
+to-morrow she may be able to tell you more about it."
+
+"She is really a wonderful woman. I will indemnify her for the expense.
+But now tell me why you did not want me to see the portrait before you
+were in bed?"
+
+"Guess."
+
+"Because I can now see you in the same posture as that in which you are
+represented."
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"It is an excellent idea; only love can have given it you. But you must
+wait till I am in the same state."
+
+When we were both in a state of nature, exactly like Adam and Eve before
+they tasted the fatal apple, I placed her in the position of the
+portrait, and guessing my intention from my face she opened her arms for
+me to come to her; but I asked her to wait a moment, for I had a little
+packet too, which contained something she would like. I then drew from my
+pocket-book a little article of transparent skin, about eight inches
+long, with one opening, which was ornamented with a red rosette. I gave
+her this preventive sheath, and she looked, admired, and laughed loudly,
+asking me if I had used such articles with her Venetian sister. "I will
+put it on myself; you don't know how I shall enjoy it. Why didn't you use
+one last night?  How could you have forgotten it?  Well, I shall be very
+wretched if anything comes of it. What shall I do in four or five months,
+when my condition becomes past doubt?"
+
+"Dearest, the only thing to do is not to think of it, for if the damage
+is done, there is no cure for it; but from my experience and knowledge of
+the laws of nature I expect that our sweet combats of last night will
+probably have no troublesome consequences. It has been stated that after
+child-birth a woman cannot conceive afresh without having seen something
+which I expect you have not seen."
+
+"No, God be thanked!"
+
+"Good. Then let us not give any thought to the dismal future lest we lose
+our present bliss."
+
+"I am quite comforted; but I can't understand why you are afraid to-day
+of what you were not afraid yesterday; my state is the same."
+
+"The event has sometimes given the lie to the most eminent physicians.
+Nature, wiser than they, has exceptions to her rules, let us not defy
+them for the future, but let us not trouble ourselves if we have defied
+there in the past."
+
+"I like to hear you talk so sagely. Yes, we will be prudent whatever it
+costs. There you are, hooded like a mother abbess, but in spite of the
+fineness of the sheath I like the little fellow better quite naked. I
+think that this covering degrades us both."
+
+"You are right, it does. But let us not dwell on these ideas which will
+only spoil our pleasure."
+
+"We will enjoy our pleasure directly; let me be reasonable now, for I
+have never thought of these matters before. Love must have invented these
+little sheaths, but it must first have listened to the voice of prudence,
+and I do not like to see love and prudence allied."
+
+"The correctness of your arguments surprises me, but we will philosophize
+another time."
+
+"Wait a minute. I have never seen a man before, and I have never wished
+to enjoy the sight as much as now. Ten months ago I should have called
+that article an invention of the devil; but now I look upon the inventor
+as a benefactor, for if my wretched hump-back had provided himself with
+such a sheath he would not have exposed me to the danger of losing my
+honour and my life. But, tell me, how is that the makers of these things
+remain unmolested; I wonder they are not found out, excommunicated, or
+heavily fined, or even punished corporeally, if they are Jews as I
+expect. Dear me, the maker of this one must have measured you badly!
+Look! it is too large here, and too small there; it makes you into a
+regular curve. What a stupid the fellow must be, he can't know his own
+trade! But what is that?"
+
+"You make me laugh; it's all your fault. You have been feeling and
+fondling, and you see the natural consequence. I knew it would be so."
+
+"And you couldn't keep it back a minute. It is going on now. I am so
+sorry; it is a dreadful pity."
+
+"There is not much harm done, so console yourself."
+
+"How can I? you are quite dead. How can you laugh?"
+
+"At your charming simplicity. You shall see in a moment that your charms
+will give me new life which I shall not lose so easily."
+
+"Wonderful! I couldn't have believed it!"
+
+I took off the sheath, and gave her another, which pleased her better, as
+it seemed to fit me better, and she laughed for joy as she put it on. She
+knew nothing of these wonders. Her thoughts had been bound in chains, and
+she could not discover the truth before she knew me; but though she was
+scarcely out of Egypt she shewed all the eagerness of an enquiring and
+newly emancipated spirit. "But how if the rubbing makes the sheath fall
+off?" said she. I explained to her that such an accident could scarcely
+happen, and also told her of what material the English made these
+articles.
+
+After all this talking, of which my ardour began to weary, we abandoned
+ourselves to love, then to sleep, then to love again, and so on
+alternately till day-break. As I was leaving, the woman of the house told
+us that the painter had asked four louis, and that she had give two louis
+to her foster-son. I gave her twelve, and went home, where I slept till
+morn, without thinking of breakfasting with the Marquis de Prie, but I
+think I should have given him some notice of my inability to come. His
+mistress sulked with me all dinner-time, but softened when I allowed
+myself to be persuaded into making a bank. However, I found she was
+playing for heavy stakes, and I had to check her once or twice, which
+made her so cross that she went to hide her ill-temper in a corner of the
+hall. However, the marquis won, and I was losing, when the taciturn Duke
+of Rosebury, his tutor Smith, and two of his fellow-countrymen, arrived
+from Geneva. He came up to me and said, "How do you do?" and without
+another word began to play, inviting his companions to follow his
+example.
+
+Seeing my bank in the last agony I sent Le Duc to my room for the
+cash-box, whence I drew out five rolls of a hundred louis each. The
+Marquis de Prie said, coolly, that he wouldn't mind being my partner, and
+in the same tone I begged to be excused. He continued punting without
+seeming to be offended at my refusal and when I put down the cards and
+rose from the table he had won two hundred louis; but all the others had
+lost, especially one of the Englishmen, so that I had made a profit of a
+thousand louis. The marquis asked me if I would give him chocolate in my
+room next morning, and I replied that I should be glad to see him. I
+replaced my cash-box in my room, and proceeded to the cottage, pleased
+with the day's work and feeling inclined to crown it with love.
+
+I found my fair friend looking somewhat sad, and on my enquiring the
+reason she told me that a nephew of the country-woman's, who had come
+from Chamberi that morning, had told her that he had heard from a
+lay-sister of the same convent, whom he knew, that two sisters would
+start at day-break in two days' time to fetch her; this sad news, she
+said, had made her tears flow fast.
+
+"But the abbess said the sisters could not start before ten days had
+expired."
+
+"She must have changed her mind."
+
+"Sorrow intrudes into our happy state. Will you be my wife?  Will you
+follow me to Rome and receive absolution from your vows. You may be sure
+that I shall have a care for your happiness."
+
+"Nay, I have lived long enough; let me return to my tomb."
+
+After supper I told the good woman that if she could rely on her nephew,
+she would do well to send him at once to Chamberi with orders to return
+directly the lay-sisters started, and to endeavour to reach Aix two hours
+before them. She told me that I might reckon on the young man's silence,
+and on his carrying out my orders. I quieted in this way the charming
+nun's alarm, and got into bed with her, feeling sad though amorous; and
+on the pretext that she required rest I left her at midnight, as I wanted
+to be at home in the morning since I had an engagement with the marquis.
+In due course he arrived with his mistress, two other ladies, and their
+husbands or lovers.
+
+I did not limit myself to giving them chocolate; my breakfast consisted
+of all the luxuries the place afforded. When I had got rid of my
+troublesome company, I told Le Duc to shut my door, and to tell everybody
+that I was ill in bed and could not see any visitors. I also warned him
+that I should be away for two days, and that he must not leave my room a
+moment till I came back. Having made these arrangements, I slipped away
+unperceived and went to my mistress, resolved not to leave her till half
+an hour before the arrival of the lay-sisters.
+
+When she saw me and heard that I was not going to leave her till she went
+away, she jumped for joy; and we conceived the idea of not having any
+dinner that we might enjoy our supper the better.
+
+"We will go to bed after supper," said she, "and will not get up till the
+messenger brings the fatal news that the lay-sisters have started."
+
+I thought the idea an excellent one, and I called the woman of the house
+to tell her of our arrangements, and she promised to see that we were not
+disturbed.
+
+We did not find the time long, for two passionate lovers find plenty to
+talk about since their talk is of themselves. And besides our caresses,
+renewed again and again, there was something so mysterious and solemn in
+our situation that our souls and our senses were engaged the whole time.
+
+After a supper which would have pleased a Lucullus, we spent twelve hours
+in giving each other proofs, of our passionate love, sleeping after our
+amorous struggles, and waking only to renew the fight. The next day we
+rose to refresh ourselves, and after a good dinner, mashed down by some
+excellent Burgundy, we went to bed again; but at four the country-woman
+came to tell us that the lay-sisters would arrive about six. We had
+nothing now to look for in the future, the die was cast, and we began our
+farewell caresses. I sealed the last with my blood. My first
+M---- M---- had seen it, and my second rightly saw it also. She was
+frightened, but I calmed her fears. I then rose, and taking a roll
+containing fifty louis I begged her to keep them for me, promising to
+come for them in two years, and take them from her hands through the
+grating of her terrible prison. She spent the last quarter of an hour in
+tears, and mine were only restrained lest I should add to her grief. I
+cut off a piece of her fleece and a lock of her beautiful hair, promising
+her always to bear them next my heart.
+
+I left her, telling the country-woman that she should see me again the
+next day, and I went to bed as soon as I got home. Next morning I was on
+the way to Chamberi. At a quarter of a league's distance from Aix I saw
+my angel slowly walking along. As soon as the lay-sisters were near
+enough they asked an alms in the name of God. I gave them a Louis, but my
+saint did not look at me.
+
+With a broken heart I went to the good countrywoman, who told me that
+M---- M---- had gone at day-break, bidding her to remind me of the convent
+grating. I kissed the Worthy woman, and I gave her nephew all the loose
+silver I had about me, and returning to the inn I had my luggage put on
+to the carriage, and would have started that moment if I had had any
+horses. But I had two hours to wait, and I went and bade the marquis
+farewell. He was out, but his mistress was in the room by herself. On my
+telling her of my departure, she said,
+
+"Don't go, stay with me a couple of days longer."
+
+"I feel the honour you are conferring on me, but business of the greatest
+importance obliges me to be gone forthwith."
+
+"Impossible," said the lady, as she went to a glass the better to lace
+herself, shewing me a superb breast. I saw her design, but I determined
+to baulk her. She then put one foot upon a couch to retie her garter, and
+when she put up the other foot I saw beauties more enticing than Eve's
+apple. It was nearly all up with me, when the marquis came in. He
+proposed a little game of quinze, and his mistress asked me to be her
+partner. I could not escape; she sat next to me, and I had lost forty
+Louis by dinner-time.
+
+"I owe you twenty," said the lady, as we were going down.
+
+At dessert Le Duc came to tell me that my carriage was at the door, and I
+got up, but under the pretence of paying me the twenty louis the
+marquis's mistress made me come with her to her room.
+
+When we were there she addressed me in a serious and supplicating voice,
+telling me that if I went she would be dishonoured, as everybody knew
+that she had engaged to make me stay.
+
+"Do I look worthy of contempt?" said she, making me sit down upon the
+sofa.
+
+Then with a repetition of her tactics in the morning she contrived that I
+should see everything. Excited by her charms I praised her beauties, I
+kissed, I touched; she let herself fall on me, and looked radiant when
+her vagrant hand found palpable proof of her powers of attraction.
+
+"I promise to be yours to-morrow, wait till then."
+
+Not knowing how to refuse, I said I would keep her to her word, and would
+have my horses taken out. Just then the marquis came in, saying he would
+give me my revenge and without answering I went downstairs as if to come
+back again, but I ran out of the inn, got into my carriage, and drove
+off, promising a good fee to the postillion if he would put his horses at
+a gallop.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Eternal Quest: With Voltaire
+by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
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