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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Adventures In The South: Depart Switzerland
+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: Adventures In The South: Depart Switzerland
+       The Memoirs Of Jacques Casanova De Seingalt 1725-1798
+
+Author: Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+
+Release Date: October 31, 2006 [EBook #2966]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEPART SWITZERLAND ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA de SEINGALT 1725-1798
+
+ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH, Volume 4a--DEPART SWITZERLAND
+
+THE RARE UNABRIDGED LONDON EDITION OF 1894 TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR MACHEN TO
+WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED THE CHAPTERS DISCOVERED BY ARTHUR SYMONS.
+
+
+
+
+DEPART SWITZERLAND
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+The Door--Keeper's Daughters--The Horoscopes--Mdlle. Roman
+
+The idea of the sorry plight in which I had left the Marquis de Prie, his
+mistress, and perhaps all the company, who had undoubtedly coveted the
+contents of my cash-box, amused me till I reached Chamberi, where I only
+stopped to change horses. When I reached Grenoble, where I intended to
+stay a week, I did not find my lodging to my liking, and went in my
+carriage to the post-office, where I found several letters, amongst
+others, one from Madame d'Urfe, enclosing a letter of introduction to an
+officer named Valenglard, who, she told me, was a learned man, and would
+present me at all the best houses in the town.
+
+I called on this officer and received a cordial welcome. After reading
+Madame d'Urfe's letter he said he was ready to be useful to me in
+anything I pleased.
+
+He was an amiable, middle aged man, and fifteen years before had been
+Madame d'Urfe's friend, and in a much more intimate degree the friend of
+her daughter, the Princess de Toudeville. I told him that I was
+uncomfortable at the inn, and that the first service I would ask of him
+would be to procure me a comfortable lodging. He rubbed his head, and
+said,--
+
+"I think I can get you rooms in a beautiful house, but it is outside the
+town walls. The door-keeper is an excellent cook, and for the sake of
+doing your cooking I am sure he will lodge you for nothing."
+
+"I don't wish that," said I.
+
+"Don't be afraid," said the baron, "he will make it up by means of his
+dishes; and besides, the house is for sale and costs him nothing. Come
+and see it."
+
+I took a suite of three rooms and ordered supper for two, warning the man
+that I was dainty, liked good things, and did not care for the cost. I
+also begged M. de Valenglard to sup with me. The doorkeeper said that if
+I was not pleased with his cooking I had only to say so, and in that case
+I should have nothing to pay. I sent for my carriage, and felt that I had
+established myself in my new abode. On the ground floor I saw three
+charming girls and the door-keeper's wife, who all bowed profoundly. M.
+de Valenglard took me to a concert with the idea of introducing me to
+everybody, but I begged him not to do so, as I wished to see the ladies
+before deciding which of them I should like to know.
+
+The company was a numerous one, especially where women were concerned,
+but the only one to attract my attention was a pretty and modest-looking
+brunette, whose fine figure was dressed with great simplicity. Her
+charming eyes, after having thrown one glance in my direction,
+obstinately refused to look at me again. My vanity made me conclude at
+once that she behaved thus only to increase my desire of knowing her, and
+to give me plenty of time to examine her side-face and her figure, the
+proportions of which were not concealed by her simple attire. Success
+begets assurance, and the wish is father to the thought. I cast a hungry
+gaze on this young lady without more ado, just as if all the women in
+Europe were only a seraglio kept for my pleasures. I told the baron I
+should like to know her.
+
+"She is a good girl," said he, "who sees no company, and is quite poor."
+
+"Those are three reasons which make me the more anxious to know her."
+
+"You will really find nothing to do in that quarter."
+
+"Very good."
+
+"There is her aunt, I will introduce you to her as we leave the
+concert-room."
+
+After doing me this service, he came to sup with me. The door-keeper and
+cook struck me as being very like Lebel. He made his two pretty daughters
+wait on me, and I saw that Valenglard was delighted at having lodged me
+to my satisfaction, but he grumbled when he saw fifteen dishes.
+
+"He is making a fool of you and me," he said.
+
+"On the contrary, he has guessed my tastes. Don't you think everything
+was very good?"
+
+"I don't deny it, but . . . . "
+
+"Don't be afraid; I love spending my money."
+
+"I beg your pardon, I only want you to be pleased."
+
+We had exquisite wines, and at dessert some ratafia superior to the
+Turkish 'visnat' I had tasted seventeen years before at Yussuf Ali's.
+When my landlord came up at the end of supper, I told him that he ought
+to be Louis XV.'s head cook.
+
+"Go on as you have begun, and do better if you can; but let me have your
+bill every morning."
+
+"You are quite right; with such an arrangement one can tell how one is
+getting on."
+
+"I should like you always to give me ices, and you must let me have two
+more lights. But, unless I am mistaken, those are candles that I see. I
+am a Venetian, and accustomed to wax lights."
+
+"That is your servant's fault, sir."
+
+"How is that?"
+
+"Because, after eating a good supper, he went to bed, saying he was ill.
+Thus I heard nothing as to how you liked things done."
+
+"Very good, you shall learn from my own lips."
+
+"He asked my wife to make chocolate for you tomorrow morning; he gave her
+the chocolate, I will make it myself."
+
+When he had left the room M. de Valenglard said, in a manner that was at
+the same time pleased and surprised, that Madame d'Urfe had been
+apparently joking in telling him to spare me all expense.
+
+"It's her goodness of heart. I am obliged to her all the same. She is an
+excellent woman."
+
+We stayed at table till eleven o'clock, discussing in numerable pleasant
+topics, and animating our talk with that choice liqueur made at Grenoble,
+of which we drank a bottle. It is composed of the juice of cherries,
+brandy, sugar, and cinnamon, and cannot be surpassed, I am sure, by the
+nectar of Olympus.
+
+I sent home the baron in my carriage, after thanking him for his
+services, and begging him to be my companion early and late while I
+stayed at Grenoble--a re quest which he granted excepting for those days
+on which he was on duty. At supper I had given him my bill of exchange on
+Zappata, which I endorsed with the name de Seingalt, which Madame d'Urfe
+had given me. He discounted it for me next day. A banker brought me four
+hundred louis and I had thirteen hundred in my cash-box. I always had a
+dread of penuriousness, and I delighted myself at the thought that M. de
+Valenglard would write and tell Madame d'Urfe, who was always preaching
+economy to me, what he had seen. I escorted my guest to the carriage, and
+I was agreeably surprised when I got back to find the doorkeeper's two
+charming daughters.
+
+Le Duc had not waited for me to tell him to find some pretext for not
+serving me. He knew my tastes, and that when there were pretty girls in a
+house, the less I saw of him the better I was pleased.
+
+The frank eagerness of the two girls to wait on me, their utter freedom
+from suspicion or coquetry, made me determine that I would shew myself
+deserving of their trust. They took off my shoes and stockings, did my
+hair and put on my night-gown with perfect propriety on both sides. When
+I was in bed I wished them a goodnight, and told them to shut the door
+and bring me my chocolate at eight o'clock next morning.
+
+I could not help confessing that I was perfectly happy as I reflected
+over my present condition. I enjoyed perfect health, I was in the prime
+of life, I had no calls on me, I was thoroughly independent, I had a rich
+store of experience, plenty of money, plenty of luck, and I was a
+favourite with women. The pains and troubles I had gone through had been
+followed by so many days of happiness that I felt disposed to bless my
+destiny. Full of these agreeable thoughts I fell asleep, and all the
+night my dreams were of happiness and of the pretty brunette who had
+played with me at the concert.
+
+I woke with thoughts of her, and feeling sure that we should become
+acquainted I felt curious to know what success I should have with her.
+She was discreet and poor; and as I was discreet in my own way she ought
+not to despise my friendship.
+
+At eight o'clock, one of the door-keeper's daughters brought me my
+chocolate, and told me that Le Duc had got the fever.
+
+"You must take care of the poor fellow."
+
+"My cousin has just taken him some broth."
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"My name is Rose, and my sister is Manon."
+
+Just then Manon came in with my shirt, on which she had put fresh lace. I
+thanked her, and she said with a blush that she did her father's hair
+very well.
+
+"I am delighted to hear it, and I shall be very pleased if you will be
+kind enough to do the same offices for me till my servant recovers."
+
+"With pleasure, sir."
+
+"And I," said Rose, laughing, "will shave you."
+
+"I should like to see how you do it; get the water."
+
+I rose hastily, while Manon was preparing to do my hair. Rose returned
+and shaved me admirably. As soon as she had washed off the lather, I
+said,
+
+"You must give me a kiss," presenting my cheek to her. She pretended not
+to understand.
+
+"I shall be vexed," said I, gravely but pleasantly, "if you refuse to
+kiss me."
+
+She begged to be excused, saying with a little smile, that it was not
+customary to do so at Grenoble.
+
+"Well, if you won't kiss me, you shan't shave me."
+
+The father came in at that point, bringing his bill.
+
+"Your daughter has just shaved me admirably," said I, "and she refuses to
+kiss me, because it is not the custom at Grenoble."
+
+"You little silly," said he, "it is the custom in Paris. You kiss me fast
+enough after you have shaved me, why should you be less polite to this
+gentleman?"
+
+She then kissed me with an air of submission to the paternal decree which
+made Manon laugh.
+
+"Ah!" said the father, "your turn will come when you have finished doing
+the gentleman's hair."
+
+He was a cunning fellow, who knew the best way to prevent me cheapening
+him, but there was no need, as I thought his charges reasonable, and as I
+paid him in full he went off in great glee.
+
+Manon did my hair as well as my dear Dubois, and kissed me when she had
+done without making as many difficulties as Rose. I thought I should get
+on well with both of them. They went downstairs when the banker was
+announced.
+
+He was quite a young man, and after he had counted me out four hundred
+Louis, he observed that I must be very comfortable.
+
+"Certainly," said I, "the two sisters are delightful."
+
+"Their cousin is better. They are too discreet."
+
+"I suppose they are well off."
+
+"The father has two thousand francs a year. They will be able to marry
+well-to-do tradesmen."
+
+I was curious to see the cousin who was said to be prettier than the
+sisters, and as soon as the banker had gone I went downstairs to satisfy
+my curiosity. I met the father and asked him which was Le Duc's room, and
+thereon I went to see my fine fellow. I found him sitting up in a
+comfortable bed with a rubicund face which did not look as if he were
+dangerously ill.
+
+"What is the matter with you?
+
+"Nothing, sir. I am having a fine time of it. Yesterday I thought I would
+be ill."
+
+"What made you think that?"
+
+"The sight of the three Graces here, who are made of better stuff than
+your handsome housekeeper, who would not let me kiss her. They are making
+me wait too long for my broth, however. I shall have to speak severely
+about it."
+
+"Le Duc, you are a rascal."
+
+"Do you want me to get well?"
+
+"I want you to put a stop to this farce, as I don't like it." Just then
+the door opened, and the cousin came in with the broth. I thought her
+ravishing, and I noticed that in waiting on Le Duc she had an imperious
+little air which well became her.
+
+"I shall dine in bed," said my Spaniard.
+
+"You shall be attended to," said the pretty girl, and she went out.
+
+"She puts on big airs," said Le Duc, "but that does not impose on me.
+Don't you think she is very pretty?"
+
+"I think you are very impudent. You ape your betters, and I don't approve
+of it. Get up. You must wait on me at table, and afterwards you will eat
+your dinner by yourself, and try to get yourself respected as an honest
+man always is, whatever his condition, so long as he does not forget
+himself. You must not stay any longer in this room, the doorkeeper will
+give you another."
+
+I went out, and on meeting the fair cousin I told her that I was jealous
+of the honour which she had done my man, and that I begged her to wait on
+him no longer.
+
+"Oh, I am very glad!"
+
+The door-keeper came up, and I gave him my orders, and went back to my
+room to write.
+
+Before dinner the baron came and told me that he had just come from the
+lady to whom he had introduced me. She was the wife of a barrister named
+Morin, and aunt to the young lady who had so interested me.
+
+"I have been talking of you," said the baron, "and of the impression her
+niece made on you. She promised to send for her, and to keep her at the
+house all day."
+
+After a dinner as good as the supper of the night before, though
+different from it in its details, and appetising enough to awaken the
+dead, we went to see Madame Morin, who received us with the easy grace of
+a Parisian lady. She introduced me to seven children, of whom she was the
+mother. Her eldest daughter, an ordinary-looking girl, was twelve years
+old, but I should have taken her to be fourteen, and said so. To convince
+me of her age the mother brought a book in which the year, the month, the
+day, the hour, and even the minute of her birth were entered. I was
+astonished at such minute accuracy, and asked if she had had a horoscope
+drawn.
+
+"No," said she, "I have never found anybody to do it."
+
+"It is never too late," I replied, "and without doubt God has willed that
+this pleasure should be reserved for me."
+
+At this moment M. Morin came in, his wife introduced me, and after the
+customary compliments had passed, she returned to the subject of the
+horoscope. The barrister sensibly observed that if judicial astrology was
+not wholly false, it was, nevertheless, a suspected science; that he had
+been so foolish as once to devote a considerable portion of his time to
+it, but that on recognizing the inability of man to deal with the future
+he had abandoned astrology, contenting himself with the veritable truths
+of astronomy. I saw with pleasure that I had to deal with a man of sense
+and education, but Valenglard, who was a believer in astrology, began an
+argument with him on the subject. During their discussion I quietly
+copied out on my tablets the date of Mdlle. Morin's birth. But M. Morin
+saw what I was about, and shook his head at me, with a smile. I
+understood what he meant, but I did not allow that to disconcert me, as I
+had made up my mind fully five minutes ago that I would play the
+astrologer on this occasion.
+
+At last the fair niece arrived. Her aunt introduced me to her as Mdlle.
+Roman Coupier, her sister's daughter; and then, turning to her, she
+informed her how ardently I had been longing to know her since I had seen
+her at the concert.
+
+She was then seventeen. Her satin skin by its dazzling whiteness
+displayed to greater advantage her magnificent black hair. Her features
+were perfectly regular, and her complexion had a slight tinge of red; her
+fine eyes were at once sweet and sparkling, her eyebrows were well
+arched, her mouth small, her teeth regular and as white as pearls, and
+her lips, of an exquisite rosy hue, afforded a seat to the deities of
+grace and modesty.
+
+After some moments' conversation, M. Morin was obliged to go out on
+business, and a game of quadrille was proposed, at which I was greatly
+pitied for having lost a louis. I thought Mdlle. Roman discreet,
+judicious, pleasant without being brilliant, and, still better, without
+any pretensions. She was high-spirited, even-tempered, and had a natural
+art which did not allow her to seem to understand too flattering a
+compliment, or a joke which passed in any way the bounds of propriety.
+She was neatly dressed, but had no ornaments, and nothing which shewed
+wealth; neither ear-rings, rings, nor a watch. One might have said that
+her beauty was her only adornment, the only ornament she wore being a
+small gold cross hanging from her necklace of black ribbon. Her breast
+was well shaped and not too large. Fashion and custom made her shew half
+of it as innocently as she shewed her plump white hand, or her cheeks,
+whereon the lily and the rose were wedded. I looked at her features to
+see if I might hope at all; but I was completely puzzled, and could come
+to no conclusion. She gave no sign which made me hope, but on the other
+hand she did nothing to make me despair. She was so natural and so
+reserved that my sagacity was completely at fault. Nevertheless, a
+liberty which I took at supper gave me a gleam of hope. Her napkin fell
+down, and in returning it to her I pressed her thigh amorously, and could
+not detect the slightest displeasure on her features. Content with so
+much I begged everybody to come to dinner with me next day, telling
+Madame Morin that I should not be going out, and that I was therefore
+delighted to put my carriage at her service.
+
+When I had taken Valenglard home, I went to my lodging building castles
+in Spain as to the conquest of Mdlle. Roman.
+
+I warned my landlord that we should be six at dinner and supper the
+following day, and then I went to bed. As Le Duc was undressing me he
+said,
+
+"Sir, you are punishing me, but what makes me sorry you are punishing
+yourself in depriving yourself of the services of those pretty girls."
+
+"You are a rogue."
+
+"I know it, but I serve you with all my heart, and I love your pleasure
+as well as my own."
+
+"You plead well for yourself; I am afraid I have spoilt you."
+
+"Shall I do your hair to-morrow?"
+
+"No; you may go out every day till dinner-time."
+
+"I shall be certain to catch it."
+
+"Then I shall send you to the hospital."
+
+"That is a fine prospect, 'por Dios'."
+
+He was impudent, sly, profligate, and a rascally fellow; but also
+obedient, devoted, discreet, and faithful, and his good qualities made me
+overlook his defects.
+
+Next morning, when Rose brought my chocolate, she told me with a laugh
+that my man had sent for a carriage, and after dressing himself in the
+height of fashion he had gone off with his sword at his side, to pay
+calls, as he said.
+
+"We laughed at him."
+
+"You were quite right, my dear Rose."
+
+As I spoke, Manon came in under some pretext or other. I saw that the two
+sisters had an understanding never to be alone with me; I was displeased,
+but pretended not to notice anything. I got up, and I had scarcely put on
+my dressing-gown when the cousin came in with a packet under her arm.
+
+"I am delighted to see you, and above all to look at your smiling face,
+for I thought you much too serious yesterday."
+
+"That's because M. le Duc is a greater gentleman than you are; I should
+not have presumed to laugh in his presence; but I had my reward in seeing
+him start off this morning in his gilded coach."
+
+"Did he see you laughing at him?"
+
+"Yes, unless he is blind."
+
+"He will be vexed."
+
+"All the better."
+
+"You are really very charming. What have you got in that parcel?"
+
+"Some goods of our own manufacture. Look; they are embroidered gloves."
+
+"They are beautiful; the embroidery is exquisitely done. How much for the
+lot?"
+
+"Are you a good hand at a bargain."
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Then we must take that into account."
+
+After some whisperings together the cousin took a pen, put down the
+numbers of gloves, added up and said,
+
+"The lot will cost you two hundred and ten francs."
+
+"There are nine louis; give me six francs change."
+
+"But you told us you would make a bargain."
+
+"You were wrong to believe it."
+
+She blushed and gave me the six francs. Rose and Manon shaved me and did
+my hair, giving me a kiss with the best grace imaginable; and when I
+offered my cheek to the cousin she kissed me on the mouth in a manner
+that told me she would be wholly mine on the first opportunity.
+
+"Shall we have the pleasure of waiting on you at the table?" said Rose.
+
+"I wish you would."
+
+"But we should like to know who is coming to dinner first; as if it is
+officers from the garrison we dare not come; they make so free."
+
+"My guests are Madame Morin, her husband, and her niece."
+
+"Very good."
+
+The cousin said, "Mdlle. Roman is the prettiest and the best girl in
+Grenoble; but she will find some difficulty in marrying as she has no
+money."
+
+"She may meet some rich man who will think her goodness and her beauty
+worth a million of money."
+
+"There are not many men of that kind."
+
+"No; but there are a few."
+
+Manon and the cousin went out, and I was left alone with Rose, who stayed
+to dress me. I attacked her, but she defended herself so resolutely that
+I desisted, and promised it should not occur again. When she had finished
+I gave her a louis, thanked her, and sent her away.
+
+As soon as I was alone I locked the door, and proceeded to concoct the
+horoscope I had promised to Madame Morin. I found it an easy task to fill
+eight pages with learned folly; and I confined myself chiefly to
+declaring the events which had already happened to the native. I had
+deftly extracted some items of information in the course of conversation,
+and filling up the rest according to the laws of probability and dressing
+up the whole in astrological diction, I was pronounced to be a seer, and
+no doubts were cast on my skill. I did not indeed run much risk, for
+everything hung from an if, and in the judicious employment of ifs lies
+the secret of all astrology.
+
+I carefully re-read the document, and thought it admirable. I felt in the
+vein, and the use of the cabala had made me an expert in this sort of
+thing.
+
+Just after noon all my guests arrived, and at one we sat down to table. I
+have never seen a more sumptuous or more delicate repast. I saw that the
+cook was an artist more in need of restraint than encouragement. Madame
+Morin was very polite to the three girls, whom she knew well, and Le Duc
+stood behind her chair all the time, looking after her wants, and dressed
+as richly as the king's chamberlain. When we had nearly finished dinner
+Mdlle. Roman passed a compliment on my three fair waiting-maids, and this
+giving me occasion to speak of their talents I got up and brought the
+gloves I had purchased from them. Mdlle. Roman praised the quality of the
+material and the work. I took the opportunity, and begged leave of the
+aunt to give her and her niece a dozen pair apiece. I obtained this
+favour, and I then gave Madame Morin the horoscope. Her husband read it,
+and though an unbeliever he was forced to admire, as all the deductions
+were taken naturally from the position of the heavenly bodies at the
+instant of his daughter's birth. We spent a couple of hours in talking
+about astrology, and the same time in playing at quadrille, and then we
+took a walk in the garden, where I was politely left to enjoy the society
+of the fair Roman.
+
+Our dialogue, or rather my monologue, turned solely on the profound
+impression she had made on me, on the passion she had inspired, on her
+beauty, her goodness, the purity of my intentions, and on my need of
+love, lest I should go down to the grave the most hapless of men.
+
+"Sir," said she, at last, "if my destiny points to marriage I do not deny
+that I should be happy to find a husband like you."
+
+I was emboldened by this frank declaration, and seizing her hand I
+covered it with fiery kisses, saying passionately that I hoped she would
+not let me languish long. She turned her head to look for her aunt. It
+was getting dark, and she seemed to be afraid of something happening to
+her. She drew me gently with her, and on rejoining the other guests we
+returned to the dining-room, where I made a small bank at faro for their
+amusement. Madame Morin gave her daughter and niece, whose pockets were
+empty, some money, and Valenglard directed their play so well that when
+we left off to go to supper I had the pleasure of seeing that each of the
+three ladies had won two or three louis.
+
+We sat at table till midnight. A cold wind from the Alps stopped my plan
+of proposing a short turn in the garden. Madame Morin overwhelmed me with
+thanks for my entertainment, and I gave each of my lady-visitors a
+respectful kiss.
+
+I heard singing in the kitchen, and on going in I found Le Duc in a high
+state of excitement and very drunk. As soon as he saw me he tried to
+rise, but he lost his centre of gravity, and fell right under the kitchen
+table. He was carried away to bed.
+
+I thought this accident favourable to my desire of amusing myself, and I
+might have succeeded if the three Graces had not all been there. Love
+only laughs when two are present, and thus it is that the ancient
+mythology tells no story of the loves of the Graces, who were always
+together. I had not yet found an opportunity of getting my three maids
+one after the other, and I dared not risk a general attack, which might
+have lost me the confidence of each one. Rose, I saw, was openly jealous
+of her cousin, as she kept a keen look-out after her movements. I was not
+sorry, for jealousy leads to anger, and anger goes a long way. When I was
+in bed I sent them away with a modest good night.
+
+Next morning, Rose came in by herself to ask me for a cake of chocolate,
+for, as she said, Le Duc was now ill in real earnest. She brought me the
+box, and I gave her the chocolate, and in doing so I took her hand and
+shewed her how well I loved her. She was offended, drew back her hand
+sharply, and left the room. A moment after Manon came in under the
+pretext of shewing me a piece of lace I had torn away in my attempts of
+the day before, and of asking me if she should mend it. I took her hand
+to kiss it, but she did not give me time, presenting her lips, burning
+with desire. I took her hand again, and it was just on the spot when the
+cousin came in. Manon held the piece of lace, and seemed to be waiting
+for my answer. I told her absently that I should be obliged if she would
+mend it when she had time, and with this she went out.
+
+I was troubled by this succession of disasters, and thought that the
+cousin would not play me false from the earnest of her affection which
+she had given me the day before in that ardent kiss of hers. I begged her
+to give me my handkerchief, and gently drew her hand towards me. Her
+mouth fastened to mine, and her hand, which she left to my pleasure with
+all the gentleness of a lamb, was already in motion when Rose came in
+with my chocolate. We regained our composure in a moment, but I was
+furious at heart. I scowled at Rose, and I had a right to do so after the
+manner in which she had repulsed me a quarter of an hour before. Though
+the chocolate was excellent, I pronounced it badly made. I chid her for
+her awkwardness in waiting on me, and repulsed her at every step. When I
+got up I would not let her shave me; I shaved myself, which seemed to
+humiliate her, and then Manon did my hair. Rose and the cousin then went
+out, as if to make common cause together, but it was easy to see that
+Rose was less angry with her sister than her cousin.
+
+As Manon was finishing my toilette, M. de Valenglard came in. As soon as
+we were alone, the officer, who was a man of honour and of much sense, in
+spite of his belief in astrology and the occult sciences, said that he
+thought me looking rather melancholy, and that if my sadness had any
+connection with the fair Roman, he warned me to think no more of her,
+unless I had resolved to ask her hand in marriage. I replied that to put
+an end to all difficulties I had decided on leaving Grenoble in a few
+days. We dined together and we then called on Madame Morin, with whom we
+found her fair niece.
+
+Madame Morin gave me a flattering welcome, and Mdlle. Roman received me
+so graciously that I was emboldened to kiss her and place her on my knee.
+The aunt laughed, the niece blushed, and then slipping into my hand a
+little piece of paper made her escape. I read on the paper the year, day,
+Hour, and minute of her birth, and guessed what she meant. She meant, I
+thought, that I could do nothing with her before I had drawn up her
+horoscope. My resolve was soon taken to profit by this circumstance, and
+I told her that I would tell her whether I could oblige her or not next
+day, if she would come to a ball I was giving. She looked at her aunt and
+my invitation was accepted.
+
+Just then the servant announced "The Russian Gentleman." I saw a
+well-made man of about my own age, slightly marked with the small-pox,
+and dressed as a traveller. He accosted Madame Morin with easy grace, was
+welcomed heartily by her, spoke well, scarcely gave me a glance, and did
+not say a word to the nieces. In the evening M. Morin came in, and the
+Russian gave him a small phial full of a white liquid, and then made as
+if he would go, but he was kept to supper.
+
+At table the conversation ran on this marvellous liquid of his. M. Morin
+told me that he had cured a young man of a bruise from a billiard ball in
+five minutes, by only rubbing it with the liquid. He said modestly that
+it was a trifling thing of his own invention, and he talked a good deal
+about chemistry to Valenglard. As my attention was taken up by the fair
+Mdlle. Roman I could not take part in their conversation; my hope of
+succeeding with her on the following day absorbed all my thoughts. As I
+was going away with Valenglard he told me that nobody knew who the
+Russian was, and that he was nevertheless received everywhere.
+
+"Has he a carriage and servants?"
+
+"He has nothing, no servants and no money."
+
+"Where did he come from?"
+
+"From the skies."
+
+"A fair abode, certainly; how long has he been here?"
+
+"For the last fortnight. He visits, but asks for nothing."
+
+"How does he live?"
+
+"On credit at the inn; he is supposed to be waiting for his carriage and
+servants."
+
+"He is probably a vagabond."
+
+"He does not look like one, as you saw for yourself, and his diamonds
+contradict that hypothesis."
+
+"Yes, if they are not imitation stones, for it seems to me that if they
+were real he would sell them."
+
+When I got home Rose came by herself to attend on me, but she continued
+to sulk. I tried to rouse her up, but as I had no success I ordered her
+to go and tell her father that I was going to give a ball next day in the
+room by the garden, and that supper was to be laid for twenty.
+
+When the door-keeper came to take my orders the following morning, I told
+him that I should like his girls to dance if he didn't mind. At this Rose
+condescended to smile, and I thought it a good omen. Just as she went out
+with her father, Manon came in under the pretext of asking me what lace I
+would wear for the day. I found her as gentle as a lamb and as loving as
+a dove. The affair was happily consummated, but we had a narrow escape of
+being caught by Rose, who came in with Le Duc and begged me to let him
+dance, promising that he would behave himself properly. I was glad that
+everybody should enjoy themselves and consented, telling him to thank
+Rose, who had got him this favour.
+
+I had a note from Madame Morin, asking me if she might bring with her to
+the ball two ladies of her acquaintance and their daughters. I replied
+that I should be delighted for her to invite not only as many ladies but
+as many gentlemen as she pleased, as I had ordered supper for twenty
+people. She came to dinner with her niece and Valenglard, her daughter
+being busy dressing and her husband being engaged till the evening. She
+assured me that I should have plenty of guests.
+
+The fair Mdlle. Roman wore the same dress, but her beauty unadorned was
+dazzling. Standing by me she asked if I had thought about her horoscope.
+I took her hand, made her sit on my knee, and promised that she should
+have it on the morrow. I held her thus, pressing her charming breasts
+with my left hand, and imprinting fiery kisses on her lips, which she
+only opened to beg me to calm myself. She was more astonished than afraid
+to see me trembling, and though she defended herself successfully she did
+not lose countenance for a moment, and in spite of my ardent gaze she did
+not turn her face away. I calmed myself with an effort, and her eyes
+expressed the satisfaction of one who has vanquished a generous enemy by
+the force of reason. By my silence I praised the virtue of this celestial
+being, in whose destiny I only had a part by one of those caprices of
+chance which philosophy seeks to explain in vain.
+
+Madame Morin came up to me, and asked me to explain some points in her
+daughter's horoscope. She then told me that if I wanted to have four
+beauties at my ball she had only to write a couple of notes.
+
+"I shall only see one beauty," said I, looking at her niece.
+
+"God alone knows," said Valenglard, "what people will say in Grenoble!"
+
+"They will say it is your wedding ball," said Madame Morin to her niece.
+
+"Yes, and they will doubtless talk of my magnificent dress, my lace, and
+my diamonds," said the niece, pleasantly.
+
+"They will talk of your beauty, your wit, and your goodness," I replied,
+passionately, "goodness which will make your husband a happy man."
+
+There was a silence, because they all thought I was alluding to myself. I
+was doing nothing of the sort. I should have been glad to give five
+hundred louis for her, but I did not see how the contract was to be drawn
+up, and I was not going to throw my money away.
+
+We went to my bedroom, and while Mdlle. Roman was amusing herself with
+looking at the jewellry on my toilette-table, her aunt and Valenglard
+examined the books on the table by my bedside. I saw Madame Morin going
+to the window and looking closely at something she held in her hand. I
+remembered I had left out the portrait of the fair nun. I ran to her and
+begged her to give me the indecent picture I had so foolishly left about.
+
+"I don't mind the indecency of it," she said, "but what strikes me is the
+exact likeness."
+
+I understood everything, and I shuddered at the carelessness of which I
+had been guilty.
+
+"Madam," I said, "that is the portrait of a Venetian, lady, of whom I was
+very found."
+
+"I daresay, but it's very curious. These two M's, these cast-off robes
+sacrificed to love, everything makes my surprise greater."
+
+"She is a nun and named M---- M----."
+
+"And a Welsh niece of mine at Camberi is also named M---- M----, and
+belongs to the same order. Nay, more, she has been at Aix, whence you
+have come, to get cured of an illness."
+
+"And this portrait is like her?"
+
+"As one drop of water is like another."
+
+"If you go to Chamberi call on her and say you come from me; you will be
+welcome and you will be as much surprised as I am."
+
+"I will do so, after I have been in Italy. However, I will not shew her
+this portrait, which would scandalize her; I will put it away carefully."
+
+"I beg you not to shew it to anyone."
+
+"You may rely on me."
+
+I was in an ecstasy at having put her off so effectually.
+
+At eight o'clock all my guests arrived, and I saw before me all the
+fairest ladies and the noblest gentlemen of Grenoble. The only thing
+which vexed me was the compliments they lavished on me, as is customary
+in the provinces.
+
+I opened the ball with the lady pointed out to me by M. Valenglard, and
+then I danced with all the ladies in succession; but my partner in all
+the square dances was the fair Mdlle. Roman, who shone from her
+simplicity--at least, in my eyes.
+
+After a quadrille, in which I had exerted myself a good deal, I felt hot
+and went up to my room to put on a lighter suit, and as I was doing so,
+in came the fair cousin, who asked me if I required anything.
+
+"Yes, you, dearest," I replied, going up to her and taking her in my
+arms. "Did anyone see you coming in here?"
+
+"No, I came from upstairs, and my cousins are in the dancing-room."
+
+"That is capital. You are fair as Love himself, and this is an excellent
+opportunity for skewing you how much I love you."
+
+"Good heavens! What are you doing? Let me go, somebody might come in.
+Well, put out the light!"
+
+I put it out, shut the door, and, my head full of Mdlle. Roman, the
+cousin found me as ardent as I should have been with that delightful
+person. I confess, too, that the door-keeper's niece was well worthy of
+being loved on her own merits. I found her perfect, perhaps better than
+Mdlle. Roman, a novice, would have been. In spite of my ardour her
+passion was soon appeased, and she begged me to let her go, and I did so;
+but it was quite time. I wanted to begin over again, but she was afraid
+that our absence would be noticed by her two Argus-eyed cousins, so she
+kissed me and left the room.
+
+I went back to the ball-room, and we danced on till the king of
+door-keepers came to tell us supper was ready.
+
+A collation composed of the luxuries which the season and the country
+afforded covered the table; but what pleased the ladies most was the
+number and artistic arrangement of the wax lights.
+
+I sat down at a small table with a few of my guests, and I received the
+most pressing invitations to spend the autumn in their town. I am sure
+that if I had accepted I should have been treated like a prince, for the
+nobility of Grenoble bear the highest character for hospitality. I told
+them that if it had been possible I should have had the greatest pleasure
+in accepting their invitation, and in that case I should have been
+delighted to have made the acquaintance of the family of an illustrious
+gentleman, a friend of my father's.
+
+"What name is it?" they asked me, altogether.
+
+"Bouchenu de Valbonnais."
+
+"He was my uncle. Ah! sir, you must come and stay with us. You danced
+with my daughter. What was your father's name?"
+
+This story, which I invented, and uttered as I was wont, on the spur of
+the moment, turned me into a sort of wonder in the eyes of the worthy
+people.
+
+After we had laughed, jested, drank, and eaten, we rose from the table
+and began to dance anew.
+
+Seeing Madame Morin, her niece, and Valenglard going into the garden, I
+followed them, and as we walked in the moonlight I led the fair Mdlle.
+Roman through a covered alley; but all my fine speeches were in vain; I
+could do nothing. I held her between my arms, I covered her with burning
+kisses, but not one did she return to me, and her hands offered a
+successful resistance to my hardy attempts. By a sudden effort, however,
+I at last attained the porch of the temple of love, and held her in such
+a way that further resistance would have been of no avail; but she
+stopped me short by saying in a voice which no man of feeling could have
+resisted,--
+
+"Be my friend, sir, and not my enemy and the cause of my ruin."
+
+I knelt before her, and taking her hand begged her pardon, swearing not
+to renew my attempts. I then rose and asked her to kiss me as a pledge of
+her forgiveness. We rejoined her aunt, and returned to the ball-room, but
+with all my endeavours I could not regain my calm.
+
+I sat down in a corner of the room, and I asked Rose, who passed by me,
+to get me a glass of lemonade. When she brought it she gently chid me for
+not having danced with her, her sister, or her cousin.
+
+"It will give people but a poor opinion of our merits."
+
+"I am tired," said I, "but if you will promise to be kind I will dance a
+minuet with you."
+
+"What do want me to do?" said she.
+
+"Go into my bedroom and wait for me there in the dark when you see your
+sister and your cousin busy dancing."
+
+"And you will only dance with me."
+
+"I swear!"
+
+"Then you will find me in your room."
+
+I found her passionate, and I had full satisfaction. To keep my word with
+her I waited for the closing minuet, for having danced with Rose I felt
+obliged in common decency to dance with the other two, especially as I
+owed them the same debt.
+
+At day-break the ladies began to vanish, and as I put the Morins into my
+carriage I told them that I could not have the pleasure of seeing them
+again that day, but that if they would come and spend the whole of the
+day after with me I would have the horoscope ready.
+
+I went to the kitchen to thank the worthy door-keeper for having made me
+cut such a gallant figure, and I found the three nymphs there, filling
+their pockets with sweetmeats. He told them, laughing, that as the master
+was there they might rob him with a clear conscience, and I bade them
+take as much as they would. I informed the door-keeper that I should not
+dine till six, and I then went to bed.
+
+I awoke at noon, and feeling myself well rested I set to work at the
+horoscope, and I resolved to tell the fair Mdlle. Roman that fortune
+awaited her at Paris, where she would become her master's mistress, but
+that the monarch must see her before she had attained her eighteenth
+year, as at that time her destiny would take a different turn. To give my
+prophecy authority, I told her some curious circumstances which had
+hitherto happened to her, and which I had learnt now and again from
+herself or Madame Morin without pretending to heed what they said.
+
+With an Ephemeris and another astrological book, I made out and copied in
+six hours Mdlle. Roman's horoscope, and I had so well arranged it that it
+struck Valenglard and even M. Morin with astonishment, and made the two
+ladies quite enthusiastic.
+
+My horoscope must only be known to the young lady and her family, who
+would no doubt keep the secret well. After I had put the finishing
+touches to it, read it, and read it again, I felt certain that I had made
+a masterpiece, and I then dined in bed with my three nymphs. I was polite
+and affectionate to them all, and we were all happy together, but I was
+the happiest. M. de Valenglard came to see me early the next day, and
+informed me that nobody suspected me of being in love with Mdlle. Roman,
+but that I was thought to be amorous of my landlord's girls.
+
+"Well, let them think so," said I; "they are worthy of love, though not
+to be named in the same breath with one past compare, but who leaves me
+no hope."
+
+"Let me tell Madame d'Urfe all about it."
+
+"Certainly; I shall be delighted."
+
+M. and Madame Morin and their niece came at noon, and we spent the hour
+before dinner in reading the horoscope. It would be impossible to
+describe the four distinct sorts of surprise which I saw before me. The
+interesting Mdlle. Roman looked very grave, and, not knowing whether she
+had a will of her own, listened to what was said in silence. M. Morin
+looked at me now and again, and seeing that I kept a serious countenance
+did not dare to laugh. Valenglard shewed fanatic belief in astrology in
+every feature. Madame Morin seemed struck as by a miracle, and, far from
+thinking the fact prophesied too improbable, remarked that her niece was
+much more worthy of becoming her sovereign's wife or mistress than the
+bigoted Maintenon had been.
+
+"She would never have done anything," said Madame Morin, "if she had not
+left America and come to France; and if my niece does not go to Paris
+nobody can say that the horoscope has prophesied falsely. We should
+therefore--go to Paris, but how is it to be done? I don't see my way to
+it. The prediction of the birth of a son has something divine and
+entrancing about it. I don't wish to seem prejudiced, but my niece has
+certainly more qualifications for gaining the king's affection than the
+Maintenon had: my niece is a good girl and young, while the Maintenon was
+no longer as young as she had been, and had led a strange life before she
+became a devotee. But we shall never accomplish this journey to Paris."
+
+"Nay," said Valenglard, in a serious tone, which struck me as supremely
+ridiculous, "she must go; her fate must be fulfilled."
+
+The fair Mdlle. Roman seemed all amazed. I let them talk on, and we sat
+down to dinner.
+
+[The next two paragraphs were misplaced in the original, likely by the
+typesetter, and have been inserted here where it seems that they belong.
+D.W.]
+
+I hoped I should be asked to take the diamond to Paris myself, and I felt
+inclined to grant the request. I flattered myself that they could not do
+without me, and that I should get what I wanted, if not for love at any
+rate through gratitude; indeed, who knew what might become of the plan?
+The monarch would be sure to be caught directly. I had no doubts on that
+subject, for where is the man in love who does not think that his beloved
+object will win the hearts of all others? For the moment I felt quite
+jealous of the king, but, from my thorough knowledge of my own
+inconstancy, I felt sure that my jealousy would cease when my love had
+been rewarded, and I was aware that Louis XV. did not altogether hold the
+opinions of a Turk in such concerns. What gave an almost divine character
+to the horoscope was the prediction of a son to be born, who would make
+the happiness of France, and could only come from the royal blood and
+from a singular vessel of election.
+
+A curious fancy increased my delight, namely, the thought of becoming a
+famous astrologer in an age when reason and science had so justly
+demolished astrology. I enjoyed the thought of seeing myself sought out
+by crowned heads, which are always the more accessible to superstitious
+notions. I determined I would be particular to whom I gave my advice. Who
+has not made his castles in Spain? If Mdlle. Roman gave birth to a
+daughter instead of a son I should be amused, and all would not be lost,
+for a son might come afterwards.
+
+At first silence reigned, and then the conversation ran on a thousand
+trifles, as is usual in good society, but by degrees, as I had thought,
+they returned to the horoscope.
+
+"According to the horoscope," said the aunt, "the king is to fall in love
+with my niece in her eighteenth year; she is now close on it. What are we
+to do? Where are we to get the hundred louis necessary? And when she gets
+to Paris is she to go to the king and say, 'Here I am, your majesty'? And
+who is going to take her there? I can't."
+
+"My aunt Roman might," said the young lady, blushing up to her eyes at
+the roar of laughter which none of us could restrain.
+
+"Well," said Madame Morin, "there is Madame Varnier, of the Rue de
+Richelieu; she is an aunt of yours. She has a good establishment, and
+knows everybody."
+
+"See," said Valenglard, "how the ways of destiny are made plain. You talk
+of a hundred louis; twelve will be sufficient to take you to Madame
+Varnier's. When you get there, leave the rest to your fate, which will
+surely favour you."
+
+"If you do go to Paris," said I, "say nothing to Madame Roman or Madame
+Varnier about the horoscope."
+
+"I will say nothing to anyone about it; but, after all, it is only a
+happy dream. I shall never see Paris, still less Louis XV."
+
+I arose, and going to my cash-box I took out a roll of a hundred and
+fifty louis, which I gave to her, saying it was a packet of sweetmeats.
+It felt rather heavy, and on opening it she found it to contain fifty
+pieces-of-eight, which she took for medals.
+
+"They are gold," said Valenglard.
+
+"And the goldsmith will give you a hundred and fifty louis for them,"
+added M. Morin.
+
+"I beg you will keep them; you can give me a bill payable at Paris when
+you become rich."
+
+I knew she would refuse to accept my present, although I should have been
+delighted if she had kept the money. But I admired her strength of mind
+in restraining her tears, and that without disturbing for a moment the
+smile on her face.
+
+We went out to take a turn in the garden. Valenglard and Madame Morin
+began on the topic of the horoscope anew, and I left them, taking Mdlle.
+Roman with me.
+
+"I wish you would tell me," said she, when we were out of hearing of the
+others, "if this horoscope is not all a joke."
+
+"No," I answered, "it is quite serious, but it all depends on an if. If
+you do not go to Paris the prophecy will never be fulfilled."
+
+"You must think so, certainly, or you would never have offered me those
+fifty medals."
+
+"Do me the pleasure of accepting them now; nobody will know anything
+about it."
+
+"No, I cannot, though I am much obliged to you. But why should you want
+to give me such a large sum?"
+
+"For the pleasure of contributing to your happiness, and in the hope that
+you will allow me to love you."
+
+"If you really love met why should I oppose your love? You need not buy
+my consent; and to be happy I do not want to possess the King of France,
+if you did but know to what my desires are limited."
+
+"Tell me."
+
+"I would fain find a kind husband, rich enough for us not to lack the
+necessaries of life."
+
+"But how if you did not love him?"
+
+"If he was a good, kind man how could I help loving him?"
+
+"I see that you do not know what love is."
+
+"You are right. I do not know the love that maddens, and I thank God for
+it."
+
+"Well, I think you are wise; may God preserve you from that love."
+
+"You say, that as soon as the king sees me he will fall in love with me,
+and to tell you the truth that strikes me as vastly improbable; for
+though it is quite possible that he may not think me plain, or he might
+even pronounce me pretty, yet I do not think he will become so madly in
+love as you say."
+
+"You don't? Let us sit down. You have only got to fancy that the king
+will take the same liking to you that I have done; that is all."
+
+"But what do you find in me that you will not find in most girls of my
+age? I certainly may have struck you; but that only proves that I was
+born to exercise this sway over you, and not at all that I am to rule the
+king in like manner. Why should I go and look for the king, if you love
+me yourself?"
+
+"Because I cannot give you the position you deserve."
+
+"I should have thought you had plenty of money."
+
+"Then there's another reason: you are not in love with me."
+
+"I love you as tenderly as if I were your wife. I might then kiss you,
+though duty now forbids my doing so."
+
+"I am much obliged to you for not being angry with me for being so happy
+with you!"
+
+"On the contrary, I am delighted to please you."
+
+"Then you will allow me to call on you at an early hour to-morrow, and to
+take coffee at your bedside."
+
+"Do not dream of such a thing. If I would I could not. I sleep with my
+aunt, and I always rise at the same time she does. Take away your hand;
+you promised not to do it again. In God's name, let me alone."
+
+Alas! I had to stop; there was no overcoming her. But what pleased me
+extremely was that in spite of my amorous persecution she did not lose
+that smiling calm which so became her. As for myself I looked as if I
+deserved that pardon for which I pleaded on my knees, and in her eyes I
+read that she was sorry that she could not grant what I required of her.
+
+I could no longer stay beside her, my senses were too excited by her
+beauty. I left her and went to my room where I found the kind Manon
+busying herself on my cuffs, and she gave me the relief I wanted, and
+when we were both satisfied made her escape. I reflected that I should
+never obtain more than I had obtained hitherto from young Mdlle.
+Roman--at least, unless I gave the lie to my horoscope by marrying her,
+and I decided that I would not take any further steps in the matter. I
+returned to the garden, and going up to the aunt I begged her to walk
+with me. In vain I urged the worthy woman to accept a hundred louis for
+her niece's journey from me. I swore to her by all I held sacred that no
+one else should ever know of the circumstance. All my eloquence and all
+my prayers were in vain. She told me that if her niece's destiny only
+depended on that journey all would be well, for she had thought over a
+plan which would, with her husband's consent, enable Mdlle. Roman to go
+to Paris. At the same time she gave me her sincerest thanks, and said
+that her niece was very fortunate to have pleased me so well.
+
+"She pleased me so well," I replied, "that I have resolved to go away
+to-morrow to avoid making proposals to you which would bring the great
+fortune that awaits her to nought. If it were not for that I should have
+been happy to have asked her hand of you."
+
+"Alas! her happiness would, perhaps, be built on a better foundation.
+Explain yourself."
+
+"I dare not wage war with fate."
+
+"But you are not going to-morrow?"
+
+"Excuse me, but I shall call to take leave at two o'clock."
+
+The news of my approaching departure saddened the supper-table. Madame
+Morin, who, for all I know, may be alive now, was a most kind-hearted
+woman. At table she announced her resolve that as I had decided on going,
+and as I should only leave my house to take leave of her, she would not
+force me to put myself out to such an extent, and ordained that our
+farewells should be said that evening.
+
+"At least," I said, "I may have the honour of escorting you to your
+door?"
+
+"That will protract our happiness for some minutes." Valenglard went away
+on foot, and the fair Mdlle. Roman sat on my knee. I dared to be bold
+with her, and contrary to expectation she shewed herself so kind that I
+was half sorry I was going; but the die was cast.
+
+A carriage lying overturned on the road outside an inn made my coachman
+stop a short while, and this accident which made the poor driver curse
+overwhelmed me with joy, for in these few moments I obtained all the
+favours that she could possibly give under the circumstances.
+
+Happiness enjoyed alone is never complete. Mine was not until I assured
+myself, by looking at my sweetheart's features, that the part she had
+taken had not been an entirely passive one; and I escorted the ladies to
+their room. There, without any conceit, I was certain that I saw sadness
+and love upon that fair creature's face. I could see that she was neither
+cold nor insensible, and that the obstacles she had put in my way were
+only suggested by fear and virtue. I gave Madame Morin a farewell kiss,
+and she was kind enough to tell her niece to give me a similar mark of
+friendship, which she did in a way that shewed me how completely she had
+shared my ardour.
+
+I left them, feeling amorous and sorry I had obliged myself to go. On
+entering my room I found the three nymphs together, which vexed me as I
+only wanted one. I whispered my wishes to Rose as she curled my hair, but
+she told me it was impossible for her to slip away as they all slept in
+one room. I then told them that I was going away the next day, and that
+if they would pass the night with me I would give them a present of six
+louis each. They laughed at my proposal and said it couldn't possibly be
+done. I saw by this they had not made confidantes of one another, as
+girls mostly do, and I also saw that they were jealous of each other. I
+wished them a good night, and as soon as I was in bed the god of dreams
+took me under his care, and made me pass the night with the adorable
+Mdlle. Roman.
+
+I rang rather late in the morning, and the cousin came in and said that
+Rose would bring my chocolate, and that M. Charles Ivanoff wanted to
+speak to me. I guessed that this was the Russian, but as he had not been
+introduced to me I thought I might decline to see him.
+
+"Tell him I don't know his name."
+
+Rose went out, and came in again saying he was the gentleman who had had
+the honour of supping with me at Madame Morin's.
+
+"Tell him to come in."
+
+"Sir," said he, "I want to speak with you in private."
+
+"I cannot order these young ladies to leave my room, sir. Be kind enough
+to wait for me outside till I have put on my dressing-gown, and then I
+shall be ready to speak to you."
+
+"If I am troubling you, I will call again to-morrow."
+
+"You would not find me, as I am leaving Grenoble to-day."
+
+"In that case I will wait."
+
+I got up in haste and went out to him.
+
+"Sir," said he, "I must leave this place, and I have not a penny to pay
+my landlord. I beg of you to come to my aid. I dare not have recourse to
+anyone else in the town for fear of exposing myself to the insult of a
+refusal."
+
+"Perhaps I ought to feel myself flattered at the preference you have
+shewn me, but without wishing to insult you in any way I am afraid I
+shall be obliged to refuse your request."
+
+"If you knew who I am I am sure you would not refuse me some small help."
+
+"If you think so, tell me who you are; you may count on my silence."
+
+"I am Charles, second son of Ivan, Duke of Courland, who is in exile in
+Siberia. I made my escape."
+
+"If you go to Genoa you will find yourself beyond the reach of poverty;
+for no doubt the brother of your lady-mother would never abandon you."
+
+"He died in Silesia."
+
+"When?"
+
+"Two years ago, I believe."
+
+"You have been deceived, for I saw him at Stuttgart scarcely six months
+ago. He is the Baron de Treiden."
+
+It did not cost me much to get wind of the adventurer, but I felt angry
+that he had had the impudence to try and dupe me. If it had not been for
+that I would willingly have given him six louis, for it would have been
+bad form on my part to declare war against adventurers, as I was one
+myself, and I ought to have pardoned his lies as nearly all adventurers
+are more or less impostors. I gave a glance at his diamond buckles, which
+were considered real at Grenoble, and I saw directly that they were
+counterfeits of a kind made in Venice, which imitate the facets of the
+diamonds in perfection, except to people who are experienced in diamonds.
+
+"You have diamond buckles," said I. "Why don't you sell them?"
+
+"It's the last piece of jewellery I possess out of all my mother gave me,
+and I promised her never to part with them."
+
+"I would not shew those buckles if I were you; your pocket would be a
+better place for them. I may tell you frankly that I believe the stones
+to be counterfeit, and that your lie displeases me."
+
+"Sir, I am not a liar."
+
+"We shall see. Prove that the stones are genuine, and I will give you six
+louis. I shall be delighted if I am in the wrong. Farewell."
+
+Seeing M. de Valerlglard coming up to my door, he begged me not to tell
+him of what had passed between us; and I promised that I would tell no
+one.
+
+Valenglard came to wish me a prosperous journey; he himself was obliged
+to go with M. Monteinard. He begged me to correspond constantly with him,
+and I had been intending to prefer the same request, as I took too great
+an interest in the fair Mdlle. Roman not to wish to hear of her fate, and
+the correspondence the worthy officer desired was the best way possible
+for me to hear about her. As will be imagined, I promised what he asked
+without making any difficulty. He shed tears as he embraced me, and I
+promised to be his friend.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+My Departure from Grenoble--Avignon--The Fountain of Vaucluse--The False
+Astrodi and the Humpback--Gaetan Costa--I Arrive at Marseilles
+
+While the three girls were helping Le Duc to pack my mails my landlord
+entered, gave me his bill, and finding everything correct I paid him,
+much to his satisfaction. I owed him a compliment, too, at which he
+seemed extremely gratified.
+
+"Sir," said I, "I do not wish to leave your house without having the
+pleasure of dining with your charming girls, to shew them how I
+appreciate the care they have taken of me. Let me have, then, a delicate
+repast for four, and also order post horses, that I may start in the
+evening."
+
+"Sir," broke in Le Duc, "I entreat you to order a saddle-horse besides; I
+was not made for a seat behind a chaise."
+
+The cousin laughed openly at his vain boasting, and to avenge himself the
+rascal told her that he was better than she.
+
+"Nevertheless, M. le Duc, you will have to wait on her at table."
+
+"Yes, as she waits on you in bed."
+
+I ran for my stick, but the rogue, knowing what was going to happen,
+opened the window and jumped into the courtyard. The girls gave a shriek
+of terror, but when we looked out we saw him jumping about and performing
+a thousand apish tricks.
+
+Very glad to find that he had not broken a limb, I called out, "Come
+back, I forgive you." The girls, and the man himself who escaped so
+readily, were as delighted as I. Le Duc came in in high spirits,
+observing that he did not know he was such a good jumper.
+
+"Very good, but don't be so impudent another time. Here, take this
+watch."
+
+So saying, I gave him a valuable gold watch, which he received, saying,--
+
+"I would jump again for another watch like this."
+
+Such was my Spaniard, whom I had to dismiss two years afterwards. I have
+often missed him.
+
+The hours went by with such speed when I was seated at table with the
+three girls, whom I vainly endeavoured to intoxicate, that I decided that
+I would not leave till the next day. I was tired of making mysteries and
+wanted to enjoy them all together, and resolved that the orgy should take
+place that night. I told them that if they would pass the night in my
+room I would not go till the next day. This proposition was received with
+a storm of exclamations and with laughter, as at an impossibility, while
+I endeavoured to excite them to grant my request. In the midst of this
+the door-keeper came in, advising me not to travel by night, but to go to
+Avignon by a boat in which I could ship my carriage.
+
+"You will save time and money," said he.
+
+"I will do so," I answered, "if these girls of yours will keep me company
+all night, as I am determined I will not go to bed."
+
+"O Lord!" said he with a laugh, "that's their business."
+
+This decided them and they gave in. The door-keeper sent to order the
+boat, and promised to let me have a dainty supper by midnight.
+
+The hours passed by in jests and merriment, and when we sat down to
+supper I made the champagne corks fly to such an extent that the girls
+began to get rather gay. I myself felt a little heated, and as I held
+each one's secret I had the hardihood to tell them that their scruples
+were ridiculous, as each of them had shewn no reserve to me in private.
+
+At this they gazed at one another in a kind of blank surprise, as if
+indignant at what I had said. Foreseeing that feminine pride might prompt
+them to treat my accusation as an idle calumny, I resolved not to give
+them time, and drawing Manon on to my knee I embraced her with such
+ardour that she gave in and abandoned herself to my passion. Her example
+overcame the others, and for five hours we indulged in every kind of
+voluptuous enjoyment. At the end of that time we were all in need of
+rest, but I had to go. I wanted to give them some jewels, but they said
+they would rather I ordered gloves to the amount of thirty louis, the
+money to be paid in advance, and the gloves not to be called for.
+
+I went to sleep on board the boat, and did not awake till we got to
+Avignon. I was conducted to the inn of "St. Omen" and supped in my room
+in spite of the marvellous tales which Le Duc told me of a young beauty
+at the public table.
+
+Next morning my Spaniard told me that the beauty and her husband slept in
+a room next to mine. At the same time he brought me a bill of the play,
+and I saw Company from Paris, with Mdlle. Astrodi, who was to sing and
+dance. I gave a cry of wonder, and exclaimed,--
+
+"The famous Astrodi at Avignon--how she will be astonished to see me!"
+
+Not wanting to live in hermit fashion, I went downstairs to dine at the
+public table, and I found a score of people sitting down to such a choice
+repast that I could not conceive how it could be done for forty sous a
+head. The fair stranger drew all eyes, and especially mine, towards her.
+She was a young and perfect beauty, silent, her eyes fixed on a napkin,
+replying in monosyllables to those who addressed her, and glancing at the
+speaker with large blue eyes, the beauty of which it would be difficult
+to describe. Her husband was seated at the other end of the table--a man
+of a kind that inspires contempt at the first glance. He was young,
+marked with the small-pox, a greedy eater, a loud talker, laughing and
+speaking at random, and altogether I took him for a servant in disguise.
+Feeling sure that such a fellow did not know how to refuse, I sent him a
+glass of champagne, which he drank off to my health forthwith. "May I
+have the pleasure of sending a glass to your wife?" He replied, with a
+roar of laughter, to ask her myself; and with a slight bow she told me
+that she never took anything to drink. When the dessert came in she rose,
+and her husband followed her to their room.
+
+A stranger who like myself had never seen her before, asked me who she
+was. I said I was a newcomer and did not know, and somebody else said
+that her husband called himself the Chevalier Stuard, that he came from
+Lyons, and was going to Marseilles; he came, it appeared, to Avignon a
+week ago, without servants, and in a very poor carriage.
+
+I intended staying at Avignon only as long as might be necessary to see
+the Fountain or Fall of Vaucluse, and so I had not got any letters of
+introduction, and had not the pretext of acquaintance that I might stay
+and enjoy her fine eyes. But an Italian who had read and enjoyed the
+divine Petrarch would naturally wish to see the place made divine by the
+poet's love for Laura. I went to the theatre, where I saw the vice-legate
+Salviati, women of fashion, neither fair nor foul, and a wretched comic
+opera; but I neither saw Astrodi nor any other actor from the Comedie
+Italienne at Paris.
+
+"Where is the famous Astrodi?" said I, to a young man sitting by me, "I
+have not seen her yet."
+
+"Excuse me, she has danced and sang before your eyes."
+
+"By Jove, it's impossible! I know her perfectly, and if she has so
+changed as not to be recognized she is no longer herself."
+
+I turned to go, and two minutes after the young man I had addressed came
+up and begged me to come back, and he would take me to Astradi's
+dressing-room, as she had recognized me. I followed him without saying a
+word, and saw a plain-looking girl, who threw her arms round my neck and
+addressed me by my name, though I could have sworn I had never seen her
+before, but she did not leave me time to speak. Close by I saw a man who
+gave himself out as the father of the famous Astrodi, who was known to
+all Paris, who had caused the death of the Comte d'Egmont, one of the
+most amiable noblemen of the Court of Louis XV. I thought this ugly
+female might be her sister, so I sat down and complimented her on her
+talents. She asked if I would mind her changing her dress; and in a
+moment she was running here and there, laughing and shewing a liberality
+which possibly might have been absent if what she had to display had been
+worth seeing.
+
+I laughed internally at her wiles, for after my experiences at Grenoble
+she would have found it a hard task to arouse my desires if she had been
+as pretty as she was ugly. Her thinness and her tawny skin could not
+divert my attention from other still less pleasing features about her. I
+admired her confidence in spite of her disadvantages. She must have
+credited me with a diabolic appetite, but these women often contrive to
+extract charms out of their depravity which their delicacy would be
+impotent to furnish. She begged me to sup with her, and as she persisted
+I was obliged to refuse her in a way I should not have allowed myself to
+use with any other woman. She then begged me to take four tickets for the
+play the next day, which was to be for her benefit. I saw it was only a
+matter of twelve francs, and delighted to be quit of her so cheaply I
+told her to give me sixteen. I thought she would have gone mad with joy
+when I gave her a double louis. She was not the real Astrodi. I went back
+to my inn and had a delicious supper in my own room.
+
+While Le Duc was doing my hair before I went to bed, he told me that the
+landlord had paid a visit to the fair stranger and her husband before
+supper, and had said in clear terms that he must be paid next morning;
+and if he were not, no place would be laid for them at table, and their
+linen would be detained.
+
+"Who told you that?"
+
+"I heard it from here; their room is only separated from this by a wooden
+partition. If they were in it now, I am sure they could hear all we are
+saying."
+
+"Where are they, then?"
+
+"At table, where they are eating for to-morrow, but the lady is crying.
+There's a fine chance for you, sir."
+
+"Be quiet; I shan't have anything to do with it. It's a trap, for a woman
+of any worth would die rather than weep at a public table."
+
+"Ah, if you saw how pretty she looks in tears! I am only a poor devil,
+but I would willingly give her two louis if she would earn them."
+
+"Go and offer her the money."
+
+A moment after the gentleman and his wife came back to their room, and I
+heard the loud voice of the one and the sobs of the other, but as he was
+speaking Walloon I did not understand what he said.
+
+"Go to bed," said I to Le Duc, "and next morning tell the landlord to get
+me another room, for a wooden partition is too thin a barrier to keep off
+people whom despair drive to extremities."
+
+I went to bed myself, and the sobs and muttering did not die away till
+midnight.
+
+I was shaving next morning, when Le Duc announced the Chevalier Stuard.
+
+"Say I don't know anybody of that name."
+
+He executed my orders, and returned saying that the chevalier on hearing
+my refusal to see him had stamped with rage, gone into his chamber, and
+come out again with his sword beside him.
+
+"I am going to see," added Le Duc, "that your pistols are well primed for
+the future."
+
+I felt inclined to laugh, but none the less I admired the foresight of my
+Spaniard, for a man in despair is capable of anything.
+
+"Go," said I, "and ask the landlord to give me another room."
+
+In due course the landlord came himself and told me that he could not
+oblige me until the next day.
+
+"If you don't get me another room I shall leave your house on the spot,
+because I don't like hearing sobs and reproaches all night."
+
+"Can you hear them, sir?"
+
+"You can hear them yourself now. What do you think of it? The woman will
+kill herself, and you will be the cause of her death."
+
+"I, sir? I have only asked them to pay me my just debts."
+
+"Hush! there goes the husband. I am sure he is telling his wife in his
+language that you are an unfeeling monster."
+
+"He may tell her what he likes so long as he pays me."
+
+"You have condemned them to die of hunger. How much do they owe you?"
+
+"Fifty francs."
+
+"Aren't you ashamed of making such a row for a wretched sum like that?"
+
+"Sir, I am only ashamed of an ill deed, and I do not commit such a deed
+in asking for my own."
+
+"There's your money. Go and tell them that you have been paid, and that
+they may eat again; but don't say who gave you the money."
+
+"That's what I call a good action," said the fellow; and he went and told
+them that they did not owe him anything, but that they would never know
+who paid the money.
+
+"You may dine and sup," he added, "at the public table, but you must pay
+me day by day."
+
+After he had delivered this speech in a high voice, so that I could hear
+as well as if I had been in the room, he came back to me.
+
+"You stupid fool!" said I, pushing him away, "they will know everything."
+So saying I shut my door.
+
+Le Duc stood in front of me, staring stupidly before him.
+
+"What's the matter with you, idiot?" said I.
+
+"That's fine. I see. I am going on the stage. You would do well to become
+an actor."
+
+"You are a fool."
+
+"Not so big a fool as you think."
+
+"I am going for a walk; mind you don't leave my room for a moment."
+
+I had scarcely shut the door when the chevalier accosted me and
+overwhelmed me with thanks.
+
+"Sir, I don't know to what you are referring."
+
+He thanked me again and left me, and walking by the banks of the Rhone,
+which geographers say is the most rapid river in Europe, I amused myself
+by looking at the ancient bridge. At dinner-time I went back to the inn,
+and as the landlord knew that I paid six francs a meal he treated me to
+an exquisite repast. Here, I remember, I had some exceedingly choice
+Hermitage. It was so delicious that I drank nothing else. I wished to
+make a pilgrimage to Vaucluse and begged the landlord to procure me a
+good guide, and after I had dressed I went to the theatre.
+
+I found the Astrodi at the door, and giving her my sixteen tickets, I sat
+down near the box of the vice-legate Salviati, who came in a little
+later, surrounded by a numerous train of ladies and gentlemen bedizened
+with orders and gold lace.
+
+The so-called father of the false Astrodi came and whispered that his
+daughter begged me to say that she was the celebrated Astrodi I had known
+at Paris. I replied, also in a whisper, that I would not run the risk of
+being posted as a liar by bolstering up an imposture. The ease with which
+a rogue invites a gentleman to share in a knavery is astonishing; he must
+think his confidence confers an honour.
+
+At the end of the first act a score of lackeys in the prince's livery
+took round ices to the front boxes. I thought it my duty to refuse. A
+young gentleman, as fair as love, came up to me, and with easy politeness
+asked me why I had refused an ice.
+
+"Not having the honour to know anyone here, I did not care that anyone
+should be able to say that he had regaled one who was unknown to him."
+
+"But you, sir, are a man who needs no introduction."
+
+"You do me too much honour."
+
+"You are staying at the 'St. Omer'!"
+
+"Yes; I am only stopping here to see Vaucluse, where I think of going
+to-morrow if I can get a good guide."
+
+"If you would do me the honour of accepting me, I should be delighted. My
+name is Dolci, I am son of the captain of the vice-legate's guard."
+
+"I feel the honour you do me, and I accept your obliging offer. I will
+put off my start till your arrival."
+
+"I will be with you at seven."
+
+I was astonished at the easy grace of this young Adonis, who might have
+been a pretty girl if the tone of his voice had not announced his
+manhood. I laughed at the false Astrodi, whose acting was as poor as her
+face, and who kept staring at me all the time. While she sang she
+regarded me with a smile and gave me signs of an understanding, which
+must have made the audience notice me, and doubtless pity my bad taste.
+The voice and eyes of one actress pleased me; she was young and tall, but
+hunchbacked to an extraordinary degree. She was tall in spite of her
+enormous humps, and if it had not been for this malformation she would
+have been six feet high. Besides her pleasing eyes and very tolerable
+voice I fancied that, like all hunchbacks, she was intelligent. I found
+her at the door with the ugly Astrodi when I was leaving the theatre. The
+latter was waiting to thank me, and the other was selling tickets for her
+benefit.
+
+After the Astrodi had thanked me, the hunchbacked girl turned towards me,
+and with a smile that stretched from ear to ear and displayed at least
+twenty-four exquisite teeth, she said that she hoped I would honour her
+by being present at her benefit.
+
+"If I don't leave before it comes off, I will," I replied.
+
+At this the impudent Astrodi laughed, and in the hearing of several
+ladies waiting for their carriages told me that her friend might be sure
+of my presence, as she would not let me go before the benefit night.
+"Give him sixteen tickets," she added. I was ashamed to refuse, and gave
+her two louis. Then in a lower voice the Astrodi said, "After the show we
+will come and sup with you, but on the condition that you ask nobody
+else, as we want to be alone."
+
+In spite of a feeling of anger, I thought that such a supper-party would
+be amusing, and as no one in the town knew me I resolved to stay in the
+hope of enjoying a hearty laugh.
+
+I was having my supper when Stuard and his wife went to their room. This
+night I heard no sobs nor reproaches, but early next morning I was
+surprised to see the chevalier who said, as if we had been old friends,
+that he had heard that I was going to Vaucluse, and that as I had taken a
+carriage with four places he would be much obliged if I would allow him
+and his wife, who wanted to see the fountain, to go with me. I consented.
+
+Le Duc begged to be allowed to accompany me on horseback, saying that he
+had been a true prophet. In fact it seemed as if the couple had agreed to
+repay me for my expenditure by giving me new hopes. I was not displeased
+with the expedition, and it was all to my advantage, as I had had
+recourse to no stratagems to obtain it.
+
+Dolci came, looking as handsome as an angel; my neighbours were ready,
+and the carriage loaded with the best provisions in food and drink that
+were obtainable; and we set off, Dolci seated beside the lady and I
+beside the chevalier.
+
+I had thought that the lady's sadness would give place, if not to gaiety,
+at least to a quiet cheerfulness, but I was mistaken; for, to all my
+remarks, grave or gay, she replied, either in monosyllables or in a
+severely laconic style. Poor Dolci, who was full of wit, was stupefied.
+He thought himself the cause of her melancholy, and was angry with
+himself for having innocently cast a shadow on the party of pleasure. I
+relieved him of his fears by telling him that when he offered me his
+pleasant society I was not aware that I was to be of service to the fair
+lady. I added that when at day-break I received this information, I was
+pleased that he would have such good company. The lady did not say a
+word. She kept silent and gloomy all the time, and gazed to right and
+left like one who does not see what is before his [her] eyes.
+
+Dolci felt at ease after my explanation, and did his best to arouse the
+lady, but without success. He talked on a variety of topics to the
+husband, always giving her an opportunity of joining in, but her lips
+remained motionless. She looked like the statue of Pandora before it had
+been quickened by the divine flame.
+
+The beauty of her face was perfect; her eyes were of a brilliant blue,
+her complexion a delicate mixture of white and red, her arms were as
+rounded as a Grace's, her hands plump and well shaped, her figure was
+that of a nymph's, giving delightful hints of a magnificent breast; her
+hair was a chestnut brown, her foot small: she had all that constitutes a
+beautiful woman save that gift of intellect, which makes beauty more
+beautiful, and gives a charm to ugliness itself. My vagrant fancy shewed
+me her naked form, all seemed ravishing, and yet I thought that though
+she might inspire a passing fancy she could not arouse a durable
+affection. She might minister to a man's pleasures, she could not make
+him happy. I arrived at the isle resolved to trouble myself about her no
+more; she might, I thought, be mad, or in despair at finding herself in
+the power of a man whom she could not possibly love. I could not help
+pitying her, and yet I could not forgive her for consenting to be of a
+party which she knew she must spoil by her morose behaviour.
+
+As for the self-styled Chevalier Stuard, I did not trouble my head
+whether he were her husband or her lover. He was young,
+commonplace-looking, he spoke affectedly; his manners were not good, and
+his conversation betrayed both ignorance and stupidity. He was a beggar,
+devoid of money and wits, and I could not make out why he took with him a
+beauty who, unless she were over-kind, could add nothing to his means of
+living. Perhaps he expected to live at the expense of simpletons, and had
+come to the conclusion, in spite of his ignorance, that the world is full
+of such; however, experience must have taught him that this plan cannot
+be relied on.
+
+When we got to Vaucluse I let Dolci lead; he had been there a hundred
+times, and his merit was enhanced in my eyes by the fact that he was a
+lover of the lover of Laura. We left the carriage at Apt, and wended our
+way to the fountain which was honoured that day with a numerous throng of
+pilgrims. The stream pours forth from a vast cavern, the handiwork of
+nature, inimitable by man. It is situated at the foot of a rock with a
+sheer descent of more than a hundred feet. The cavern is hardly half as
+high, and the water pours forth from it in such abundance that it
+deserves the name of river at its source. It is the Sorgue which falls
+into the Rhone near Avignon. There is no other stream as pure and clear,
+for the rocks over which it flows harbour no deposits of any kind. Those
+who dislike it on account of its apparent blackness should remember that
+the extreme darkness of the cavern gives it that gloomy tinge.
+
+     Chiare fresche a dolce aque
+     Ove le belle membra
+     Pose colei the sola a me pay donna.
+
+I wished to ascend to that part of the rock where Petrarch's house stood.
+I gazed on the remains with tears in my eyes, like Leo Allatius at
+Homer's grave. Sixteen years later I slept at Arqua, where Petrarch died,
+and his house still remains. The likeness between the two situations was
+astonishing, for from Petrarch's study at Arqua a rock can be seen
+similar to that which may be viewed at Vaucluse; this was the residence
+of Madonna Laura.
+
+"Let us go there," said I, "it is not far off."
+
+I will not endeavour to delineate my feelings as I contemplated the ruins
+of the house where dwelt the lady whom the amorous Petrarch immortalised
+in his verse--verse made to move a heart of stone:
+
+     "Morte bella parea nel suo bel viso"
+
+I threw myself with arms outstretched upon the ground as if I would
+embrace the very stones. I kissed them, I watered them with my tears, I
+strove to breathe the holy breath they once contained. I begged Madame
+Stuard's pardon for having left her arm to do homage to the spirit of a
+woman who had quickened the profoundest soul that ever lived.
+
+I say soul advisedly, for after all the body and the senses had nothing
+to do with the connection.
+
+"Four hundred years have past and gone," said I to the statue of a woman
+who gazed at me in astonishment, "since Laura de Sade walked here;
+perhaps she was not as handsome as you, but she was lively, kindly,
+polite, and good of heart. May this air which she breathed and which you
+breathe now kindle in you the spark of fire divine; that fire that
+coursed through her veins, and made her heart beat and her bosom swell.
+Then you would win the worship of all worthy men, and from none would you
+receive the least offence. Gladness, madam, is the lot of the happy, and
+sadness the portion of souls condemned to everlasting pains. Be cheerful,
+then, and you will do something to deserve your beauty."
+
+The worthy Dolci was kindled by my enthusiasm. He threw himself upon me,
+and kissed me again and again; the fool Stuard laughed; and his wife, who
+possibly thought me mad, did not evince the slightest emotion. She took
+my arm, and we walked slowly towards the house of Messer Francesco
+d'Arezzo, where I spent a quarter of an hour in cutting my name. After
+that we had our dinner.
+
+Dolci lavished more attention on the extraordinary woman than I did.
+Stuard did nothing but eat and drink, and despised the Sorgue water,
+which, said he, would spoil the Hermitage; possibly Petrarch may have
+been of the same opinion. We drank deeply without impairing our reason,
+but the lady was very temperate. When we reached Avignon we bade her
+farewell, declining the invitation of her foolish husband to come and
+rest in his rooms.
+
+I took Dolci's arm and we walked beside the Rhone as the sun went down.
+Among other keen and witty observations the young man said,--
+
+"That woman is an old hand, infatuated with a sense of her own merit. I
+would bet that she has only left her own country because her charms, from
+being too freely displayed, have ceased to please there. She must be sure
+of making her fortune out of anybody she comes across. I suspect that the
+fellow who passes for her husband is a rascal, and that her pretended
+melancholy is put on to drive a persistent lover to distraction. She has
+not yet succeeded in finding a dupe, but as she will no doubt try to
+catch a rich man, it is not improbable that she is hovering over you.".
+
+When a young man of Dolci's age reasons like that, he is bound to become
+a great master. I kissed him as I bade him good-night, thanked him for
+his kindness, and we agreed that we would see more of one another.
+
+As I came back to my inn I was accosted by a fine-looking man of middle
+age, who greeted me by name and asked with great politeness if I had
+found Vaucluse as fine as I had expected. I was delighted to recognize
+the Marquis of Grimaldi, a Genoese, a clever and good-natured man, with
+plenty of money, who always lived at Venice because he was more at
+liberty to enjoy himself there than in his native country; which shews
+that there is no lack of freedom at Venice.
+
+After I had answered his question I followed him into his room, where
+having exhausted the subject of the fountain he asked me what I thought
+of my fair companion.
+
+"I did not find her satisfactory in all respects," I answered; and
+noticing the reserve with which I spoke, he tried to remove it by the
+following confession:
+
+"There are some very pretty women in Genoa, but not one to compare with
+her whom you took to Vaucluse to-day. I sat opposite to her at table
+yesterday evening, and I was struck with her perfect beauty. I offered
+her my arm up the stair; I told her that I was sorry to see her so sad,
+and if I could do anything for her she had only to speak. You know I was
+aware she had no money. Her husband, real or pretended, thanked me for my
+offer, and after I had wished them a good night I left them.
+
+"An hour ago you left her and her husband at the door of their apartment,
+and soon afterwards I took the liberty of calling. She welcomed me with a
+pretty bow, and her husband went out directly, begging me to keep her
+company till his return. The fair one made no difficulty in sitting next
+to me on a couch, and this struck me as a good omen, but when I took her
+hand she gently drew it away. I then told, her, in as few words as I
+could, that her beauty had made me in love with her, and that if she
+wanted a hundred louis they were at her service, if she would drop her
+melancholy, and behave in a manner suitable to the feelings with which
+she had inspired me. She only replied by a motion of the head, which
+shewed gratitude, but also an absolute refusal of my offer. 'I am going
+to-morrow,' said I. No answer. I took her hand again, and she drew it
+back with an air of disdain which wounded me. I begged her to excuse me,
+and I left the room without more ado.
+
+"That's an account of what happened an hour ago. I am not amorous of her,
+it was only a whim; but knowing, as I do, that she has no money, her
+manner astonished me. I fancied that you might have placed her in a
+position to despise my offer, and this would explain her conduct, in a
+measure; otherwise I can't understand it at all. May I ask you to tell me
+whether you are more fortunate than I?"
+
+I was enchanted with the frankness of this noble gentleman, and did not
+hesitate to tell him all, and we laughed together at our bad fortune: I
+had to promise to call on him at Genoa, and tell him whatever happened
+between us during the two days I purposed to remain at Avignon. He asked
+me to sup with him and admire the fair recalcitrant.
+
+"She has had an excellent dinner," said I, "and in all probability she
+will not have any supper."
+
+"I bet she will," said the marquis; and he was right, which made me see
+clearly that the woman was playing a part. A certain Comte de Bussi, who
+had just come, was placed next to her at table. He was a good-looking
+young man with a fatuous sense of his own superiority, and he afforded us
+an amusing scene.
+
+He was good-natured, a wit, and inclined to broad jokes, and his manner
+towards women bordered on the impudent. He had to leave at midnight and
+began to make love to his fair neighbour forthwith, and teased her in a
+thousand ways; but she remained as dumb as a statue, while he did all the
+talking and laughing, not regarding it within the bounds of possibility
+that she might be laughing at him.
+
+I looked at M. Grimaldi, who found it as difficult to keep his
+countenance as I did. The young roue was hurt at her silence, and
+continued pestering her, giving her all the best pieces on his plate
+after tasting them first. The lady refused to take them, and he tried to
+put them into her mouth, while she repulsed him in a rage. He saw that no
+one seemed inclined to take her part, and determined to continue the
+assault, and taking her hand he kissed it again and again. She tried to
+draw it away, and as she rose he put his arm round her waist and made her
+sit down on his knee; but at this point the husband took her arm and led
+her out of the room. The attacking party looked rather taken aback for a
+moment as he followed her with his eyes, but sat down again and began to
+eat and laugh afresh, while everybody else kept a profound silence. He
+then turned to the footman behind his chair and asked him if his sword
+was upstairs. The footman said no, and then the fatuous young man turned
+to an abbe who sat near me, and enquired who had taken away his mistress:
+
+"It was her husband," said the abbe.
+
+"Her husband! Oh, that's another thing; husbands don't fight--a man of
+honour always apologises to them."
+
+With that he got up, went upstairs, and came down again directly,
+saying,--
+
+"The husband's a fool. He shut the door in my face, and told me to
+satisfy my desires somewhere else. It isn't worth the trouble of
+stopping, but I wish I had made an end of it."
+
+He then called for champagne, offered it vainly to everybody, bade the
+company a polite farewell and went upon his way.
+
+As M. Grimaldi escorted me to my room he asked me what I had thought of
+the scene we had just witnessed. I told him I would not have stirred a
+finger, even if he had turned up her clothes.
+
+"No more would I," said he, "but if she had accepted my hundred louis it
+would have been different. I am curious to know the further history of
+this siren, and I rely upon you to tell me all about it as you go through
+Genoa."
+
+He went away at day-break next morning.
+
+When I got up I received a note from the false Astrodi, asking me if I
+expected her and her great chum to supper. I had scarcely replied in the
+affirmative, when the sham Duke of Courland I had left at Grenoble
+appeared on the scene. He confessed in a humble voice that he was the son
+of clock-maker at Narva, that his buckles were valueless, and that he had
+come to beg an alms of me. I gave him four Louis, and he asked me to keep
+his secret. I replied that if anyone asked me about him that I should say
+what was absolutely true, that I knew him nothing about him. "Thank you;
+I am now going to Marseilles." "I hope you will have a prosperous
+journey." Later on my readers will hear how I found him at Genoa. It is
+a good thing to know something about people of his kind, of whom there
+are far too many in the world.
+
+I called up the landlord and told him I wanted a delicate supper for
+three in my own room.
+
+He told me that I should have it, and then said, "I have just had a row
+with the Chevalier Stuard."
+
+"What about?"
+
+"Because he has nothing to pay me with, and I am going to turn them out
+immediately, although the lady is in bed in convulsions which are
+suffocating her."
+
+"Take out your bill in her charms."
+
+"Ah, I don't care for that sort of thing! I am getting on in life, and I
+don't want any more scenes to bring discredit on my house."
+
+"Go and tell her that from henceforth she and her husband will dine and
+sup in their own room and that I will pay for them as long as I remain
+here."
+
+"You are very generous, sir, but you know that meals in a private room
+are charged double."
+
+"I know they are."
+
+"Very good."
+
+I shuddered at the idea of the woman being turned out of doors without
+any resources but her body, by which she refused to profit. On the other
+hand I could not condemn the inn-keeper who, like his fellows, was not
+troubled with much gallantry. I had yielded to an impulse of pity without
+any hopes of advantage for myself. Such were my thoughts when Stuard came
+to thank me, begging me to come and see his wife and try and persuade her
+to behave in a different manner.
+
+"She will give me no answers, and you know that that sort of thing is
+rather tedious."
+
+"Come, she knows what you have done for her; she will talk to you, for
+her feelings . . . ."
+
+"What business have you to talk about feelings after what happened
+yesterday evening?"
+
+"It was well for that gentleman that he went away at midnight, otherwise
+I should have killed him this morning."
+
+"My dear sir, allow me to tell you that all that is pure braggadocio.
+Yesterday, not to-day, was the time to kill him, or to throw your plate
+at his head, at all events. We will now go and see your wife."
+
+I found her in bed, her face to the wall, the coverlet right up to her
+chin, and her body convulsed with sobs. I tried to bring her to reason,
+but as usual got no reply. Stuard wanted to leave me, but I told him that
+if he went out I would go too, as I could do nothing to console her, as
+he might know after her refusing the Marquis of Grimaldi's hundred louis
+for a smile and her hand to kiss.
+
+"A hundred Louis!" cried the fellow with a sturdy oath; "what folly! We
+might have been at home at Liege by now. A princess allows one to kiss
+her hand for nothing, and she.... A hundred Louis! Oh, damnable!"
+
+His exclamations, very natural under the circumstances, made me feel
+inclined to laugh. The poor devil swore by all his gods, and I was about
+to leave the room, when all at once the wretched woman was seized with
+true or false convulsions. With one hand she seized a water-bottle and
+sent it flying into the middle of the room, and with the other she tore
+the clothes away from her breast. Stuard tried to hold her, but her
+disorder increased in violence, and the coverlet was disarranged to such
+a degree that I could see the most exquisite naked charms imaginable. At
+last she grew calm, and her eyes closed as if exhausted; she remained in
+the most voluptuous position that desire itself could have invented. I
+began to get very excited. How was I to look on such beauties without
+desiring to possess them? At this point her wretched husband left the
+room, saying he was gone to fetch some water. I saw the snare, and my
+self-respect prevented my being caught in it. I had an idea that the
+whole scene had been arranged with the intent that I should deliver
+myself up to brutal pleasure, while the proud and foolish woman would be
+free to disavow all participation in the fact. I constrained myself, and
+gently veiled what I would fain have revealed in all its naked beauty. I
+condemned to darkness these charms which this monster of a woman only
+wished me to enjoy that I might be debased.
+
+Stuard was long enough gone. When he came back with the water-bottle
+full, he was no doubt surprised to find me perfectly calm, and in no
+disorder of any kind, and a few minutes afterwards I went out to cool
+myself by the banks of the Rhone.
+
+I walked along rapidly, feeling enraged with myself, for I felt that the
+woman had bewitched me. In vain I tried to bring myself to reason; the
+more I walked the more excited I became, and I determined that after what
+I had seen the only cure for my disordered fancy was enjoyment, brutal or
+not. I saw that I should have to win her, not by an appeal to sentiment
+but by hard cash, without caring what sacrifices I made. I regretted my
+conduct, which then struck me in the light of false delicacy, for if I
+had satisfied my desires and she chose to turn prude, I might have
+laughed her to scorn, and my position would have been unassailable. At
+last I determined on telling the husband that I would give him
+twenty-five louis if he could obtain me an interview in which I could
+satisfy my desires.
+
+Full of this idea I went back to the inn, and had my dinner in my own
+room without troubling to enquire after her. Le Duc told me that she was
+dining in her room too, and that the landlord had told the company that
+she would not take her meals in public any more. This was information I
+possessed already.
+
+After dinner I called on the good-natured Dolci, who introduced me to his
+father, an excellent man, but not rich enough to satisfy his son's desire
+of travelling. The young man was possessed of considerable dexterity, and
+performed a number of very clever conjuring tricks. He had an amiable
+nature, and seeing that I was curious to know about his love affairs he
+told me numerous little stories which shewed me that he was at that happy
+age when one's inexperience is one's sole misfortune.
+
+There was a rich lady for whom he did not care, as she wanted him to give
+her that which he would be ashamed to give save for love, and there was a
+girl who required him to treat her with respect. I thought I could give
+him a piece of good advice, so I told him to grant his favours to the
+rich woman, and to fail in respect now and again to the girl, who would
+be sure to scold and then forgive. He was no profligate, and seemed
+rather inclined to become a Protestant. He amused himself innocently with
+his friends of his own age, in a garden near Avignon, and a sister of the
+gardener's wife was kind to him when they were alone.
+
+In the evening I went back to the inn, and I had not long to wait for the
+Astrodi and the Lepi (so the hunchbacked girl was named); but when I saw
+these two caricatures of women I felt stupefied. I had expected them, of
+course, but the reality confounded me. The Astrodi tried to
+counterbalance her ugliness by an outrageous freedom of manners; while
+the Lepi, who though a hunchback was very talented and an excellent
+actress, was sure of exciting desire by the rare beauty of her eyes and
+teeth, which latter challenged admiration from her enormous mouth by
+their regularity and whiteness. The Astrodi rushed up to me and gave me
+an Italian embrace, to which, willy nilly, I was obliged to submit. The
+quieter Lepi offered me her cheek, which I pretended to kiss. I saw that
+the Astrodi was in a fair way to become intolerable, so I begged her to
+moderate her transports, because as a novice at these parties I wanted to
+get accustomed to them by degrees. She promised that she would be very
+good.
+
+While we were waiting for supper I asked her, for the sake of something
+to say, whether she had found a lover at Avignon.
+
+"Only the vice-legate's auditor," she replied; "and though he makes me
+his pathic he is good-natured and generous. I have accustomed myself to
+his taste easily enough, though I should have thought such a thing
+impossible a year ago, as I fancied the exercise a harmful one, but I was
+wrong."
+
+"So the auditor makes a boy of you?"
+
+"Yes. My sister would have adored him, as that sort of love is her
+passion."
+
+"But your sister has such fine haunches."
+
+"So have I! Look here, feel me."
+
+"You are right; but wait a bit, it is too soon for that kind of thing
+yet."
+
+"We will be wanton after supper."
+
+"I think you are wanton now," said the Lepi.
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Why? Ought you to shew your person like that?"
+
+"My dear girl, you will be shewing yourself soon. When one is in good
+company, one is in the golden age."
+
+"I wonder at your telling everyone what sort of a connection you have
+with the auditor," said I.
+
+"Nonsense! I don't tell everyone, but everyone tells me and congratulates
+me too. They know the worthy man never cared for women, and it would be
+absurd to deny what everybody guesses. I used to be astonished at my
+sister, but the best plan in this world is to be astonished at nothing.
+But don't you like that?"
+
+"No, I only like this."
+
+As I spoke I laid hands on the Lepi, on the spot where one usually finds
+what I called "this;" but the Astrodi, seeing that I found nothing, burst
+into a roar of laughter, and taking my hand put it just under her front
+hump, where at last I found what I wanted. The reader will guess my
+surprise. The poor creature, too ashamed to be prudish, laughed too. My
+spirits also begin to rise, as I thought of the pleasure I should get out
+of this new discovery after supper.
+
+"Have you never had a lover?" said I to the Lepi.
+
+"No," said the Astrodi, "she is still a maid."
+
+"No, I am not," replied the Lepi, in some confusion, "I had a lover at
+Bordeaux, and another at Montpellier."
+
+"Yes, I know, but you are still as you were born."
+
+"I can't deny it."
+
+"What's that? Two lovers and still a maid! I don't understand; please
+tell me about it, for I have never heard of such a thing."
+
+"Before I satisfied my first lover which happened when I was only twelve,
+I was just the same as I am now."
+
+"It's wonderful. And what did he say when he saw it?"
+
+"I swore that he was my first, and he believed me, putting it down to the
+peculiar shape of my body."
+
+"He was a man of spirit; but didn't he hurt you?"
+
+"Not a bit; but then he was very gentle."
+
+"You must have a try after supper," said the Astrodi to me, "that would
+be fine fun."
+
+"No, no," said the Lepi, "the gentleman would be too big for me."
+
+"Nonsense! You don't want to take in all of him. I will show you how it
+is."
+
+With these words the impudent hussy proceeded to exhibit me, and I let
+her do what she liked.
+
+"That's just what I should have thought," cried the Lepi; "it could never
+be done."
+
+"Well, he is rather big," answered the Astrodi; "but there's a cure for
+everything, and he will be content with half-measures."
+
+"It's not the length, my dear, but the thickness which frightens me; I am
+afraid the door is too narrow."
+
+"All the better for you, for you can sell your maidenhead after having
+had two lovers."
+
+This conversation, not devoid of wit, and still more the simplicity of
+the hunchback, had made me resolve to verify things for myself.
+
+Supper came up, and I had the pleasure of seeing the two nymphs eat like
+starving savages, and drink still better. When the Hermitage had done its
+work the Astrodi proposed that we should cast off the clothes which
+disfigure nature.
+
+"Certainly," said I; "and I will turn away while you are getting ready."
+
+I went behind the curtains, took off my clothes, and went to bed with my
+back to them. At last the Astrodi told me that they were ready, and when
+I looked the Lepi took up all my attention. In spite of her double
+deformity she was a handsome woman. My glances frightened her, for she
+was doubtless taking part in an orgy for the first time. I gave her
+courage, however, by dint of praising those charms which the white and
+beautiful hands could not hide, and at last I persuaded her to come and
+lie beside me. Her hump prevented her lying on her back, but the
+ingenious Astrodi doubled up the pillows and succeeded in placing her in
+a position similar to that of a ship about to be launched. It was also by
+the tender care of the Astrodi that the introduction of the knife was
+managed, to the great delight of priest and victim. After the operation
+was over she got up and kissed me, which she could not do before, for her
+mouth reached to the middle of my chest, while my feet were scarcely down
+to her knees. I would have given ten louis to have been able to see the
+curious sight we must have presented at work.
+
+"Now comes my turn," said the Astrodi; "but I don't want you to infringe
+on the rights of my auditor, so come and look round and see where the
+path lies. Take that."
+
+"What am I to do with this slice of lemon?"
+
+"I want you to try whether the place is free from infection, or whether
+it would be dangerous for you to pay it a visit."
+
+"Is that a sure method?"
+
+"Infallible; if everything were not right I could not bear the smart."
+
+"There you are. How's that?"
+
+"All right; but don't deceive me, I want no half measures. My reputation
+would be made if I became with child."
+
+I ask my reader's leave to draw a veil over some incidents of this truly
+scandalous orgy, in which the ugly woman taught me some things I did not
+know before. At last, more tired than exhausted, I told them to begone,
+but the Astrodi insisted on finishing up with a bowl of punch. I agreed,
+but not wishing to have anything more to do with either of them I dressed
+myself again. However, the champagne punch excited them to such an extent
+that at last they made me share their transports. The Astrodi placed her
+friend in such a singular position that the humps were no longer visible,
+and imagining that I had before me the high priestess of Jove, I paid her
+a long sacrifice, in which death and resurrection followed one another in
+succession. But I felt disgusted with myself, and drew away from their
+lascivious frenzies, and gave them ten Louis to get rid of them. The
+Astrodi fell on her knees, blessed me, thanked me, called me her god; and
+the Lepi wept and laughed for joy at the same time; and thus for a
+quarter of an hour I was treated to a scene of an extraordinary kind.
+
+I had them taken home in my carriage, and slept till ten o'clock next
+morning. Just as I was going out for a walk Stuard came to my room and
+told me, with an air of despair, that if I did not give him the means of
+going away before I left he would throw himself in the Rhine.
+
+"That's rather tragic," said I, "but I can find a cure. I will disburse
+twenty-five Louis, but it is your wife who must receive them; and the
+only condition is that she must receive me alone for an hour, and be
+entirely kind."
+
+"Sir, we need just that sum; my wife is disposed to receive you; go and
+talk to her. I shall not be in till noon."
+
+I put twenty-five Louis in a pretty little purse, and left my room
+thinking that the victory was won. I entered her room and approached her
+bed respectfully. When she heard me she sat up in bed without taking the
+trouble to cover her breast, and before I could wish her good-day she
+spoke to me as follows:
+
+"I am ready, sir, to pay with my body for the wretched twenty-five Louis
+of which my husband is in need. You can do what you like with me; but
+remember that in taking advantage of my position to assuage your brutal
+lust you are the viler of the two, for I only sell myself so cheaply
+because necessity compels me to do so. Your baseness is more shameful
+than mine. Come on; here I am."
+
+With this flattering address she threw off the coverlet with a vigorous
+gesture, and displayed all her beauties, which I might have gazed on with
+such different feelings from those which now filled my breast. For a
+moment I was silent with indignation. All my passion had evaporated; in
+those voluptuous rounded limbs I saw now only the covering of a wild
+beast's soul. I put back the coverlet with the greatest calmness, and
+addressed her in a tone of cold contempt:
+
+"No, madam, I shall not leave this room degraded because you have told me
+so, but I shall leave it after imparting to you a few degrading truths,
+of which you cannot be ignorant if you are a woman of any decency
+whatever. Here are twenty-five louis, a wretched sum to give a virtuous
+woman in payment of her favours, but much more than you deserve. I am not
+brutal, and to convince you of the fact I am going to leave you in the
+undisturbed possession of your charms, which I despise as heartily as I
+should have admired them if your behaviour had been different. I only
+give you the money from a feeling of compassion which I cannot overcome,
+and which is the only feeling I now have for you. Nevertheless, let me
+tell you that whether a woman sells herself for twenty-five louis or
+twenty-five million louis she is as much a prostitute in the one case as
+in the other, if she does not give her love with herself, or at all
+events the semblance of love. Farewell."
+
+I went back to my room, and in course of time Stuard came to thank me.
+
+"Sir," said I, "let me alone; I wish to hear no more about your wife."
+
+They went away the next day for Lyons, and my readers will hear of them
+again at Liege.
+
+In the afternoon Dolci took me to his garden that I might see the
+gardener's sister. She was pretty, but not so pretty as he was. He soon
+got her into a good humour, and after some trifling objection she
+consented to be loved by him in my presence. I saw that this Adonis had
+been richly dowered by nature, and I told him that with such a physical
+conformation he had no need of emptying his father's purse to travel, and
+before long he took my advice. This fair Ganymede might easily have
+turned me into Jove, as he struggled amorously with the gardener's
+sister.
+
+As I was going home I saw a young man coming out of a boat; he was from
+twenty to twenty-five years old, and looked very sad. Seeing me looking
+at him, he accosted me, and humbly asked for alms, shewing me a document
+authorizing him to beg, and a passport stating he had left Madrid six
+weeks before. He came from Parma, and was named Costa. When I saw Parma
+my national prejudice spoke in his favour, and I asked him what
+misfortune had reduced him to beggary.
+
+"Only lack of money to return to my native country," said he.
+
+"What were you doing at Madrid, and why did you leave?"
+
+"I was there four years as valet to Dr. Pistoria, physician to the King
+of Spain, but on my health failing I left him. Here is a certificate
+which will shew you that I gave satisfaction."
+
+"What can you do?"
+
+"I write a good hand, I can assist a gentleman as his secretary, and I
+intend being a scribe when I get home. Here are some verses I copied
+yesterday."
+
+"You write well; but can you write correctly without a book?"
+
+"I can write from dictation in French, Latin, and Spanish."
+
+"Correctly?"
+
+"Yes, sir, if the dictation is done properly, for it is the business of
+the one who dictates to see that everything is correct."
+
+I saw that Master Gaetan Costa was an ignoramus, but in spite of that I
+took him to my room and told Le Duc to address him in Spanish. He
+answered well enough, but on my dictating to him in Italian and French I
+found he had not the remotest ideas on orthography.
+
+"But you can't write," said I to him. However, I saw he was mortified at
+this, and I consoled him by saying that I would take him to his own
+country at my expense. He kissed my hand, and assured me that I should
+find a faithful servant in him.
+
+This young fellow took my fancy by his originality; he had probably
+assumed it to distinguish himself from the blockheads amongst whom he had
+hitherto lived, and now used it in perfect good faith with everybody. He
+thought that the art of a scribe solely consisted in possessing a good
+hand, and that the fairest writer would be the best scribe. He said as
+much while he was examining a paper I had written, and as my writing was
+not as legible as his he tacitly told me I was his inferior, and that I
+should therefore treat him with some degree of respect. I laughed at this
+fad, and, not thinking him incorrigible I took him into my service. If it
+had not been for that odd notion of his I should probably have merely
+given him a louis, and no more. He said that spelling was of no
+consequence, as those who knew how to spell could easily guess the words,
+while those who did not know were unable to pick out the mistakes. I
+laughed, but as I said nothing he thought the laugh signified approval.
+In the dictation I gave him the Council of Trent happened to occur.
+According to his system he wrote Trent by a three and a nought. I burst
+out laughing; but he was not in the least put out, only remarking that
+the pronunciation being the same it was of no consequence how the word
+was spelt. In point of fact this lad was a fool solely through his
+intelligence, matched with ignorance and unbounded self-confidence. I was
+pleased with his originality and kept him, and was thus the greater fool
+of the two, as the reader will see.
+
+I left Avignon next day, and went straight to Marseilles, not troubling
+to stop at Aix. I halted at the "Treize Cantons," wishing to stay for a
+week at least in this ancient colony of the Phocaeans, and to do as I
+liked there. With this idea I took no letter of introduction; I had
+plenty of money, and needed nobody's help. I told my landlord to give me
+a choice fish dinner in my own room, as I was aware that the fish in
+those parts is better than anywhere else.
+
+I went out the next morning with a guide, to take me back to the inn when
+I was tired of walking. Not heeding where I went, I reached a fine quay;
+I thought I was at Venice again, and I felt my bosom swell, so deeply is
+the love of fatherland graven on the heart of every good man. I saw a
+number of stalls where Spanish and Levantine wines were kept, and a
+number of people drinking in them. A crowd of business men went hither
+and thither, running up against each other, crossing each other's paths,
+each occupied with his own business, and not caring whose way he got
+into. Hucksters, well dressed and ill dressed, women, pretty and plain,
+women who stared boldly at everyone, modest maidens with downcast eyes,
+such was the picture I saw.
+
+The mixture of nationalities, the grave Turk and the glittering
+Andalusian, the French dandy, the gross Negro, the crafty Greek, the dull
+Hollander; everything reminded me of Venice, and I enjoyed the scene.
+
+I stopped a moment at a street corner to read a playbill, and then I went
+back to the inn and refreshed my weary body with a delicious dinner,
+washed down with choice Syracusan wine. After dinner I dressed and took a
+place in the amphitheatre of the theatre.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Rosalie--Toulon--Nice--I Arrive at Genoa--M. Grimaldi--Veronique and Her
+Sister
+
+I noticed that the four principal boxes on both sides of the proscenium
+were adorned with pretty women, but not a single gentleman. In the
+interval between the first and second acts I saw gentlemen of all classes
+paying their devoirs to these ladies. Suddenly I heard a Knight of Malta
+say to a girl, who was the sole occupant of a box next to me,
+
+"I will breakfast with you to-morrow."
+
+This was enough for me. I looked at her more closely and finding her to
+be a dainty morsel I said, as soon as the knight had gone--
+
+"Will you give me my supper?"
+
+"With pleasure; but I have been taken in so often that I shan't expect
+you without an earnest."
+
+"How can I give you an earnest? I don't understand."
+
+"You must be a new-comer here."
+
+"Just arrived."
+
+She laughed, called the knight, and said,--
+
+"Be pleased to explain to this gentleman, who has just asked me for
+supper, the meaning of the word 'earnest.'"
+
+The good-natured knight explained, with a smile, that the lady, fearing
+lest my memory should prove defective, wanted me to pay for my supper in
+advance. I thanked him, and asked her if a louis would be enough; and on
+her replying in the affirmative, I gave her the Louis and asked for her
+address. The knight told me politely that he would take me there himself
+after the theatre, adding,--
+
+"She's the wantonest wench in all Marseilles."
+
+He then asked me if I knew the town, and when I told him that I had only
+come that day he said he was glad to be the first to make my
+acquaintance. We went to the middle of, the amphitheatre and he pointed
+out a score of girls to right and left, all of them ready to treat the
+first comer to supper. They are all on the free list, and the manager
+finds they serve his ends as respectable women will not sit in their
+boxes, and they draw people to the theatre. I noticed five or six of a
+better type than the one I had engaged, but I resolved to stick to her
+for the evening, and to make the acquaintance of the others another time.
+
+"Is your favourite amongst them?" I said to the knight.
+
+"No, I keep a ballet-girl, and I will introduce you to her, as I am glad
+to say that I am free from all jealousy."
+
+When the play came to an end he took me to my nymph's lodging, and we
+parted with the understanding that we were to see more of one another.
+
+I found the lady in undress--a circumstance which went against her, for
+what I saw did not please me. She gave me a capital supper, and enlivened
+me by some witty and wanton sallies which made me regard her in a more
+favourable light. When we had supper she got into bed, and asked me to
+follow her example; but I told her that I never slept out. She then
+offered me the English article which brings peace to the soul, but I did
+not accept the one she offered as I thought it looked of a common make.
+
+"I have finer ones, but they are three francs each, and the maker only
+sells them by the dozen," she said. "I will take a dozen if they are
+really good," I replied.
+
+She rang the bell, and a young, charming, and modest-looking girl came
+in. I was struck with her.
+
+"You have got a nice maid," I remarked, when the girl had gone for the
+protective sheaths.
+
+"She is only fifteen," she said, "and won't do anything, as she is new to
+it."
+
+"Will you allow me to see for myself?"
+
+"You may ask her if you like, but I don't think she will consent."
+
+The girl came back with the packet, and putting myself in a proper
+position I told her to try one on. She proceeded to do so with a sulky
+air and with a kind of repugnance which made me feel interested in her.
+Number one would not go on, so she had to try on a second, and the result
+was that I besprinkled her plentifully. The mistress laughed, but she was
+indignant, threw the whole packet in my face, and ran away in a rage. I
+wanted nothing more after this, so I put the packet in my pocket, gave
+the woman two Louis, and left the room. The girl I had treated so
+cavalierly came to light me downstairs, and thinking I owed her an
+apology I gave her a Louis and begged her pardon. The poor girl was
+astonished, kissed my hand, and begged me to say nothing to her mistress.
+
+"I will not, my dear, but tell me truly whether you are still a 'virgo
+intacta'."
+
+"Certainly, sir!"
+
+"Wonderful! but tell me why you wouldn't let me see for myself?"
+
+"Because it revolted me."
+
+"Nevertheless you will have to do so, for otherwise, in spite of your
+prettiness, people will not know what to make of you. Would you like to
+let me try?"
+
+"Yes, but not in this horrible house."
+
+"Where, then?"
+
+"Go to my mother's to-morrow, I will be there. Your guide knows where she
+lives."
+
+When I got outside, I asked the man if he knew her. He replied in the
+affirmative, and said he believed her to be an honest girl.
+
+"You will take me to-morrow to see her mother," I said.
+
+Next morning he took me to the end of the town, to a poor house, where I
+found a poor woman and poor children living on the ground floor, and
+eating hard black bread.
+
+"What do you want?" said she.
+
+"Is you daughter here?"
+
+"No, and what if she were? I am not her bawd."
+
+"No, of course not, my good woman."
+
+Just then the girl came in, and the enraged mother flung an old pot which
+came handy, at her head. Luckily it missed, but she would not have
+escaped her mother's talons if I had not flung myself between them.
+However, the old woman set up a dismal shriek, the children imitated her,
+and the poor girl began to cry. This hubbub made my man come in.
+
+"You hussy!" screamed the mother, "you are bringing disgrace on me; get
+out of my house. You are no longer my daughter!"
+
+I was in a difficult position. The man begged her not to make such a
+noise, as it would draw all the neighbours about the house; but the
+enraged woman answered only by abuse. I drew six francs from my pocket
+and gave them to her, but she flung them in my face. At last I went out
+with the daughter, whose hair she attempted to pull out by the roots,
+which project was defeated by the aid of my man. As soon as we got
+outside, the mob which the uproar had attracted hooted me and followed
+me, and no doubt I should have been torn to pieces if I had not escaped
+into a church, which I left by another door a quarter of an hour later.
+My fright saved me, for I knew the ferocity of the Provencals, and I took
+care not to reply a word to the storm of abuse which poured on me. I
+believe that I was never in greater danger than on that day.
+
+Before I got back to my inn I was rejoined by the servant and the girl.
+
+"How could you lead me into such a dangerous position?" said I. "You must
+have known your mother was savage."
+
+"I hoped she would behave respectfully to you."
+
+"Be calm; don't weep any more. Tell me how I can serve you."
+
+"Rather than return to that horrible house I was in yesterday I would
+throw myself into the sea."
+
+"Do you know of any respectable house where I can keep her?" said I to
+the man.
+
+He told me he did know a respectable individual who let furnished
+apartments.
+
+"Take me to it, then."
+
+The man was of an advanced age, and he had rooms to let on all the
+floors.
+
+"I only want a little nook," said the girl; and the old man took us to
+the highest story, and opened the door of a garret, saying--
+
+"This closet is six francs a month, a month's rent to be paid in advance,
+and I may tell you that my door is always shut at ten o'clock, and that
+nobody can come and pass the night with you."
+
+The room held a bed with coarse sheets, two chairs, a little table, and a
+chest of drawers.
+
+"How much will you board this young woman for?" said I.
+
+He asked twenty sous, and two sous for the maid who would bring her meals
+and do her room.
+
+"That will do," said the girl, and she paid the month's rent and the
+day's board. I left her telling her I would come back again.
+
+As I went down the stairs I asked the old man to shew me a room for
+myself. He skewed me a very nice one at a Louis a month, and I paid in
+advance. He then gave me a latch-key, that I might go and come when I
+liked.
+
+"If you wish to board here," said he, "I think I could give
+satisfaction."
+
+Having done this good work, I had my dinner by myself, and then went to a
+coffee-house where I found the amiable Knight of Malta who was playing.
+He left the game as soon as he saw me, put the fistfull of gold he had
+won into his pocket, accosted me with the politeness natural to a
+Frenchman, and asked me how I had liked the lady who had given me my
+supper. I told him what had happened, at which he laughed, and asked me
+to come and see his ballet-girl. We found her under the hairdresser's
+hands, and she received me with the playful familiarity with which one
+greets an old acquaintance. I did not think much of her, but I pretended
+to be immensely struck, with the idea of pleasing the good-natured
+knight.
+
+When the hairdresser left her, it was time for her to get ready for the
+theatre, and she dressed herself, without caring who was present. The
+knight helped her to change her chemise, which she allowed him to do as a
+matter of course, though indeed she begged me to excuse her.
+
+As I owed her a compliment, I could think of nothing better than to tell
+her that though she had not offended me she had made me feel very
+uncomfortable.
+
+"I don't believe you," said she.
+
+"It's true all the same."
+
+She came up to me to verify the fact, and finding I had deceived her, she
+said half crossly,
+
+"You are a bad fellow."
+
+The women of Marseilles are undoubtedly the most profligate in France.
+They not only pride themselves on never refusing, but also on being the
+first to propose. This girl skewed me a repeater, for which she had got
+up a lottery at twelve francs a ticket. She had ten tickets left; I took
+them all, and so delighted was she to touch my five Louis that she came
+and kissed me, and told the knight that her unfaithfulness to him rested
+only with me.
+
+"I am charmed to hear it," said the Maltese. He asked me to sup with her,
+and I accepted the invitation, but the sole pleasure I had was looking at
+the knight at work. He was far inferior to Dolci!
+
+I wished them good night, and went to the house where I had placed the
+poor girl. The maid skewed me to my room, and I asked her if I might go
+to the garret. She took the light, I followed her up, and Rosalie, as the
+poor girl was named, heard my voice and opened the door. I told the maid
+to wait for me in my room, and I went in and sat down on the bed.
+
+"Are you contented, dear?" I said.
+
+"I am quite happy."
+
+"Then I hope you will be kind, and find room for me in your bed."
+
+"You may come if you like, but I must tell you that you will not find me
+a maid, as I have had one lover."
+
+"You told me a lie, then?"
+
+"Forgive me, I could not guess you would be my lover."
+
+"I forgive you willingly; all the more so as I am no great stickler for
+maidenheads."
+
+She was as gentle as a lamb, and allowed me to gaze on all those charms
+of which my hands and my lips disputed the possession; and the notion
+that I was master of all these treasures put fire in all my veins, but
+her submissive air distressed me.
+
+"How is it you do not partake my desires?" said I.
+
+"I dare not, lest you take me for a pretender."
+
+Artifice or studied coquetry might have prompted such an answer, but the
+real timidity and the frankness with which these words were uttered could
+not have been assumed. Impatient to gain possession of her I took off my
+clothes, and on getting into bed to her I was astonished to find her a
+maid.
+
+"Why did you tell me you had a lover?" said I. "I never heard of a girl
+telling a lie of that sort before."
+
+"All the same I did not tell a lie, but I am very glad that I seem as if
+I had done so."
+
+"Tell me all about it."
+
+"Certainly I will, for I want to win your confidence. This is the story:
+
+"Two years ago my mother, though she was hot-tempered, still loved me. I
+was a needle-woman, and earned from twenty to thirty sous a day. Whatever
+I earned I gave my mother. I had never had a lover, never thought of such
+a thing, and when my goodness was praised I felt inclined to laugh. I had
+been brought up from a child never to look at young men when I met them
+in the street, and never to reply to them when they addressed any
+impudence to me.
+
+"Two months ago a fine enough looking young man, a native of Genoa, and a
+merchant in a small way, came to my mother to get her to wash some very
+fine cotton stockings which the sea-water had stained. When he saw me he
+was very complimentary, but in an honest way. I liked him, and, no doubt
+seeing it, he came and came again every evening. My mother was always
+present at our interviews, and he looked at me and talked to me, but did
+not so much as ask to kiss my hand. My mother was very pleased to notice
+that the young man liked me, and often scolded me because I was not
+polite enough to him. In time he had to go to Genoa in a small ship which
+belonged to him, and which was laden with goods. He assured us that he
+would return again the next spring and declare his intentions. He said he
+hoped he should find me as good as ever, and still without any lover.
+This was enough; my mother looked upon him as my betrothed, and let us
+talk together at the door till midnight. When he went I would shut the
+door and lie down beside my mother, who was always asleep.
+
+"Four or five days before his departure, he took my arm and got me to go
+with him to a place about fifty paces from the house to drink a glass of
+Muscat at a Greek's, who kept his tavern open all night. We were only
+away for half an hour, and then it was that he first kissed me. When I
+got home I found my mother awake, and told her all; it seemed so harmless
+to me.
+
+"Next day, excited by the recollection of what had happened the night
+before, I went with him again, and love began to gain ground. We indulged
+in caresses which were no longer innocent, as we well knew. However, we
+forgave each other, as we had abstained from the chief liberty.
+
+"The day after, my lover--as he had to journey in the night--took leave
+of my mother, and as soon as she was in bed I was not longer in granting
+what I desired as much as he. We went to the Greek's, ate and drank, and
+our heated senses gained love's cause; we forgot our duty, and fancied
+our misdemeanour a triumph.
+
+"Afterwards we fell asleep, and when we awoke we saw our fault in the
+clear, cold light of day. We parted sorrowful rather than rejoicing, and
+the reception my mother gave me was like that you witnessed this morning.
+I assured her that marriage would take away the shame of my sin, and with
+this she took up a stick and would have done for me, if I had not taken
+to my heels, more from instinct than from any idea of what I was doing.
+
+"Once in the street I knew not where to turn, and taking refuge in a
+church I stayed there like one in a dream till noon. Think of my
+position. I was hungry, I had no refuge, nothing but the clothes I wore,
+nothing that would get me a morsel of bread. A woman accosted me in the
+street. I knew her and I also knew that she kept a servants' agency. I
+asked her forthwith if she could get me a place.
+
+"'I had enquiries about a maid this morning,' said she, 'but it is for a
+gay woman, and you are pretty. You would have a good deal of difficulty
+in remaining virtuous.'
+
+"'I can keep off the infection,' I answered, 'and in the position I am in
+I cannot pick and choose.'
+
+"She thereupon took me to the lady, who was delighted to see me, and
+still more delighted when I told her that I had never had anything to do
+with a man. I have repented of this lie bitterly enough, for in the week
+I spent at that profligate woman's house I have had to endure the most
+humiliating insults that an honest girl ever suffered. No sooner did the
+men who came to the house hear that I was a maid than they longed to
+slake their brutal lust upon me, offering me gold if I would submit to
+their caresses. I refused and was reviled, but that was not all. Five or
+six times every day I was obliged to remain a witness of the disgusting
+scenes enacted between my mistress and her customers, who, when I was
+compelled to light them about the house at night, overwhelmed me with
+insults, because I would not do them a disgusting service for a
+twelve-sous piece. I could not bear this sort of life much longer, and I
+was thinking of drowning myself. When you came you treated me so
+ignominiously that my resolve to die was strengthened, but you were so
+kind and polite as you went away that I fell in love with you directly,
+thinking that Providence must have sent you to snatch me away from the
+abyss. I thought your fine presence might calm my mother and persuade her
+to take me back till my lover came to marry me. I was undeceived, and I
+saw that she took me for a prostitute. Now, if you like, I am altogether
+yours, and I renounce my lover of whom I am no longer worthy. Take me as
+your maid, I will love you and you only; I will submit myself to you and
+do whatever you bid me."
+
+Whether it were weakness or virtue on my part, this tale of woe and a
+mother's too great severity drew tears from my eyes, and when she saw my
+emotion she wept profusely, for her heart was in need of some relief.
+
+"I think, my poor Rosalie, you have only one chemise."
+
+"Alas! that is all."
+
+"Comfort yourself, my dear; all your wants shall be supplied tomorrow, and
+in the evening you shall sup with me in my room on the second floor. I
+will take care of you."
+
+"You pity me, then?"
+
+"I fancy there is more love than pity in it."
+
+"Would to God it were so!"
+
+This "would to God," which came from the very depths of her soul, sent me
+away in a merry mood. The servant who had been waiting for me for two
+hours, and was looking rather glum, relaxed when she saw the colour of a
+crown which I gave her by way of atonement.
+
+"Tell your master," said I, "that Rosalie will sup with me to-morrow; let
+us have a fasting dinner, but let it be a good one."
+
+I returned to my inn quite in love with Rosalie, and I congratulated
+myself on having at last heard a true tale from a pretty mouth. She
+appeared to me so well disposed that her small failing seemed to make her
+shine the more. I resolved never to abandon her, and I did so in all
+sincerity; was I not in love?
+
+After I had had my chocolate next morning I went out with a guide to the
+shops, where I got the necessary articles, paying a good but not an
+excessive price. Rosalie was only fifteen, but with her figure, her
+well-formed breasts, and her rounded arms, she would have been taken for
+twenty. Her shape was so imprinted on my brain that everything I got for
+her fitted as if she had been measured for it. This shopping took up all
+the morning, and in the afternoon the man took her a small trunk
+containing two dresses, chemises, petticoats, handkerchiefs, stockings,
+gloves, caps, a pair of slippers, a fan, a work-bag, and a mantle. I was
+pleased at giving her such a delightful surprise, and I longed for
+suppertime that I might enjoy the sight of her pleasure.
+
+The Knight of Malta came to dine with me without ceremony, and I was
+charmed to see him. After we had dined he persuaded me to go to the
+theatre, as in consequence of the suspense of the subscription
+arrangements the boxes would be filled with all the quality in
+Marseilles.
+
+"There will be no loose women in the amphitheatre," said he, "as
+everybody has to pay."
+
+That decided me and I went. He presented me to a lady with an excellent
+connection, who asked me to come and see her. I excused myself on the
+plea that I was leaving so shortly. Nevertheless she was very useful to
+me on my second visit to Marseilles. Her name was Madame Audibert.
+
+I did not wait for the play to end, but went where love called me. I had
+a delightful surprise when I saw Rosalie; I should not have known her.
+But I cannot resist the pleasure of recalling her picture as she stood
+before me then, despite the years that have rolled by since that happy
+moment.
+
+Rosalie was an enticing-looking brunette, above the middle height. Her
+face was a perfect oval, and exquisitely proportioned. Two fine black
+eyes shed a soft and ravishing light around. Her eyebrows were arched,
+and she had a wealth of hair, black and shining as ebony; her skin was
+while and lightly tinged with colour. On her chin was a dimple, and her
+slightest smile summoned into being two other dimples, one on each cheek.
+Her mouth was small, disclosing two rows of fairest orient pearls, and
+from her red lips flowed forth an indefinable sweetness. The lower lip
+projected ever so lightly, and seemed designed to hold a kiss. I have
+spoken of her arms, her breast, and her figure, which left nothing to be
+desired, but I must add to this catalogue of her charms, that her hand
+was exquisitely shaped, and that her foot was the smallest I have ever
+seen. As to her other beauties, I will content myself with saying that
+they were in harmony with those I have described.
+
+To see her at her best, one had to see her smiling; and hitherto she had
+been sad or vexed--states of mind which detract from a woman's
+appearance. But now sadness was gone, and gratitude and pleasure had
+taken its place. I examined her closely, and felt proud, as I saw what a
+transformation I had effected; but I concealed my surprise, lest she
+should think I had formed an unfavourable impression of her. I proceeded,
+therefore, to tell her that I should expose myself to ridicule if I
+attempted to keep a beauty like herself for a servant.
+
+"You shall be my mistress," I said, "and my servants shall respect you as
+if you were my wife."
+
+At this Rosalie, as if I had given her another being, began to try and
+express her gratitude for what I had done. Her words, which passion made
+confused, increased my joy; here was no art nor deceit, but simple
+nature.
+
+There was no mirror in her garret, so she had dressed by her sense of
+touch, and I could see that she was afraid to stand up and look at
+herself in the mirror in my room. I knew the weak spot in all women's
+hearts (which men are very wrong in considering as matter for reproach),
+and I encouraged her to admire herself, whereupon she could not restrain
+a smile of satisfaction.
+
+"I think I must be in disguise," said she, "for I have never seen myself
+so decked out before."
+
+She praised the tasteful simplicity of the dress I had chosen, but was
+vexed at the thought that her mother would still be displeased.
+
+"Think no more of your mother, dearest one. You look like a lady of
+quality, and I shall be quite proud when the people at Genoa ask me if
+you are my daughter."
+
+"At Genoa?"
+
+"Yes, at Genoa. Why do you blush?"
+
+"From surprise; perhaps I may see there one whom I have not yet
+forgotten."
+
+"Would you like to stay here better?"
+
+"No, no! Love me and be sure that I love you and for your own sake, not
+from any thought of my own interests."
+
+"You are moved, my angel; let me wipe away your tears with kisses."
+
+She fell into my arms, and she relieved the various feelings of which her
+heart was full by weeping for some time. I did not try to console her,
+for she had not grief; she wept as tender souls, and women, more
+especially, often will. We had a delicious supper to which I did honour
+for two, for she ate nothing. I asked her if she was so unfortunate as
+not to care for good food.
+
+"I have as good an appetite as anyone," she replied, "and an excellent
+digestion. You shall see for yourself when I grow more accustomed to my
+sudden happiness."
+
+"At least you can drink; this wine is admirable. If you prefer Greek
+muscat I will send for some. It will remind you of your lover."
+
+"If you love me at all, I beg you will spare me that mortification."
+
+"You shall have no more mortification from me, I promise you. It was only
+a joke, and I beg your pardon for it."
+
+"As I look upon you I feel in despair at not having known you first."
+
+"That feeling of yours, which wells forth from the depths of your open
+soul, is grand. You are beautiful and good, for you only yielded to the
+voice of love with the prospect of becoming his wife; and when I think
+what you are to me I am in despair at not being sure you love me. An evil
+genius whispers in my ear that you only bear with me because I had the
+happiness of helping you."
+
+"Indeed, that is an evil genius. To be sure, if I had met you in the
+street I should not have fallen head over ears in love with you, like a
+wanton, but you would certainly have pleased me. I am sure I love you,
+and not for what you have done for me; for if I were rich and you were
+poor, I would do anything in the world for you. But I don't want it to be
+like that, for I had rather be your debtor than for you to be mine. These
+are my real feelings, and you can guess the rest."
+
+We were still talking on the same subject when midnight struck, and my
+old landlord came and asked me if I were pleased.
+
+"I must thank you," I replied, "I am delighted. Who cooked this delicious
+supper?"
+
+"My daughter."
+
+"She understands her craft; tell her I thought it excellent."
+
+"Yes, sir, but it is dear."
+
+"Not too dear for me. You shall be pleased with me as I with you, and
+take care to have as good a supper to-morrow evening, as I hope the lady
+will be well enough to do justice to the products of your daughter's
+culinary skill."
+
+"Bed is a capital place to get an appetite. Ah! it is sixty years since I
+have had anything to do with that sort of thing. What are you laughing
+at, mademoiselle?"
+
+"At the delight with which you must recollect it."
+
+"You are right, it is a pleasant recollection; and thus I am always ready
+to forgive young folks the peccadilloes that love makes them commit."
+
+"You are a wise old man," said I, "everyone should sympathise with the
+tenderest of all our mortal follies."
+
+"If the old man is wise," said Rosalie, when he had left the room, "my
+mother must be very foolish."
+
+"Would you like me to take you to the play to-morrow?"
+
+"Pray do not. I will come if you like, but it will vex me very much. I
+don't want to walk out with you or to go to the theatre with you here.
+Good heavens! What would people say. No, neither at Marseilles; but
+elsewhere, anything you please and with all my heart."
+
+"Very good, my dear, just as you please. But look at your room; no more
+garret for you; and in three days we will start."
+
+"So soon?"
+
+"Yes; tell me to-morrow what you require for the journey, for I don't
+want you to lack for anything, and if you leave it all to me I might
+forget something which would vex me."
+
+"Well, I should like another cloak, a cloak with a lining, some boots, a
+night-cap, and a prayer-book."
+
+"You know how to read, do you?"
+
+"Certainly; and I can write fairly well."
+
+"I am glad to hear it. Your asking me so freely for what you want is a
+true proof of your love; where confidence dwells not there is no love. I
+will not forget anything, but your feet are so small that I should advise
+you to get your boots yourself."
+
+Our talk was so pleasant, and I experienced such delight in studying her
+disposition, that we did not go to bed till five o'clock. In the arms of
+love and sleep we spent seven delicious hours, and when we rose at noon
+we were fast lovers. She called me thou, talked of love and not of
+gratitude, and, grown more familiar with her new estate, laughed at her
+troubles. She kissed me at every opportunity, called me her darling boy,
+her joy, and as the present moment is the only real thing in this life, I
+enjoyed her love, I was pleased with her caresses, and put away all ideas
+of the dreadful future, which has only one certainty--death, 'ultima
+linea rerum'.
+
+The second night was far sweeter than the first; she had made a good
+supper, and drunk well, though moderately; thus she was disposed to
+refine on her pleasure, and to deliver herself with greater ardour to all
+the voluptuous enjoyments which love inspires.
+
+I gave her a pretty watch and a gold shuttle for her to amuse herself
+with.
+
+"I wanted it," said she, "but I should never have dared to ask for it."
+
+I told her that this fear of my displeasure made me doubt once more
+whether she really loved me. She threw herself into my arms, and promised
+that henceforth she would shew me the utmost confidence.
+
+I was pleased to educate this young girl, and I felt that when her mind
+had been developed she would be perfect.
+
+On the fourth day I warned her to hold herself in readiness to start at a
+moment's notice. I had said nothing about my plans to Costa or Le Duc,
+but Rosalie knew that I had two servants, and I told her that I should
+often make them talk on the journey for the sake of the laughter their
+folly would afford me.
+
+"You, my dear," I had said to her, "must be very reserved with them, and
+not allow them to take the slightest liberty. Give them your orders as a
+mistress, but without pride, and you will be obeyed and respected. If
+they forget themselves in the slightest particular, tell me at once."
+
+I started from the hotel of the "Treize Cantons" with four post-horses,
+Le Duc and Costa sitting on the coachman's seat. The guide, whom I had
+paid well for his services, took us to Rosalie's door. I got out of the
+carriage, and after thanking the kindly old landlord, who was sorry to
+lose so good a boarder, I made her get in, sat down beside her, and
+ordered the postillions to go to Toulon, as I wished to see that fine
+port before returning to Italy. We got to Toulon at five o'clock.
+
+My Rosalie behaved herself at supper like the mistress of a house
+accustomed to the best society. I noticed that Le Duc as head man made
+Costa wait upon her, but I got over him by telling my sweetheart that he
+would have the honour of doing her hair, as he could do it as well as the
+best barber in Paris. He swallowed the golden pill, and gave in with a
+good grace, and said, with a profound bow, that he hoped to give madam
+satisfaction.
+
+We went out next morning to see the port, and were shewn over the place
+by the commandant, whose acquaintance we made by a lucky chance. He
+offered his arm to Rosalie, and treated her with the consideration she
+deserved for her appearance and the good sense of her questions. The
+commandant accepted my invitation to dinner, at which Rosalie spoke to
+the point though not to excess, and received the polite compliments of
+our worthy guest with much grace. In the afternoon he took us over the
+arsenal, and after having him to dinner could not refuse his invitation
+to supper. There was no difficulty about Rosalie; the commandant
+introduced her immediately to his wife, his daughter, and his son. I was
+delighted to see that her manner with ladies even surpassed her manner
+with gentlemen. She was one of Nature's own ladies. The commandant's wife
+and daughter caressed her again and again, and she received their
+attentions with that modest sensibility which is the seal of a good
+education.
+
+They asked me to dinner the next day, but I was satisfied with what I had
+seen, so I took leave, intending to start on the morrow.
+
+When we got back to the inn I told her how pleased I was with her, and
+she threw her arms round my neck for joy.
+
+"I am always afraid," said she, "of being asked who I am."
+
+"You needn't be afraid, dearest; in France no gentleman or lady would
+think of asking such a question."
+
+"But if they did, what ought I to do?"
+
+"You should make use of an evasion."
+
+"What's an evasion?"
+
+"A way of escaping from a difficulty without satisfying impertinent
+curiosity."
+
+"Give me an example."
+
+"Well, if such a question were asked you, you might say, 'You had better
+ask this gentleman.'"
+
+"I see, the question is avoided; but is not that impolite?"
+
+"Yes; but not so impolite as to ask an embarrassing question."
+
+"And what would you say if the question was passed on to you?"
+
+"Well, my answer would vary in a ratio with the respect in which I held
+the questioner. I would not tell the truth, but I should say something.
+And I am glad to see you attentive to my lessons. Always ask questions,
+and you will always find me ready to answer, for I want to teach you. And
+now let us to bed; we have to start for Antibes at an early hour, and
+love will reward you for the pleasure you have given me to-day."
+
+At Antibes I hired a felucca to take me to Genoa, and as I intended to
+return by the same route I had my carriage warehoused for a small monthly
+payment. We started early with a good wind, but the sea becoming rough,
+and Rosalie being mortally afraid, I had the felucca rowed into
+Villafranca, where I engaged a carriage to take me to Nice. The weather
+kept us back for three days, and I felt obliged to call on the
+commandant, an old officer named Peterson.
+
+He gave me an excellent reception, and after the usual compliments had
+passed, said,--
+
+"Do you know a Russian who calls himself Charles Ivanoff?"
+
+"I saw him once at Grenoble."
+
+"It is said that he has escaped from Siberia, and that he is the younger
+son of the Duke of Courland."
+
+"So I have heard, but I know no proof of his claim to the title."
+
+"He is at Genoa, where it is said a banker is to give him twenty thousand
+crowns. In spite of that, no one would give him a sou here, so I sent him
+to Genoa at my own expense, to rid the place of him."
+
+I felt very glad that the Russian had gone away before my arrival. An
+officer named Ramini, who was staying at the same inn as myself, asked if
+I would mind taking charge of a packet which M. de St. Pierre, the
+Spanish consul, had to send to the Marquis Grimaldi, at Genoa. It was the
+nobleman I had just seen at Avignon, and I was pleased to execute the
+commission. The same officer asked me whether I had ever seen a certain
+Madame Stuard.
+
+"She came here a fortnight ago with a man who calls himself her husband.
+The poor devils hadn't a penny, and she, a great beauty, enchanted
+everybody, but would give no one a smile or a word."
+
+"I have both seen and know her," I answered. "I furnished her with the
+means to come here. How could she leave Nice without any money?"
+
+"That's just what no one can understand. She went off in a carriage, and
+the landlord's bill was paid. I was interested in the woman. The Marquis
+Grimaldi told me that she had refused a hundred louis he offered her, and
+that a Venetian of his acquaintance had fared just as badly. Perhaps that
+is you?"
+
+"It is, and I gave her some money despite my treatment."
+
+M. Peterson came to see me, and was enchanted with Rosalie's amiable
+manner. This was another conquest for her, and I duly complimented her
+upon it.
+
+Nice is a terribly dull place, and strangers are tormented by the midges,
+who prefer them to the inhabitants. However, I amused myself at a small
+bank at faro, which was held at a coffee-house, and at which Rosalie,
+whose play I directed, won a score of Piedmontese pistoles. She put her
+little earnings into a purse, and told me she liked to have some money of
+her own. I scolded her for not having told me so before, and reminded her
+of her promise.
+
+"I don't really want it," said she, "it's only my thoughtlessness."
+
+We soon made up our little quarrel.
+
+In such ways did I make this girl my own, in the hope that for the
+remnant of my days she would be mine, and so I should not be forced to
+fly from one lady to another. But inexorable fate ordained it otherwise.
+
+The weather grew fine again, and we got on board once more, and the next
+day arrived at Genoa, which I had never seen before. I put up at "St.
+Martin's Inn," and for decency's sake took two rooms, but they were
+adjoining one another. The following day I sent the packet to M.
+Grimaldi, and a little later I left my card at his palace.
+
+My guide took me to a linen-draper's, and I bought some stuff for
+Rosalie, who was in want of linen. She was very pleased with it.
+
+We were still at table when the Marquis Grimaldi was announced; he kissed
+me and thanked me for bringing the parcel. His next remark referred to
+Madame Stuard. I told him what had happened, and he laughed, saying that
+he was not quite sure what he would have done under the circumstances.
+
+I saw him looking at Rosalie attentively, and I told him she was as good
+as she was beautiful.
+
+"I want to find her a maid," I said, "a good seamstress, who could go out
+with her, and above all who could talk Italian to her, for I want her to
+learn the language that I may take her into society at Florence, Rome and
+Naples."
+
+"Don't deprive Genoa of the pleasure of entertaining her," said the
+marquis. "I will introduce her under whatever name she pleases, and in my
+own house to begin with."
+
+"She has good reasons for preserving her incognito here."
+
+"Ah, I see!--Do you think of staying here long?"
+
+"A month, or thereabouts, and our pleasures will be limited to seeing the
+town and its surroundings and going to the theatre. We shall also enjoy
+the pleasures of the table. I hope to eat champignons every day, they are
+better here than anywhere else."
+
+"An excellent plan. I couldn't suggest a better. I am going to see what I
+can do in the way of getting you a maid, mademoiselle."
+
+"You sir? How can I deserve such great kindness?"
+
+"My interest in you is the greater, as I think you come from Marseilles."
+
+Rosalie blushed. She was not aware that she lisped, and that this
+betrayed her. I extricated her from her confusion by telling the marquis
+his conjecture was well founded.
+
+I asked him how I could get the Journal de Savans, the Mercure de France,
+and other papers of the same description. He promised to send me a man
+who would get me all that kind of thing. He added that if I would allow
+him to send me some of his excellent chocolate he would come and
+breakfast with us. I said that both gift and guest were vastly agreeable
+to me.
+
+As soon as he had gone Rosalie asked me to take her to a milliner's.
+
+"I want ribbons and other little things," said she, "but I should like to
+bargain for them and pay for them out of my own money, without your
+having anything to do with it."
+
+"Do whatever you like, my dear, and afterwards we will go to the play."
+
+The milliner to whom we went proved to be a Frenchwoman. It was a
+charming sight to see Rosalie shopping. She put on an important air,
+seemed to know all about it, ordered bonnets in the latest fashion,
+bargained, and contrived to spend five or six louis with great grandeur.
+As we left the shop I told her that I had been taken for her footman, and
+I meant to be revenged. So saying, I made her come into a jeweller's,
+where I bought her a necklace, ear-rings, and brooches in imitation
+diamonds, and without letting her say a word I paid the price and left
+the shop.
+
+"You have bought me some beautiful things," said she, "but you are too
+lavish with your money; if you had bargained you might have saved four
+louis at least."
+
+"Very likely, dearest, but I never was any hand at a bargain."
+
+I took her to the play, but as she did not understand the language she
+got dreadfully tired, and asked me to take her home at the end of the
+first act, which I did very willingly. When we got in I found a box
+waiting for me from M. Grimaldi. It proved to contain twenty-four pounds
+of chocolate. Costa, who had boasted of his skill in making chocolate in
+the Spanish fashion, received orders to make us three cups in the
+morning.
+
+At nine o'clock the marquis arrived with a tradesman, who sold me some
+beautiful oriental materials. I gave them to Rosalie to make two
+'mezzaro' for herself. The 'mezzaro' is a kind of hooded cloak worn by
+the Genoese women, as the 'cendal' is worn at Venice, and the 'mantilla'
+at Madrid.
+
+I thanked M. Grimaldi for the chocolate, which was excellent; Costa was
+quite proud of the praise the marquis gave him. Le Duc came in to
+announce a woman, whose name I did not know.
+
+"It's the mother of the maid I have engaged," said M. Grimaldi.
+
+She came in, and I saw before me a well-dressed woman, followed by a girl
+from twenty to twenty-four years old, who pleased me at the first glance.
+The mother thanked the marquis, and presented her daughter to Rosalie,
+enumerating her good qualities, and telling her that she would serve her
+well, and walk with her when she wished to go out.
+
+"My daughter," she added, "speaks French, and you will find her a good,
+faithful, and obliging girl."
+
+She ended by saying that her daughter had been in service lately with a
+lady, and that she would be obliged if she could have her meals by
+herself.
+
+The girl was named Veronique. Rosalie told her that she was a good girl,
+and that the only way to be respected was to be respectable. Veronique
+kissed her hand, the mother went away, and Rosalie took the girl into her
+room to begin her work.
+
+I did not forget to thank the marquis, for he had evidently chosen a maid
+more with a view to my likings than to those of my sweetheart. I told him
+that I should not fail to call on him, and he replied that he would be
+happy to see me at any hour, and that I should easily find him at his
+casino at St. Pierre d'Arena, where he often spent the night.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Adventures In The South: Depart
+Switzerland, by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
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