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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Adventures In The South: Back Again to Paris
+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: Back Again to Paris
+       The Memoirs Of Jacques Casanova De Seingalt 1725-1798
+
+Author: Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
+
+Release Date: October 31, 2006 [EBook #2969]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BACK AGAIN TO PARIS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA de SEINGALT 1725-1798
+
+ADVENTURES IN THE SOUTH, Volume 4d--BACK AGAIN TO PARIS
+
+THE RARE UNABRIDGED LONDON EDITION OF 1894 TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR MACHEN TO
+WHICH HAS BEEN ADDED THE CHAPTERS DISCOVERED BY ARTHUR SYMONS.
+
+
+
+
+BACK AGAIN TO PARIS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+My Stay at Paris and My Departure for Strasburg, Where I Find the
+Renaud--My Misfortunes at Munich and My Sad Visit to Augsburg
+
+At ten o'clock in the morning, cheered by the pleasant feeling of being
+once more in that Paris which is so imperfect, but which is the only true
+town in the world, I called on my dear Madame d'Urfe, who received me
+with open arms. She told me that the young Count d'Aranda was quite well,
+and if I liked she would ask him to dinner the next day. I told her I
+should be delighted to see him, and then I informed her that the
+operation by which she was to become a man could not be performed till
+Querilinto, one of the three chiefs of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross,
+was liberated from the dungeons of the Inquisition, at Lisbon.
+
+"This is the reason," I added, "that I am going to Augsburg in the course
+of next month, where I shall confer with the Earl of Stormont as to the
+liberation of the adept, under the pretext of a mission from the
+Portuguese Government. For these purposes I shall require a good letter
+of credit, and some watches and snuff-boxes to make presents with, as we
+shall have to win over certain of the profane."
+
+"I will gladly see to all that, but you need not hurry yourself as the
+Congress will not meet till September."
+
+"Believe me, it will never meet at all, but the ambassadors of the
+belligerent powers will be there all the same. If, contrary to my
+expectation, the Congress is held, I shall be obliged to go to Lisbon. In
+any case, I promise to see you again in the ensuing winter. The fortnight
+that I have to spend here will enable me to defeat a plot of St.
+Germain's."
+
+"St. Germain--he would never dare to return to Paris."
+
+"I am certain that he is here in disguise. The state messenger who
+ordered him to leave London has convinced him the English minister was
+not duped by the demand for his person to be given up, made by the Comte
+d'Afri in the name of the king to the States-General."
+
+All this was mere guess-work, and it will be seen that I guessed rightly.
+
+Madame d'Urfe then congratulated me on the charming girl whom I had sent
+from Grenoble to Paris. Valenglard had told her the whole story.
+
+"The king adores her," said she, "and before long she will make him a
+father. I have been to see her at Passi with the Duchesse de l'Oraguais."
+
+"She will give birth to a son who will make France happy, and in thirty
+years time you will see wondrous things, of which, unfortunately, I can
+tell you nothing until your transformation. Did you mention my name to
+her?"
+
+"No, I did not; but I am sure you will be able to see her, if only at
+Madame Varnier's."
+
+She was not mistaken; but shortly afterwards an event happened which made
+the madness of this excellent woman much worse.
+
+Towards four o'clock, as we were talking over my travels and our designs,
+she took a fancy to walk in the Bois du Boulogne. She begged me to
+accompany her, and I acceded to her request. We walked into the deepest
+recesses of the wood and sat down under a tree. "It is eighteen years
+ago," said she, "since I fell asleep on the same spot that we now occupy.
+During my sleep the divine Horosmadis came down from the sun and stayed
+with me till I awoke. As I opened my eyes I saw him leave me and ascend
+to heaven. He left me with child, and I bore a girl which he took away
+from me years ago, no doubt to punish me for, having so far forgotten
+myself as to love a mortal after him. My lovely Iriasis was like him."
+
+"You are quite sure that M. d'Urfe was not the child's father?"
+
+"M. d'Urfe did not know me after he saw me lying beside the divine
+Anael."
+
+"That's the genius of Venus. Did he squint?"
+
+"To excess. You are aware, then, that he squints?"
+
+"Yes, and I know that at the amorous crisis he ceases to squint."
+
+"I did not notice that. He too, left me on account of my sinning with an
+Arab."
+
+"The Arab was sent to you by an enemy of Anael's, the genius of Mercury."
+
+"It must have been so; it was a great misfortune."
+
+"On the contrary, it rendered you more fit for transformation."
+
+We were walking towards the carriage when all at once we saw St. Germain,
+but as soon as he noticed us he turned back and we lost sight of him.
+
+"Did you see him?" said I. "He is working against us, but our genie makes
+him tremble."
+
+"I am quite thunderstruck. I will go and impart this piece of news to the
+Duc de Choiseul to-morrow morning. I am curious to hear what he will say
+when I tell him."
+
+As we were going back to Paris I left Madame d'Urfe, and walked to the
+Porte St. Denis to see my brother. He and his wife received me with cries
+of joy. I thought the wife very pretty but very wretched, for Providence
+had not allowed my brother to prove his manhood, and she was unhappily in
+love with him. I say unhappily, because her love kept her faithful to
+him, and if she had not been in love she might easily have found a cure
+for her misfortune as her husband allowed her perfect liberty. She
+grieved bitterly, for she did not know that my brother was impotent, and
+fancied that the reason of his abstention was that he did not return her
+love; and the mistake was an excusable one, for he was like a Hercules,
+and indeed he was one, except where it was most to be desired. Her grief
+threw her into a consumption of which she died five or six years later.
+She did not mean her death to be a punishment to her husband, but we
+shall see that it was so.
+
+The next day I called on Madame Varnier to give her Madame Morin's
+letter. I was cordially welcomed, and Madame Varnier was kind enough to
+say that she had rather see me than anybody else in the world; her niece
+had told her such strange things about me that she had got quite curious.
+This, as is well known, is a prevailing complaint with women.
+
+"You shall see my niece," she said, "and she will tell you all about
+herself."
+
+She wrote her a note, and put Madame Morin's letter under the same
+envelope.
+
+"If you want to know what my niece's answer is," said Madame Varnier,
+"you must dine with me."
+
+I accepted the invitation, and she immediately told her servant that she
+was not at home to anyone.
+
+The small messenger who had taken the note to Passi returned at four
+o'clock with the following epistle:
+
+"The moment in which I see the Chevalier de Seingalt once more will be
+one of the happiest of my life. Ask him to be at your house at ten
+o'clock the day after tomorrow, and if he can't come then please let me
+know."
+
+After reading the note and promising to keep the appointment, I left
+Madame Varnier and called on Madame de Rumain, who told me I must spend a
+whole day with her as she had several questions to put to my oracle.
+
+Next day Madame d'Urfe told me the reply she had from the Duc de
+Choiseul, when she told him that she had seen the Comte de St. Germain in
+the Bois du Boulogne.
+
+"I should not be surprised," said the minister, "considering that he
+spent the night in my closet."
+
+The duke was a man of wit and a man of the world. He only kept secrets
+when they were really important ones; very different from those
+make-believe diplomatists, who think they give themselves importance by
+making a mystery of trifles of no consequence. It is true that the Duc de
+Choiseul very seldom thought anything of great importance; and, in point
+of fact, if there were less intrigue and more truth about diplomacy (as
+there ought to be), concealment would be rather ridiculous than
+necessary.
+
+The duke had pretended to disgrace St. Germain in France that he might
+use him as a spy in London; but Lord Halifax was by no means taken in by
+this stratagem. However, all governments have the politeness to afford
+one another these services, so that none of them can reproach the others.
+
+The small Conte d'Aranda after caressing me affectionately begged me to
+come and breakfast with him at his boarding-house, telling me that Mdlle.
+Viar would be glad to see me.
+
+The next day I took care not to fail in my appointment with the fair
+lady. I was at Madame Varnier's a quarter of an hour before the arrival
+of the dazzling brunette, and I waited for her with a beating at the
+heart which shewed me that the small favours she had given me had not
+quenched the flame of love. When she made her appearance the stoutness of
+her figure carried respect with it, so that I did not feel as if I could
+come forward and greet her tenderly; but she was far from thinking that
+more respect was due to her than when she was at Grenoble, poor but also
+pure. She kissed me affectionately and told me as much.
+
+"They think I am happy," said she, "and envy my lot; but can one be happy
+after the loss of one's self-respect? For the last six months I have only
+smiled, not laughed; while at Grenoble I laughed heartily from true
+gladness. I have diamonds, lace, a beautiful house, a superb carriage, a
+lovely garden, waiting-maids, and a maid of honour who perhaps despises
+me; and although the highest Court ladies treat me like a princess, I do
+not pass a single day without experiencing some mortification."
+
+"Mortification?"
+
+"Yes; people come and bring pleas before me, and I am obliged to send
+them away as I dare not ask the king anything."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I cannot look on him as my lover only; he is always my
+sovereign, too. Ah! happiness is to be sought for in simple homes, not in
+pompous palaces."
+
+"Happiness is gained by complying with the duties of whatever condition
+of life one is in, and you must constrain yourself to rise to that
+exalted station in which destiny has placed you."
+
+"I cannot do it; I love the king and I am always afraid of vexing him. I
+am always thinking that he does too much for me, and thus I dare not ask
+for anything for others."
+
+"But I am sure the king would be only too glad to shew his love for you
+by benefiting the persons in whom you take an interest."
+
+"I know he would, and that thought makes me happy, but I cannot overcome
+my feeling of repugnance to asking favours. I have a hundred louis a
+month for pin-money, and I distribute it in alms and presents, but with
+due economy, so that I am not penniless at the end of the month. I have a
+foolish notion that the chief reason the king loves me is that I do not
+importune him."
+
+"And do you love him?"
+
+"How can I help it? He is good-hearted, kindly, handsome, and polite to
+excess; in short, he possesses all the qualities to captivate a woman's
+heart.
+
+"He is always asking me if I am pleased with my furniture, my clothes, my
+servants, and my garden, and if I desire anything altered. I thank him
+with a kiss, and tell him that I am pleased with everything."
+
+"Does he ever speak of the scion you are going to present to him?"
+
+"He often says that I ought to be careful of myself in my situation. I am
+hoping that he will recognize my son as a prince of the blood; he ought
+in justice to do so, as the queen is dead."
+
+"To be sure he will."
+
+"I should be very happy if I had a son. I wish I felt sure that I would
+have one. But I say nothing about this to anyone. If I dared speak to the
+king about the horoscope, I am certain he would want to know you; but I
+am afraid of evil tongues."
+
+"So am I. Continue in your discreet course and nothing will come to
+disturb your happiness, which may become greater, and which I am pleased
+to have procured for you."
+
+We did not part without tears. She was the first to go, after kissing me
+and calling me her best friend. I stayed a short time with Madame Varnier
+to compose my feelings, and I told her that I should have married her
+instead of drawing her horoscope.
+
+"She would no doubt have been happier. You did not foresee, perhaps, her
+timidity and her lack of ambition."
+
+"I can assure you that I did not reckon upon her courage or ambition. I
+laid aside my own happiness to think only of hers. But what is done
+cannot be recalled, and I shall be consoled if I see her perfectly happy
+at last. I hope, indeed, she will be so, above all if she is delivered of
+a son."
+
+I dined with Madame d'Urfe, and we decided to send back Aranda to his
+boarding-school that we might be more free to pursue our cabalistic
+operations; and afterwards I went to the opera, where my brother had made
+an appointment with me. He took me to sup at Madame Vanloo's, and she
+received me in the friendliest manner possible.
+
+"You will have the pleasure of meeting Madame Blondel and her husband,"
+said she.
+
+The reader will recollect that Madame Blondel was Manon Baletti, whom I
+was to have married.
+
+"Does she know I am coming?" I enquired.
+
+"No, I promise myself the pleasure of seeing her surprise."
+
+"I am much obliged to you for not wishing to enjoy my surprise as well.
+We shall see each other again, but not to-day, so I must bid you
+farewell; for as I am a man of honour I hope never to be under the same
+roof as Madame Blondel again."
+
+With this I left the room, leaving everybody in astonishment, and not
+knowing where to go I took a coach and went to sup with my sister-in-law,
+who was extremely glad to see me. But all through supper-time this
+charming woman did nothing but complain of her husband, saying that he
+had no business to marry her, knowing that he could not shew himself a
+man.
+
+"Why did you not make the trial before you married?"
+
+"Was it for me to propose such a thing? How should I suppose that such a
+fine man was impotent? But I will tell you how it all happened. As you
+know, I was a dancer at the Comedie Italienne, and I was the mistress of
+M. de Sauci, the ecclesiastical commissioner. He brought your brother to
+my house, I liked him, and before long I saw that he loved me. My lover
+advised me that it was an opportunity for getting married and making my
+fortune. With this idea I conceived the plan of not granting him any
+favours. He used to come and see me in the morning, and often found me in
+bed; we talked together, and his passions seemed to be aroused, but it
+all ended in kissing. On my part, I was waiting for a formal declaration
+and a proposal of marriage. At that period, M. de Sauci settled an
+annuity of a thousand crowns on me on the condition that I left the
+stage.
+
+"In the spring M. de Sauci invited your brother to spend a month in his
+country house. I was of the party, but for propriety's sake it was agreed
+that I should pass as your brother's wife. Casanova enjoyed the idea,
+looking upon it as a jest, and not thinking of the consequences. I was
+therefore introduced as his wife to my lover's family, as also to his
+relations, who were judges, officers, and men about town, and to their
+wives, who were all women of fashion. Your brother was in high glee that
+to play our parts properly we were obliged to sleep together. For my
+part, I was far from disliking the idea, or at all events I looked upon
+it as a short cut to the marriage I desired.
+
+"But how can I tell you? Though tender and affectionate in everything,
+your brother slept with me for a month without our attaining what seemed
+the natural result under the circumstances."
+
+"You might have concluded, then, that he was impotent; for unless he were
+made of stone, or had taken a vow of chastity, his conduct was
+inexplicable."
+
+"The fact is, that I had no means of knowing whether he was capable or
+incapable of giving me substantial proof of his love."
+
+"Why did you not ascertain his condition for yourself?"
+
+"A feeling of foolish pride prevented me from putting him to the test. I
+did not suspect the truth, but imagined reasons flattering to myself. I
+thought that he loved me so truly that he would not do anything before I
+was his wife. That idea prevented me humiliating myself by making him
+give me some positive proof of his powers."
+
+"That supposition would have been tenable, though highly improbable, if
+you had been an innocent young maid, but he knew perfectly well that your
+novitiate was long over."
+
+"Very true; but what can you expect of a woman impelled by love and
+vanity?"
+
+"Your reasoning is excellent, but it comes rather late."
+
+"Well, at last we went back to Paris, your brother to his house, and I
+to mine, while he continued his courtship, and I could not understand
+what he meant by such strange behaviour. M. de Sauci, who knew that
+nothing serious had taken place between us, tried in vain to solve the
+enigma. 'No doubt he is afraid of getting you with child,' he said, 'and
+of thus being obliged to marry you.' I began to be of the same opinion,
+but I thought it a strange line for a man in love to take.
+
+"M. de Nesle, an officer in the French Guards, who had a pretty wife I
+had met in the country, went to your brother's to call on me. Not finding
+me there he asked why we did not live together. Your brother replied
+openly that our marriage had been a mere jest. M. de Nesle then came to
+me to enquire if this were the truth, and when he heard that it was he
+asked me how I would like him to make Casanova marry me. I answered that
+I should be delighted, and that was enough for him. He went again to your
+brother, and told him that his wife would never have associated with me
+on equal terms if I had not been introduced to her as a married woman;
+that the deceit was an insult to all the company at the country-house,
+which must be wiped out by his marrying me within the week or by fighting
+a duel. M. de Nesle added that if he fell he would be avenged by all the
+gentlemen who had been offended in the same way. Casanova replied,
+laughing, that so far from fighting to escape marrying me, he was ready
+to break a lance to get me. 'I love her,' he said, 'and if she loves me I
+am quite ready to give her my hand. Be kind enough,' he added, 'to
+prepare the way for me, and I will marry her whenever you like.'
+
+"M. de Nesle embraced him, and promised to see to everything; he brought
+me the joyful news, and in a week all was over. M. de Nesle gave us a
+splendid supper on our wedding-day, and since then I have had the title
+of his wife. It is an empty title, however, for, despite the ceremony and
+the fatal yes, I am no wife, for your brother is completely impotent. I
+am an unhappy wretch, and it is all his fault, for he ought to have known
+his own condition. He has deceived me horribly."
+
+"But he was obliged to act as he did; he is more to be pitied than to be
+blamed. I also pity you, but I think you are in the wrong, for after his
+sleeping with you for a month without giving any proof of his manhood you
+might have guessed the truth. Even if you had been a perfect novice, M.
+de Sauci ought to have known what was the matter; he must be aware that
+it is beyond the power of man to sleep beside a pretty woman, and to
+press her naked body to his breast without becoming, in spite of himself,
+in a state which would admit of no concealment; that is, in case he were
+not impotent."
+
+"All that seems very reasonable, but nevertheless neither of us thought
+of it; your brother looks such a Hercules."
+
+"There are two remedies open to you; you can either have your marriage
+annulled, or you can take a lover; and I am sure that my brother is too
+reasonable a man to offer any opposition to the latter course."
+
+"I am perfectly free, but I can neither avail myself of a divorce nor of
+a lover; for the wretch treats me so kindly that I love him more and
+more, which doubtless makes my misfortune harder to bear."
+
+The poor woman was so unhappy that I should have been delighted to
+console her, but it was out of the question. However, the mere telling of
+her story had afforded her some solace, and after kissing her in such a
+way as to convince her that I was not like my brother, I wished her good
+night.
+
+The next day I called on Madame Vanloo, who informed me that Madame
+Blondel had charged her to thank me for having gone away, while her
+husband wished me to know that he was sorry not to have seen me to
+express his gratitude.
+
+"He seems to have found his wife a maid, but that's no fault of mine; and
+Manon Baletti is the only person he ought to be grateful to. They tell me
+that he has a pretty baby, and that he lives at the Louvre, while she has
+another house in the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs."
+
+"Yes, but he has supper with her every evening."
+
+"It's an odd way of living."
+
+"I assure you it answers capitally. Blondel regards his wife as his
+mistress. He says that that keeps the flame of love alight, and that as
+he never had a mistress worthy of being a wife, he is delighted to have a
+wife worthy of being a mistress."
+
+The next day I devoted entirely to Madame de Rumain, and we were occupied
+with knotty questions till the evening. I left her well pleased. The
+marriage of her daughter, Mdlle. Cotenfau, with M. de Polignac, which
+took place five or six years later, was the result of our cabalistic
+calculations.
+
+The fair stocking-seller of the Rue des Prouveres, whom I had loved so
+well, was no longer in Paris. She had gone off with a M. de Langlade, and
+her husband was inconsolable. Camille was ill. Coralline had become the
+titulary mistress of the Comte de la Marche, son of the Prince of Conti,
+and the issue of this union was a son, whom I knew twenty years later. He
+called himself the Chevalier de Montreal, and wore the cross of the
+Knights of Malta. Several other girls I had known were widowed and in the
+country, or had become inaccessible in other ways.
+
+Such was the Paris of my day. The actors on its stage changed as rapidly
+as the fashions.
+
+I devoted a whole day to my old friend Baletti, who had left the theatre
+and married a pretty ballet-girl on the death of his father; he was
+making experiments with a view to finding the philosopher's stone.
+
+I was agreeably surprised at meeting the poet Poinsinet at the Comedic
+Francaise. He embraced me again and again, and told me that M. du Tillot
+had overwhelmed him with kindness at Parma.
+
+"He would not get me anything to do," said Poinsinet, "because a French
+poet is rather at a discount in Italy."
+
+"Have you heard anything of Lord Lismore?"
+
+"Yes, he wrote to his mother from Leghorn, telling her that he was going
+to the Indies, and that if you had not been good enough to give him a
+thousand Louis he would have been a prisoner at Rome."
+
+"His fate interests me extremely, and I should be glad to call on his
+lady-mother with you."
+
+"I will tell her that you are in Paris, and I am sure that she will
+invite you to supper, for she has the greatest desire to talk to you."
+
+"How are you getting on here? Are you still content to serve Apollo?"
+
+"He is not the god of wealth by any means. I have no money and no room,
+and I shall be glad of a supper, if you will ask me. I will read you my
+play, the 'Cercle', which has been accepted. I am sure it will be
+successful?"
+
+The 'Cercle' was a short prose play, in which the poet satirised the
+jargon of Dr. Herrenschwand, brother of the doctor I had consulted at
+Soleure. The play proved to be a great success.
+
+I took Poinsinet home to supper, and the poor nursling of the muses ate
+for four. In the morning he came to tell me that the Countess of Lismore
+expected me to supper.
+
+I found the lady, still pretty, in company with her aged lover, M. de St.
+Albin, Archbishop of Cambrai, who spent all the revenues of his see on
+her. This worthy prelate was one of the illegitimate children of the Duc
+d'Orleans, the famous Regent, by an actress. He supped with us, but he
+only opened his mouth to eat, and his mistress only spoke of her son,
+whose talents she lauded to the skies, though he was in reality a mere
+scamp; but I felt in duty bound to echo what she said. It would have been
+cruel to contradict her. I promised to let her know if I saw anything
+more of him.
+
+Poinsinet, who was hearthless and homeless, as they say, spent the night
+in my room, and in the morning I gave him two cups of chocolate and some
+money wherewith to get a lodging. I never saw him again, and a few years
+after he was drowned, not in the fountain of Hippocrene, but in the
+Guadalquivir. He told me that he had spent a week with M. de Voltaire,
+and that he had hastened his return to Paris to obtain the release of the
+Abbe Morellet from the Bastile.
+
+I had nothing more to do at Paris, and I was only waiting for some
+clothes to be made and for a cross of the order, with which the Holy
+Father had decorated me, to be set with diamonds and rubies.
+
+I had waited for five or six days when an unfortunate incident obliged me
+to take a hasty departure. I am loth to write what follows, for it was
+all my own fault that I was nearly losing my life and my honour. I pity
+those simpletons who blame fortune and not themselves for their
+misfortunes.
+
+I was walking in the Tuileries at ten o'clock in the morning, when I was
+unlucky enough to meet the Dangenancour and another girl. This
+Dangenancour was a dancer at the opera-house, whom I had desired to meet
+previously to my last departure from Paris. I congratulated myself on the
+lucky chance which threw her in my way, and accosted her, and had not
+much trouble in inducing her to dine with me at Choisi.
+
+We walked towards the Pont-Royal, where we took a coach. After dinner had
+been ordered we were taking a turn in the garden, when I saw a carriage
+stop and two adventurers whom I knew getting out of it, with two girls,
+friends of the ones I had with me. The wretched landlady, who was
+standing at the door, said that if we liked to sit down together she
+could give us an excellent dinner, and I said nothing, or rather I
+assented to the yes of my two nymphs. The dinner was excellent, and after
+the bill was paid, and we were on the point of returning to Paris, I
+noticed that a ring, which I had taken off to shew to one of the
+adventurers named Santis, was still missing. It was an exceedingly pretty
+miniature, and the diamond setting had cost me twenty-five Louis. I
+politely begged Santis to return me the ring, and he replied with the
+utmost coolness that he had done so already.
+
+"If you had returned it," said I, "it would be on my finger, and you see
+that it is not."
+
+He persisted in his assertion; the girls said nothing, but Santis's
+friend, a Portuguese, named Xavier, dared to tell me that he had seen the
+ring returned.
+
+"You're a liar," I exclaimed; and without more ado I took hold of Santis
+by the collar, and swore I would rot let him go till he returned me my
+ring. The Portuguese rose to come to his friend's rescue, while I stepped
+back and drew my sword, repeating my determination not to let them go.
+The landlady came on the scene and began to shriek, and Santis asked me
+to give him a few words apart. I thought in all good faith that he was
+ashamed to restore the ring before company, but that he would give it me
+as soon as we were alone. I sheathed my sword, and told him to come with
+me. Xavier got into the carriage with the four girls, and they all went
+back to Paris.
+
+Santis followed me to the back of the inn, and then assuming a pleasant
+smile he told me that he had put the ring into his friend's pocket for a
+joke, but that I should have it back at Paris.
+
+"That's an idle tale," I exclaimed, "your friend said that he saw you
+return it, and now he has escaped me. Do you think that I am green enough
+to be taken in by this sort of thing? You're a couple of robbers."
+
+So saying, I stretched out my hand for his watch-chain, but he stepped
+back and drew his sword. I drew mine, and we had scarcely crossed swords
+when he thrust, and I parrying rushed in and ran him through and through.
+He fell to the ground calling, "Help!" I sheathed my sword, and, without
+troubling myself about him, got into my coach and drove back to Paris.
+
+I got down in the Place Maubert, and walked by a circuitous way to my
+hotel. I was sure that no one could have come after me there, as my
+landlord did not even know my name.
+
+I spent the rest of the day in packing up my trunks, and after telling
+Costa to place them on my carriage I went to Madame d'Urfe. After I had
+told her of what had happened, I begged her, as soon as that which she
+had for me was ready, to send it to me at Augsburg by Costa. I should
+have told her to entrust it to one of her own servants, but my good
+genius had left me that day. Besides I did not look upon Costa as a
+thief.
+
+When I got back to the hotel I gave the rascal his instructions, telling
+him to be quick and to keep his own counsel, and then I gave him money
+for the journey.
+
+I left Paris in my carriage, drawn by four hired horses, which took me as
+far as the second post, and I did not stop till I got to Strasburg, where
+I found Desarmoises and my Spaniard.
+
+There was nothing to keep me in Strasburg, so I wanted to cross the Rhine
+immediately; but Desarmoises persuaded me to come with him to see an
+extremely pretty woman who had only delayed her departure for Augsburg in
+the hope that we might journey there together.
+
+"You know the lady," said the false marquis, "but she made me give my
+word of honour that I would not tell you. She has only her maid with her,
+and I am sure you will be pleased to see her."
+
+My curiosity made me give in. I followed Desarmoises, and came into a
+room where I saw a nice-looking woman whom I did not recognize at first.
+I collected my thoughts, and the lady turned out to be a dancer whom I
+had admired on the Dresden boards eight years before. She was then
+mistress to Count Bruhl, but I had not even attempted to win her favour.
+She had an excellent carriage, and as she was ready to go to Augsburg I
+immediately concluded that we could make the journey together very
+pleasantly.
+
+After the usual compliments had passed, we decided on leaving for
+Augsburg the following morning. The lady was going to Munich, but as I
+had no business there we agreed that she should go by herself.
+
+"I am quite sure," she said, afterwards, "that you will come too, for the
+ambassadors do not assemble at Augsburg till next September."
+
+We supped together, and next morning we started on our way; she in her
+carriage with her maid, and I in mine with Desarmoises, preceded by Le
+Duc on horseback. At Rastadt, however, we made a change, the Renaud (as
+she was called) thinking that she would give less opportunity for curious
+surmises by riding with me while Desarmoises went with the servant. We
+soon became intimate. She told me about herself, or pretended to, and I
+told her all that I did not want to conceal. I informed her that I was an
+agent of the Court of Lisbon, and she believed me, while, for my part, I
+believed that she was only going to Munich and Augsburg to sell her
+diamonds.
+
+We began to talk about Desarmoises, and she said that it was well enough
+for me to associate with him, but I should not countenance his styling
+himself marquis.
+
+"But," said I, "he is the son of the Marquis Desarmoises, of Nancy."
+
+"No, he isn't; he is only a retired messenger, with a small pension from
+the department of foreign affairs. I know the Marquis Desarmoises; he
+lives at Nancy, and is not so old as our friend."
+
+"Then one can't see how he can be Desarmoises's father."
+
+"The landlord of the inn at Strasburg knew him when he was a messenger."
+
+"How did you make his acquaintance?"
+
+"We met at the table d'hote. After dinner he came up to my room, and told
+me he was waiting for a gentleman who was going to Augsburg, and that we
+might make the journey together. He told me the name, and after
+questioning him I concluded that the gentleman was yourself, so here we
+are, and I am very glad of it. But listen to me; I advise you to drop all
+false styles and titles. Why do you call yourself Seingalt?"
+
+"Because it's my name, but that doesn't prevent my old friends calling me
+Casanova, for I am both. You understand?"
+
+"Oh, yes! I understand. Your mother is at Prague, and as she doesn't get
+her pension on account of the war, I am afraid she must be rather in
+difficulties."
+
+"I know it, but I do not forget my filial duties. I have sent her some
+money."
+
+"That's right. Where are you going to stay at Augsburg?"
+
+"I shall take a house, and if you like you shall be the mistress and do
+the honours."
+
+"That would be delightful! We will give little suppers, and play cards
+all night."
+
+"Your programme is an excellent one."
+
+"I will see that you get a good cook; all the Bavarian cooks are good. We
+shall cut a fine figure, and people will say we love each other madly."
+
+"You must know, dearest, that I do not understand jokes at the expense of
+fidelity."
+
+"You may trust me for that. You know how I lived at Dresden."
+
+"I will trust you, but not blindly, I promise you. And now let us address
+each other in the same way; you must call me tu. You must remember we are
+lovers."
+
+"Kiss me!"
+
+The fair Renaud did not like traveling by night; she preferred to eat a
+good supper, to drink heavily, and to go to bed just as her head began to
+whirl. The heat of the wine made her into a Bacchante, hard to appease;
+but when I could do no more I told her to leave me alone, and she had to
+obey.
+
+When we reached Augsburg we alighted at the "Three Moors," but the
+landlord told us that though he could give us a good dinner he could not
+put us up, as the whole of the hotel had been engaged by the French
+ambassador. I called on M. Corti, the banker to whom I was accredited,
+and he soon got me a furnished house with a garden, which I took for six
+months. The Renaud liked it immensely.
+
+No one had yet arrived at Augsburg. The Renaud contrived to make me feel
+that I should be lonely at Augsburg without her, and succeeded in
+persuading me to come with her to Munich. We put up at the "Stag," and
+made ourselves very comfortable, while Desarmoises went to stay somewhere
+else. As my business and that of my new mate had nothing in common, I
+gave her a servant and a carriage to herself, and made myself the same
+allowance.
+
+The Abbe Gama had given me a letter from the Commendatore Almada for Lord
+Stormont, the English ambassador at the Court of Bavaria. This nobleman
+being then at Munich I hastened to deliver the letter. He received me
+very well, and promised to do all he could as soon as he had time, as
+Lord Halifax had told him all about it. On leaving his Britannic
+Lordship's I called on M. de Folard, the French ambassador, and gave him
+a letter from M. de Choiseul. M. de Folard gave me a hearty welcome, and
+asked me to dine with him the next day, and the day after introduced me
+to the Elector.
+
+During the four fatal weeks I spent at Munich, the ambassador's house was
+the only one I frequented. I call these weeks fatal, and with reason, for
+in then I lost all my money, I pledged jewels (which I never recovered)
+to the amount of forty thousand francs, and finally I lost my health. My
+assassins were the Renaud and Desarmoises, who owed me so much and paid
+me so badly.
+
+The third day after my arrival I had to call on the Dowager Electress of
+Saxony. It was my brother-in-law, who was in her train, that made me go,
+by telling me that it must be done, as she knew me and had been enquiring
+for me. I had no reason to repent of my politeness in going, as the
+Electress gave me a good reception, and made me talk to any extent. She
+was extremely curious, like most people who have no employment, and have
+not sufficient intelligence to amuse themselves.
+
+I have done a good many foolish things in the course of my existence. I
+confess it as frankly as Rousseau, and my Memoirs are not so egotistic as
+those of that unfortunate genius; but I never committed such an act of
+folly as I did when I went to Munich, where I had nothing to do. But it
+was a crisis in my life. My evil genius had made me commit one folly
+after another since I left Turin. The evening at Lord Lismore's, my
+connection with Desarmoises, my party at Choisi, my trust in Costa, my
+union with the Renaud, and worse than all, my folly in letting myself
+play at faro at a place where the knavery of the gamesters is renowned
+all over Europe, followed one another in fatal succession. Among the
+players was the famous, or rather infamous, Affisio, the friend of the
+Duc de Deux-Ponts, whom the duke called his aide-decamp, and who was
+known for the keenest rogue in the world.
+
+I played every day, and as I often lost money on my word of honour, the
+necessity of paying the next day often caused me the utmost anxiety. When
+I had exhausted my credit with the bankers, I had recourse to the Jews
+who require pledges, and in this Desarmoises and the Renaud were my
+agents, the latter of whom ended by making herself mistress of all my
+property. This was not the worst thing she did to me; for she, gave me a
+disease, which devoured her interior parts and left no marks outwardly,
+and was thus all the more dangerous, as the freshness of her complexion
+seemed to indicate the most perfect health. In short, this serpent, who
+must have come from hell to destroy me, had acquired such a mastery over
+me that she persuaded me that she would be dishonoured if I called in a
+doctor during our stay at Munich, as everybody knew that we were living
+together as man and wife.
+
+I cannot imagine what had become of my wits to let myself be so beguiled,
+while every day I renewed the poison that she had poured into my veins.
+
+My stay at Munich was a kind of curse; throughout that dreadful month I
+seemed to have a foretaste of the pains of the damned. The Renaud loved
+gaming, and Desarmoises was her partner. I took care not to play with
+them, for the false marquis was an unmitigated cheat and often tricked
+with less skill than impudence. He asked disreputable people to my house
+and treated them at my expense; every evening scenes of a disgraceful
+character took place.
+
+The Dowager Electress mortified me extremely by the way she addressed me
+on my last two visits to her.
+
+"Everybody knows what kind of a life you lead here, and the way the
+Renaud behaves, possibly without your knowing it. I advise you to have
+done with her, as your character is suffering."
+
+She did not know what a thraldom I was under. I had left Paris for a
+month, and I had neither heard of Madame d'Urfe nor of Costa. I could not
+guess the reason, but I began to suspect my Italian's fidelity. I also
+feared lest my good Madame d'Urfe might be dead or have come to her
+senses, which would have come to the same thing so far as I was
+concerned; and I could not possibly return to Paris to obtain the
+information which was so necessary both for calming my mind and refilling
+my purse.
+
+I was in a terrible state, and my sharpest pang was that I began to
+experience a certain abatement of my vigors, the natural result of
+advancing years. I had no longer that daring born of youth and the
+knowledge of one's strength, and I was not yet old enough to have learnt
+how to husband my forces. Nevertheless, I made an effort and took a
+sudden leave of my mistress, telling her I would await her at Augsburg.
+She did not try to detain me, but promised to rejoin me as soon as
+possible; she was engaged in selling her jewellery. I set out preceded by
+Le Duc, feeling very glad that Desarmoises had chosen to stay with the
+wretched woman to whom he had introduced me. When I reached my pretty
+house at Augsburg I took to my bed, determined not to rise till I was
+cured or dead. M. Carli, my banker, recommended to me a doctor named
+Cephalides, a pupil of the famous Fayet, who had cured me of a similar
+complaint several years before. This Cephalides was considered the best
+doctor in Augsburg. He examined me and declared he could cure me by
+sudorifics without having recourse to the knife. He began his treatment
+by putting me on a severe regimen, ordering baths, and applying mercury
+locally. I endured this treatment for six weeks, at the end of which time
+I found myself worse than at the beginning. I had become terribly thin,
+and I had two enormous inguinal tumours. I had to make up my mind to have
+them lanced, but though the operation nearly killed me it did not to make
+me any better. He was so clumsy as to cut the artery, causing great loss
+of blood which was arrested with difficulty, and would have proved fatal
+if it had not been for the care of M. Algardi, a Bolognese doctor in the
+service of the Prince-Bishop of Augsburg.
+
+I had enough of Cephalides, and Dr. Algardi prepared in my presence
+eighty-six pills containing eighteen grains of manna. I took one of these
+pills every morning, drinking a large glass of curds after it, and in the
+evening I had another pill with barley water, and this was the only
+sustenance I had. This heroic treatment gave me back my health in two
+months and a half, in which I suffered a great deal of pain; but I did
+not begin to put on flesh and get back my strength till the end of the
+year.
+
+It was during this time that I heard about Costa's flight with my
+diamonds, watches, snuff-box, linen, rich suits, and a hundred louis
+which Madame d'Urfe had given him for the journey. The worthy lady sent
+me a bill of exchange for fifty thousand francs, which she had happily
+not entrusted to the robber, and the money rescued me very opportunely
+from the state to which my imprudence had reduced me.
+
+At this period I made another discovery of an extremely vexatious
+character; namely, that Le Duc had robbed me. I would have forgiven him
+if he had not forced me to a public exposure, which I could only have
+avoided with the loss of my honour. However, I kept him in my service
+till my return to Paris at the commencement of the following year.
+
+Towards the end of September, when everybody knew that the Congress would
+not take place, the Renaud passed through Augsburg with Desarrnoises on
+her way to Paris; but she dared not come and see me for fear I should
+make her return my goods, of which she had taken possession without
+telling me. Four or five years later she married a man named Bohmer, the
+same that gave the Cardinal de Rohan the famous necklace, which he
+supposed was destined for the unfortunate Marie Antoinette. The Renaud
+was at Paris when I returned, but I made no endeavour to see her, as I
+wished, if possible, to forget the past. I had every reason to do so, for
+amongst all the misfortunes I had gone through during that wretched year
+the person I found most at fault was myself. Nevertheless, I would have
+given myself the pleasure of cutting off Desarmoises's ears; but the old
+rascal, who, no doubt, foresaw what kind of treatment I was likely to
+mete to him, made his escape. Shortly after, he died miserably of
+consumption in Normandy.
+
+My health had scarcely returned, when I forgot all my woes and began once
+more to amuse myself. My excellent cook, Anna Midel, who had been idle so
+long, had to work hard to satisfy my ravenous appetite. My landlord and
+pretty Gertrude, his daughter, looked at me with astonishment as I ate,
+fearing some disastrous results. Dr. Algardi, who had saved my life,
+prophesied a dyspepsia which would bring me to the tomb, but my need of
+food was stronger than his arguments, to which I paid no kind of
+attention; and I was right, for I required an immense quantity of
+nourishment to recover my former state, and I soon felt in a condition to
+renew my sacrifices to the deity for whom I had suffered so much.
+
+I fell in love with the cook and Gertrude, who were both young and
+pretty. I imparted my love to both of them at once, for I had foreseen
+that if I attacked them separately I should conquer neither. Besides, I
+felt that I had not much time to lose, as I had promised to sup with
+Madame, d'Urfe on the first night of the year 1761 in a suite of rooms
+she had furnished for me in the Rue de Bac. She had adorned the rooms
+with superb tapestry made for Rene of Savoy, on which were depicted all
+the operations of the Great Work. She wrote to me that she had heard that
+Santis had recovered from the wound I had given him, and had been
+committed to the Bicetre for fraud.
+
+Gertrude and Anna Midel occupied my leisure moments agreeably enough
+during the rest of my stay at Augsburg, but they did not make me neglect
+society. I spent my evenings in a very agreeable manner with Count Max de
+Lamberg, who occupied the position of field-marshal to the prince-bishop.
+His wife had all the attractions which collect good company together. At
+this house I made the acquaintance of the Baron von Selentin, a captain
+in the Prussian service, who was recruiting for the King of Prussia at
+Augsburg. I was particularly drawn to the Count Lamberg by his taste for
+literature. He was an extremely learned man, and has published some
+excellent works. I kept up a correspondence with him till his death, by
+his own fault, in 1792, four years from the time of my writing. I say by
+his fault, but I should have said by the fault of his doctors, who
+treated him mercurially for a disease which was not venereal; and this
+treatment not only killed him but took away his good name.
+
+His widow is still alive, and lives in Bavaria, loved by her friends and
+her daughters, who all made excellent marriages.
+
+At this time a miserable company of Italian actors made their appearance
+in Augsburg, and I got them permission to play in a small and wretched
+theatre. As this was the occasion of an incident which diverted me, the
+hero, I shall impart it to my readers in the hope of its amusing them
+also.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+The Actors--Bassi--The Girl From Strasburg The Female Count--My Return to
+Paris I Go to Metz--Pretty Raton--The Pretended Countess Lascaris
+
+A woman, ugly enough, but lively like all Italians, called on me, and
+asked me to intercede with the police to obtain permission for her
+company to act in Augsburg. In spite of her ugliness she was a poor
+fellow-countrywoman, and without asking her name, or ascertaining whether
+the company was good or bad, I promised to do my best, and had no
+difficulty in obtaining the favour.
+
+I went to the first performance, and saw to my surprise that the chief
+actor was a Venetian, and a fellow-student of mine, twenty years before,
+at St. Cyprian's College. His name was Bassi, and like myself he had
+given up the priesthood. Fortune had made an actor of him, and he looked
+wretched enough, while I, the adventurer, had a prosperous air.
+
+I felt curious to hear his adventures, and I was also actuated by that
+feeling of kindliness which draws one towards the companions of one's
+youthful and especially one's school days, so I went to the back as soon
+as the curtain fell. He recognized me directly, gave a joyful cry, and
+after he had embraced me he introduced me to his wife, the woman who had
+called on me, and to his daughter, a girl of thirteen or fourteen, whose
+dancing had delighted me. He did not stop here, but turning to his mates,
+of whom he was chief, introduced me to them as his best friend. These
+worthy people, seeing me dressed like a lord, with a cross on my breast,
+took me for a cosmopolitan charlatan who was expected at Augsburg, and
+Bassi, strange to say, did not undeceive them. When the company had taken
+off its stage rags and put on its everyday rags, Bassi's ugly wife took
+me by the arm and said I must come and sup with her. I let myself be led,
+and we soon got to just the kind of room I had imagined. It was a huge
+room on the ground floor, which served for kitchen, dining-room, and
+bedroom all at once. In the middle stood a long table, part of which was
+covered with a cloth which looked as if it had been in use for a month,
+and at the other end of the room somebody was washing certain earthenware
+dishes in a dirty pan. This den was lighted by one candle stuck in the
+neck of a broken bottle, and as there were no snuffers Bassi's wife
+snuffed it cleverly with her finger and thumb, wiping her hand on the
+table-cloth after throwing the burnt wick on the floor. An actor with
+long moustaches, who played the villain in the various pieces, served an
+enormous dish of hashed-up meat, swimming in a sea of dirty water
+dignified with the name of sauce; and the hungry family proceeded to tear
+pieces of bread off the loaf with their fingers or teeth, and then to dip
+them in the dish; but as all did the same no one had a right to be
+disgusted. A large pot of ale passed from hand to hand, and with all this
+misery mirth displayed itself on every countenance, and I had to ask
+myself what is happiness. For a second course there was a dish of fried
+pork, which was devoured with great relish. Bassi was kind enough not to
+press me to take part in this banquet, and I felt obliged to him.
+
+The meal over, he proceeded to impart to me his adventures, which were
+ordinary enough, and like those which many a poor devil has to undergo;
+and while he talked his pretty daughter sat on my knee. Bassi brought his
+story to an end by saying that he was going to Venice for the carnival,
+and was sure of making a lot of money. I wished him all the luck he could
+desire, and on his asking me what profession I followed the fancy took me
+to reply that I was a doctor.
+
+"That's a better trade than mine," said he, "and I am happy to be able to
+give you a valuable present."
+
+"What is that?" I asked.
+
+"The receipt for the Venetian Specific, which you can sell at two florins
+a pound, while it will only cost you four gros."
+
+"I shall be delighted; but tell me, how is the treasury?"
+
+"Well, I can't complain for a first night. I have paid all expenses, and
+have given my actors a florin apiece. But I am sure I don't know how I am
+to play to-morrow, as the company has rebelled; they say they won't act
+unless I give each of them a florin in advance."
+
+"They don't ask very much, however."
+
+"I know that, but I have no money, and nothing to pledge; but they will
+be sorry for it afterwards, as I am sure I shall make at least fifty
+florins to-morrow."
+
+"How many are there in the company?"
+
+"Fourteen, including my family. Could you lend me ten florins? I would
+pay you back tomorrow night."
+
+"Certainly, but I should like to have you all to supper at the nearest
+inn to the theatre. Here are the ten florins."
+
+The poor devil overflowed with gratitude, and said he would order supper
+at a florin a head, according to my instructions. I thought the sight of
+fourteen famished actors sitting down to a good supper would be rather
+amusing.
+
+The company gave a play the next evening, but as only thirty or at most
+forty people were present, poor Bassi did not know where to turn to pay
+for the lighting and the orchestra. He was in despair; and instead of
+returning my ten florins he begged me to lend him another ten, still in
+the hope of a good house next time. I consoled him by saying we would
+talk it over after supper, and that I would go to the inn to wait for my
+guests.
+
+I made the supper last three hours by dint of passing the bottle freely.
+My reason was that I had taken a great interest in a young girl from
+Strasburg, who played singing chamber-maids. Her features were exquisite
+and her voice charming, while she made me split my sides with laughing at
+her Italian pronounced with an Alsatian accent, and at her gestures which
+were of the most comic description.
+
+I was determined to possess her in the course of the next twenty-four
+hours, and before the party broke up I spoke as follows:--
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen, I will engage you myself for a week at fifty
+florins a day on the condition that you acknowledge me as your manager
+for the time being, and pay all the expenses of the theatre. You must
+charge the prices I name for seats, five members of the company to be
+chosen by me must sup with me every evening. If the receipts amount to
+more than fifty florins, we will share the overplus between us."
+
+My proposal was welcomed with shouts of joy, and I called for pen, ink,
+and paper, and drew up the agreement.
+
+"For to-morrow," I said to Bassi, "the prices for admission shall remain
+the same, but the day after we will see what can be done. You and your
+family will sup with me to-morrow, as also the young Alsatian whom I
+could never separate from her dear Harlequin:"
+
+He issued bills of an enticing description for the following evening;
+but, in spite of all, the pit only contained a score of common people,
+and nearly all the boxes were empty.
+
+Bassi had done his best, and when we met at supper he came up to me
+looking extremely confused, and gave me ten or twelve florins.
+
+"Courage!" said I; and I proceeded to share them among the guests
+present.
+
+We had a good supper, and I kept them at table till midnight, giving them
+plenty of choice wine and playing a thousand pranks with Bassi's daughter
+and the young Alsatian, who sat one on each side of me. I did not heed
+the jealous Harlequin, who seemed not to relish my familiarities with his
+sweetheart. The latter lent herself to my endearments with a bad enough
+grace, as she hoped Harlequin would marry her, and consequently did not
+want to vex him. When supper was over, we rose, and I took her between my
+arms, laughing, and caressing her in a manner which seemed too suggestive
+to the lover, who tried to pull me away. I thought this rather too much
+in my turn, and seizing him by his shoulders I dismissed him with a
+hearty kick, which he received with great humility. However, the
+situation assumed a melancholy aspect, for the poor girl began to weep
+bitterly. Bassi and his wife, two hardened sinners, laughed at her tears,
+and Bassi's daughter said that her lover had offered me great
+provocation; but the young Alsatian continued weeping, and told me that
+she would never sup with me again if I did not make her lover return.
+
+"I will see to all that," said I; and four sequins soon made her all
+smiles again. She even tried to shew me that she was not really cruel,
+and that she would be still less so if I could manage the jealous
+Harlequin. I promised everything, and she did her best to convince me
+that she would be quite complaisant on the first opportunity.
+
+I ordered Bassi to give notice that the pit would be two florins and the
+boxes a ducat, but that the gallery would be opened freely to the first
+comers.
+
+"We shall have nobody there," said he, looking alarmed.
+
+"Maybe, but that remains to be seen. You must request twelve soldiers to
+keep order, and I will pay for them."
+
+"We shall want some soldiers to look after the mob which will besiege the
+gallery, but as for the rest of the house . . . ."
+
+"Again I tell you, we shall see. Carry out my instructions, and whether
+they prove successful or no, we will have a merry supper as usual."
+
+The next day I called upon the Harlequin in his little den of a room, and
+with two Louis, and a promise to respect his mistress, I made him as soft
+as a glove.
+
+Bassi's bills made everybody laugh. People said he must be mad; but when
+it was ascertained that it was the lessee's speculation, and that I was
+the lessee, the accusation of madness was turned on me, but what did I
+care? At night the gallery was full an hour before the rise of the
+curtain; but the pit was empty, and there was nobody in the boxes with
+the exception of Count Lamberg, a Genoese abbe named Bolo, and a young
+man who appeared to me a woman in disguise.
+
+The actors surpassed themselves, and the thunders of applause from the
+gallery enlivened the performance.
+
+When we got to the inn, Bassi gave me the three ducats for the three
+boxes, but of course I returned them to him; it was quite a little
+fortune for the poor actors. I sat down at table between Bassi's wife and
+daughter, leaving the Alsatian to her lover. I told the manager to
+persevere in the same course, and to let those laugh who would, and I
+made him promise to play all his best pieces.
+
+When the supper and the wine had sufficiently raised my spirits, I
+devoted my attention to Bassi's daughter, who let me do what I liked,
+while her father and mother only laughed, and the silly Harlequin fretted
+and fumed at not being able to take the same liberties with his Dulcinea.
+But at the end of supper, when I had made the girl in a state of nature,
+I myself being dressed like Adam before he ate the fatal apple, Harlequin
+rose, and taking his sweetheart's arm was going to draw her away. I
+imperiously told him to sit down, and he obeyed me in amazement,
+contenting himself with turning his back. His sweetheart did not follow
+his example, and so placed herself on the pretext of defending my victim
+that she increased my enjoyment, while my vagrant hand did not seem to
+displease her.
+
+The scene excited Bassi's wife, and she begged her husband to give her a
+proof of his love for her, to which request he acceded, while modest
+Harlequin sat by the fire with his head on his hands. The Alsatian was in
+a highly excited state, and took advantage of her lover's position to
+grant me all I wished, so I proceeded to execute the great work with her,
+and the violent movements of her body proved that she was taking as
+active a part in it as myself.
+
+When the orgy was over I emptied my purse on the table, and enjoyed the
+eagerness with which they shared a score of sequins.
+
+This indulgence at a time when I had not yet recovered my full strength
+made me enjoy a long sleep. Just as I awoke I was handed a summons to
+appear before the burgomaster. I made haste with my toilette, for I felt
+curious to know the reason of this citation, and I was aware I had
+nothing to fear. When I appeared, the magistrate addressed me in German,
+to which I turned a deaf ear, for I only knew enough of that language to
+ask for necessaries. When he was informed of my ignorance of German he
+addressed me in Latin, not of the Ciceronian kind by any means, but in
+that peculiar dialect which obtains at most of the German universities.
+
+"Why do you bear a false name?" he asked.
+
+"My name is not false. You can ask Carli, the banker, who has paid me
+fifty thousand florins."
+
+"I know that; but your name is Casanova, so why do you call yourself
+Seingalt?"
+
+"I take this name, or rather I have taken it, because it belongs to me,
+and in such a manner that if anyone else dared to take it I should
+contest it as my property by every legitimate resource."
+
+"Ah! and how does this name belong to you?"
+
+"Because I invented it; but that does not prevent my being Casanova as
+well."
+
+"Sir, you must choose between Casanova and Seingalt; a man cannot have
+two names."
+
+"The Spaniards and Portuguese often have half a dozen names."
+
+"But you are not a Spaniard or a Portuguese; you are an Italian: and,
+after all, how can one invent a name?"
+
+"It's the simplest thing in the world."
+
+"Kindly explain."
+
+"The alphabet belongs equally to the whole human race; no one can deny
+that. I have taken eight letters and combined them in such a way as to
+produce the word Seingalt. It pleased me, and I have adopted it as my
+surname, being firmly persuaded that as no one had borne it before no one
+could deprive me of it, or carry it without my consent."
+
+"This is a very odd idea. Your arguments are rather specious than well
+grounded, for your name ought to be none other than your father's name."
+
+"I suggest that there you are mistaken; the name you yourself bear
+because your father bore it before you, has not existed from all
+eternity; it must have been invented by an ancestor of yours who did not
+get it from his father, or else your name would have been Adam. Does your
+worship agree to that?"
+
+"I am obliged to; but all this is strange, very strange."
+
+"You are again mistaken. It's quite an old custom, and I engage to give
+you by to-morrow a long list of names invented by worthy people still
+living, who are allowed to enjoy their names in peace and quietness
+without being cited to the town hall to explain how they got them."
+
+"But you will confess that there are laws against false names?"
+
+"Yes, but I repeat this name is my true name. Your name which I honour,
+though I do not know it, cannot be more true than mine, for it is
+possible that you are not the son of the gentleman you consider your
+father." He smiled and escorted me out, telling me that he would make
+enquiries about me of M. Carli.
+
+I took the part of going to M. Carli's myself. The story made him laugh.
+He told me that the burgomaster was a Catholic, a worthy man, well to do,
+but rather thick-headed; in short, a fine subject for a joke.
+
+The following morning M. Carli asked me to breakfast, and afterwards to
+dine with the burgomaster.
+
+"I saw him yesterday," said he, "and we had a long talk, in the course of
+which I succeeded in convincing him on the question of names, and he is
+now quite of your opinion."
+
+I accepted the invitation with pleasure, as I was sure of seeing some
+good company. I was not undeceived; there were some charming women and
+several agreeable men. Amongst others, I noticed the woman in man's dress
+I had seen at the theatre. I watched her at dinner, and I was the more
+convinced that she was a woman. Nevertheless, everybody addressed her as
+a man, and she played the part to admiration. I, however, being in search
+of amusement, and not caring to seem as if I were taken in, began to talk
+to her in a stream of gallantry as one talks to a woman, and I contrived
+to let her know that if I were not sure of her sex I had very strong
+suspicions. She pretended not to understand me, and everyone laughed at
+my feigned expression of offence.
+
+After dinner, while we were taking coffee, the pretended gentleman shewed
+a canon who was present a portrait on one of her rings. It represented a
+young lady who was in the company, and was an excellent likeness--an easy
+enough matter, as she was very ugly. My conviction was not disturbed, but
+when I saw the imposter kissing the young lady's hand with mingled
+affection and respect, I ceased jesting on the question of her sex. M.
+Carli took me aside for a moment, and told me that in spite of his
+effeminate appearance this individual was a man, and was shortly going to
+marry the young lady whose hand he had just kissed.
+
+"It may be so," said I, "but I can't believe it all the same."
+
+However, the pair were married during the carnival, and the husband
+obtained a rich dowry with his wife. The poor girl died of 'grief in the
+course of a year, but did not say a word till she was on her death-bed.
+Her foolish parents, ashamed of having been deceived so grossly, dared
+not say anything, and got the female swindler out of the way; she had
+taken good care, however, to lay a firm hold on the dowry. The story
+became known, and gave the good folk of Augsburg much amusement, while I
+became renowned for my sagacity in piercing the disguise.
+
+I continued to enjoy the society of my two servants and of the fair
+Alsation, who cost me a hundred louis. At the end of a week my agreement
+with Bassi came to an end, leaving him with some money in his pocket. He
+continued to give performances, returning to the usual prices and
+suppressing the free gallery. He did very fair business.
+
+I left Augsburg towards the middle of December.
+
+I was vexed on account of Gertrude, who believed herself with child, but
+could not make up her mind to accompany me to France. Her father would
+have been pleased for me to take her; he had no hopes of getting her a
+husband, and would have been glad enough to get rid of her by my making
+her my mistress.
+
+We shall hear more of her in the course of five or six years, as also of
+my excellent cook, Anna Midel, to whom I gave a present of four hundred
+florins. She married shortly afterwards, and when I visited the town
+again I found her unhappy.
+
+I could not make up my mind to forgive Le Duc, who rode on the coachman's
+box, and when we were in Paris, half-way along the Rue St. Antoine, I
+made him take his trunk and get down; and I left him there without a
+character, in spite of his entreaties. I never heard of him again, but I
+still miss him, for, in spite of his great failings, he was an excellent
+servant. Perhaps I should have called to mind the important services he
+had rendered me at Stuttgart, Soleure, Naples, Florence, and Turin; but I
+could not pass over his impudence in compromising me before the Augsburg
+magistrate. If I had not succeeded in bringing a certain theft home to
+him, it would have been laid to my door, and I should have been
+dishonoured.
+
+I had done a good deal in saving him from justice, and, besides, I had
+rewarded him liberally for all the special services he had done me.
+
+From Augsburg I went to Bale by way of Constance, where I stayed at the
+dearest inn in Switzerland. The landlord, Imhoff, was the prince of
+cheats, but his daughters were amusing, and after a three days' stay I
+continued my journey. I got to Paris on the last day of the year 1761,
+and I left the coach at the house in the Rue du Bacq, where my good angel
+Madame d'Urfe had arranged me a suite of rooms with the utmost elegance.
+
+I spent three weeks in these rooms without going anywhere, in order to
+convince the worthy lady that I had only returned to Paris to keep my
+word to her, and make her be born again a man.
+
+We spent the three weeks in making preparations for this divine
+operation, and our preparations consisted of devotions to each of the
+seven planets on the days consecrated to each of the intelligences. After
+this I had to seek, in a place which the spirits would point out to me,
+for a maiden, the daughter of an adept, whom I was to impregnate with a
+male child in a manner only known to the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross.
+Madame d'Urfe was to receive the child into her arms the moment it was
+born; and to keep it beside her in bed for seven days. At the end of the
+seven days she would die with her lips on the lips of the child, who
+would thus receive her reasonable soul, whereas before it had only
+possessed a vegetal soul.
+
+This being done, it was to be my part to care for the child with the
+magisterium which was known to me, and as soon as it had attained to its
+third year Madame d'Urfe would begin to recover her self-consciousness,
+and then I was to begin to initiate her in the perfect knowledge of the
+Great Work.
+
+The operation must take place under the full moon during the months of
+April, May, or June. Above all, Madame d'Urfe was to make a will in
+favour of the child, whose guardian I was to be till its thirteenth year.
+
+This sublime madwoman had no doubts whatever as to the truth of all this,
+and burned with impatience to see the virgin who was destined to be the
+vessel of election. She begged me to hasten my departure.
+
+I had hoped, in obtaining my answers from the oracle, that she would be
+deterred by the prospect of death, and I reckoned on the natural love of
+life making her defer the operation for an indefinite period. But such
+was not the case, and I found myself obliged to keep my word, in
+appearance at all events, and to go on my quest for the mysterious
+virgin.
+
+What I wanted was some young hussy whom I could teach the part, and I
+thought of the Corticelli. She had been at Prague for the last nine
+months, and when we were at Bologna I had promised to come and see her
+before the end of the year. But as I was leaving Germany--by no means a
+land of pleasant memories to me--I did not think it was worth while going
+out of my way for such a trifle in the depth of winter. I resolved to
+send her enough money for the journey, and to let her meet me in some
+French town.
+
+M. de Fouquet, a friend of Madame d'Urfe's, was Governor of Metz, and I
+felt sure that, with a letter of introduction from Madame d'Urfe, this
+nobleman would give me a distinguished reception. Besides, his nephew,
+the Comte de Lastic, whom I knew well, was there with his regiment. For
+these reasons I chose Metz as a meeting-place with the virgin Corticelli,
+to whom this new part would certainly be a surprise. Madame d'Urfe gave
+me the necessary introductions, and I left Paris on January 25th, 1762,
+loaded with presents. I had a letter of credit to a large amount, but I
+did not make use of it as my purse was abundantly replenished.
+
+I took no servant, for after Costa's robbing me and Le Duc's cheating me
+I felt as if I could not trust in anyone. I got to Metz in two days, and
+put up at the "Roi Dagobert," an excellent inn, where I found the Comte
+de Louvenhaupt, a Swede, whom I had met at the house of the Princess of
+Anhalt-Zerbst, mother of the Empress of Russia. He asked me to sup with
+him and the Duc de Deux Pants, who was travelling incognito to Paris to
+visit Louis XV., whose constant friend he was.
+
+The day after my arrival I took my letters to the governor, who told me I
+must dine with him every day. M. de Lastic had left Metz, much to my
+regret, as he would have contributed in no small degree to the pleasure
+of my stay. The same day I wrote to the Corticelli, sending her fifty
+louis, and telling her to come with her mother as soon as possible, and
+to get someone who knew the way to accompany her. She could not leaves
+Prague before the beginning of Lent, and to make sure of her coming I
+promised that I would make her fortune.
+
+In four or five days I knew my way about the town, but I did not frequent
+polite assemblies, preferring to go to the theatre, where a comic opera
+singer had captivated me. Her name was Raton, and she was only fifteen,
+after the fashion of actresses who always subtract at least two or three
+years from their age. However, this failing is common to women, and is a
+pardonable one, since to be youthful is the greatest of all advantages to
+them. Raton was not so much handsome as attractive, but what chiefly made
+her an object of desire was the fact that she had put the price of
+twenty-five louis on her maidenhead. One could spend a night with her,
+and make the trial for a Louis; the twenty-five were only to be paid on
+the accomplishment of the great work.
+
+It was notorious that numerous officers in the army and young barristers
+had undertaken the operation unsuccessfully, and all of them had paid a
+louis apiece.
+
+This singular case was enough to whet my curiosity. I was not long before
+I called on Raton, but not wishing to be duped by her I took due
+precautions. I told her that she must come and sup with me, and that I
+would give her the twenty-five louis if my happiness was complete, and
+that if I were unsuccessful she should have six louis instead of one,
+provided that she was not tied. Her aunt assured me that this was not the
+case; but I could not help thinking of Victorine.
+
+Raton came to supper with her aunt, who went to bed in an adjoining
+closet when the dessert was brought in. The girl's figure was exquisitely
+beautiful, and I felt that I had no small task before me. She was kind,
+laughing, and defied me to the conquest of a fleece not of gold, but of
+ebony, which the youth of Metz had assaulted in vain. Perhaps the reader
+will think that I, who was no longer in my first vigour, was discouraged
+by the thought of the many who had failed; but I knew my powers, and it
+only amused me. Her former lovers had been Frenchmen, more skilled in
+carrying strong places by assault than in eluding the artfulness of a
+girl who corked herself up. I was an Italian, and knew all about that, so
+I had no doubts as to my victory.
+
+However, my preparations were superfluous; for as soon as Raton felt from
+my mode of attack that the trick would be of no avail she met my desires
+half-way, without trying the device which had made her seem to be what
+she was no longer to her inexpert lovers. She gave herself up in good
+faith, and when I had promised to keep the secret her ardours were equal
+to mine. It was not her first trial, and I consequently need not have
+given her the twenty-five louis, but I was well satisfied, and not caring
+much for maidenheads rewarded her as if I had been the first to bite at
+the cherry.
+
+I kept Raton at a louis a day till the arrival of the Corticelli, and she
+had to be faithful to me, as I never let her go out of my sight. I liked
+the girl so well and found her so pleasant that I was sorry that the
+Corticelli was coming; however, I was told of her arrival one night just
+as I was leaving my box at the theatre. My footman told me in a loud
+voice that my lady wife, my daughter, and a gentleman had just arrived
+from Frankfort, and were awaiting me at the inn.
+
+"Idiot," I exclaimed, "I have no wife and no daughter."
+
+However, all Metz heard that my family had arrived.
+
+The Corticelli threw her arms round my neck, laughing as usual, and her
+mother presented me to the worthy man who had accompanied them from
+Prague to Metz. He was an Italian named Month, who had lived for a long
+time at Prague, where he taught his native language. I saw that M. Month
+and the old woman were suitably accommodated, and I then led the young
+fool into my room. I found her changed for the better; she had grown, her
+shape was improved, and her pleasant manners made her a very charming
+girl.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+I Returned to Paris With The Corticelli, Now Countess Lascaris--The
+Hypostasis Fails--Aix-la-Chapelle--Duel--Mimi d'Ache--The Corticelli
+Turns Traitress to Her Own Disadvantage--Journey to Sulzbach
+
+"Why did you allow your mother to call herself my wife, little simpleton?
+Do you think that's a compliment to my judgment? She might have given
+herself out for your governess, as she wishes to pass you off as my
+daughter."
+
+"My mother is an obstinate old woman who had rather be whipped at the
+cart-tail than call herself my governess. She has very narrow ideas, and
+always thinks that governess and procuress mean the same thing."
+
+"She's an old fool, but we will make her hear reason either with her will
+or in spite of it. But you look well dressed, have you made your
+fortune?"
+
+"At Prague I captivated the affections of Count N----, and he proved a
+generous lover. But let your first action be to send back M. Month. The
+worthy man has his family at Prague to look after; he can't afford to
+stay long here."
+
+"True, I will see about it directly."
+
+The coach started for Frankfort the same evening, and summoning Month I
+thanked him for his kindness and paid him generously, so he went off well
+pleased.
+
+I had nothing further to do at Metz, so I took leave of my new friends,
+and in two days time I was at Nancy, where I wrote to Madame d'Urfe that
+I was on my way back with a virgin, the last of the family of Lascaris,
+who had once reigned at Constantinople. I begged her to receive her from
+my hands, at a country house which belonged to her, where we should be
+occupied for some days in cabalistic ceremonies.
+
+She answered that she would await us at Pont-Carre, an old castle four
+leagues distant from Paris, and that she would welcome the young princess
+with all possible kindness.
+
+"I owe her all the more friendship," added the sublime madwoman, "as the
+family of Lascaris is connected with the family of d'Urfe, and as I am to
+be born again in the seed of the happy virgin."
+
+I felt that my task would be not exactly to throw cold water on her
+enthusiasm, but to hold it in check and to moderate its manifestations. I
+therefore explained to her by return of post that she must be content to
+treat the virgin as a countess, not a princess, and I ended by informing
+her that we should arrive, accompanied by the countess's governess, on
+the Monday of Holy Week.
+
+I spent twelve days at Nancy, instructing the young madcap in the part
+she had to play, and endeavouring to persuade her mother that she must
+content herself with being the Countess Lascaris's humble servant. It was
+a task of immense difficulty; it was not enough to shew her that our
+success depended on her submitting; I had to threaten to send her back to
+Bologna by herself. I had good reason to repent of my perseverance. That
+woman's obstinacy was an inspiration of my good angel's, bidding me avoid
+the greatest mistake I ever made.
+
+On the day appointed we reached Pont-Carre. Madame d'Urfe, whom I had
+advised of the exact hour of our arrival, had the drawbridge of the
+castle lowered, and stood in the archway in the midst of her people, like
+a general surrendering with all the honours of war. The dear lady, whose
+madness was but an excess of wit, gave the false princess so
+distinguished a reception that she would have shewn her amazement if I
+had not warned her of what she might expect. Thrice did she clasp her to
+her breast with a tenderness that was quite maternal, calling her her
+beloved niece, and explaining the entire pedigrees of the families of
+Lascaris and d'Urfe to make the countess understand how she came to be
+her niece. I was agreeably surprised to see the polite and dignified air
+with which the Italian wench listened to all this; she did not even
+smile, though the scene must have struck her as extremely laughable.
+
+As soon as we got into the castle Madame d'Urfe proceeded to cense the
+new-comer, who received the attention with all the dignity of an opera
+queen, and then threw herself into the arms of the priestess, who
+received her with enthusiastic affection.
+
+At dinner the countess was agreeable and talkative, which won her Madame
+d'Urfe's entire favour; her broken French being easily accounted for.
+Laura, the countess's mother, only knew her native Italian, and so kept
+silence. She was given a comfortable room, where her meals were brought
+to her, and which she only left to hear mass.
+
+The castle was a fortified building, and had sustained several sieges in
+the civil wars. As its name, Pont-Carre, indicated, it was square, and
+was flanked by four crenelated towers and surrounded by a broad moat. The
+rooms were vast, and richly furnished in an old-fashioned way. The air
+was full of venomous gnats who devoured us and covered our faces with
+painful bites; but I had agreed to spend a week there, and I should have
+been hard put to it to find a pretext for shortening the time. Madame
+d'Urfe had a bed next, her own for her niece, but I was not afraid of her
+attempting to satisfy herself as to the countess's virginity, as the
+oracle had expressly forbidden it under pain or failure. The operation
+was fixed for the fourteenth day of the April moon.
+
+On that day we had a temperate supper, after which I went to bed. A
+quarter of an hour afterwards Madame d'Urfe came, leading the virgin
+Lascaris. She undressed her, scented her, cast a lovely veil over her
+body, and when the countess was laid beside me she remained, wishing to
+be present at an operation which was to result in her being born again in
+the course of nine months.
+
+The act was consummated in form, and then Madame d'Urfe left us alone for
+the rest of the night, which was well employed. Afterwards, the countess
+slept with her aunt till the last day of the moon, when I asked the
+oracle if the Countess Lascaris had conceived. That well might be, for I
+had spared nothing to that intent; but I thought it more prudent to make
+the oracle reply that the operation had failed because the small Count
+d'Aranda had watched us behind a screen. Madame d'Urfe was in despair,
+but I consoled her by a second reply, in which the oracle declared that
+though the operation could only be performed in France in April, it could
+take place out of that realm in May; but the inquisitive young count,
+whose influence had proved so fatal, must be sent for at least a year to
+some place a hundred leagues from Paris. The oracle also indicated the
+manner in which he was to travel; he was to have a tutor, a servant, and
+all in order.
+
+The oracle had spoken, and no more was wanted. Madame d'Urfe thought of
+an abbe she liked for his tutor, and the count was sent to Lyons, with
+strong letters of commendation to M. de Rochebaron, a relation of his
+patroness. The young man was delighted to travel, and never had any
+suspicion of the way in which I had slandered him. It was not a mere
+fancy which suggested this course of action. I had discovered that the
+Corticelli was making up to him, and that her mother favoured the
+intrigue. I had surprised her twice in the young man's room, and though
+he only cared for the girl as a youth cares for all girls, the Signora
+Laura did not at all approve of my opposing her daughter's designs.
+
+Our next task was to fix on some foreign town where we could again
+attempt the mysterious operation. We settled on Aix-la-Chapelle, and in
+five or six days all was ready for the journey.
+
+The Corticeili, angry with me for having thwarted her in her projects,
+reproached me bitterly, and from that time began to be my enemy; she even
+allowed herself to threaten me if I did not get back the pretty boy, as
+she called him.
+
+"You have no business to be jealous," said she, "and I am the mistress of
+my own actions."
+
+"Quite right, my dear," I answered; "but it is my business to see that
+you do not behave like a prostitute in your present position."
+
+The mother was in a furious rage, and said that she and her daughter
+would return to Bologna, and to quiet them I promised to take them there
+myself as soon as we had been to Aix-la-Chapelle.
+
+Nevertheless I did not feel at ease, and to prevent any plots taking
+place I hastened our departure.
+
+We started in May, in a travelling carriage containing Madame d'Urfe,
+myself, the false Lascaris, and her maid and favourite, named Brougnole.
+We were followed by a coach with two seats; in it were the Signora Laura
+and another servant. Two men-servants in full livery sat on the outside
+of our travelling carriage. We stopped a day at Brussels, and another at
+Liege. At Aix there were many distinguished visitors, and at the first
+ball we attended Madame d'Urfe presented the Lascaris to two Princesses
+of Mecklenburg as her niece. The false countess received their embraces
+with much ease and modesty, and attracted the particular attention of the
+Margrave of Baireuth and the Duchess of Wurtemberg, his daughter, who
+took possession of her, and did not leave her till the end of the ball.
+
+I was on thorns the whole time, in terror lest the heroine might make
+some dreadful slip. She danced so gracefully that everybody gazed at her,
+and I was the person who was complimented on her performance.
+
+I suffered a martyrdom, for these compliments seemed to be given with
+malicious intent. I suspected that the ballet-girl had been discovered
+beneath the countess, and I felt myself dishonoured. I succeeded in
+speaking privately to the young wanton for a moment, and begged her to
+dance like a young lady, and not like a chorus girl; but she was proud of
+her success, and dared to tell me that a young lady might know how to
+dance as well as a professional dancer, and that she was not going to
+dance badly to please me. I was so enraged with her impudence, that I
+would have cast her off that instant if it had been possible; but as it
+was not, I determined that her punishment should lose none of its
+sharpness by waiting; and whether it be a vice or a virtue, the desire of
+revenge is never extinguished in my heart till it is satisfied.
+
+The day after the ball Madame d'Urfe presented her with a casket
+containing a beautiful watch set with brilliants, a pair of diamond
+ear-rings, and a ring containing a ruby of fifteen carats. The whole was
+worth sixty thousand francs. I took possession of it to prevent her going
+off without my leave.
+
+In the meanwhile I amused myself with play and making bad acquaintances.
+The worst of all was a French officer, named d'Ache, who had a pretty
+wife and a daughter prettier still. Before long the daughter had taken
+possession of the heart which the Corticelli had lost, but as soon as
+Madame d'Ache saw that I preferred her daughter to herself she refused to
+receive me at her house.
+
+I had lent d'Ache ten Louis, and I consequently felt myself entitled to
+complain of his wife's conduct; but he answered rudely that as I only
+went to the house after his daughter, his wife was quite right; that he
+intended his daughter to make a good match, and that if my intentions
+were honourable I had only to speak to the mother. His manner was still
+more offensive than his words, and I felt enraged, but knowing the brutal
+drunken characteristics of the man, and that he was always ready to draw
+cold steel for a yes or a no, I was silent and resolved to forget the
+girl, not caring to become involved with a man like her father.
+
+I had almost cured myself of my fancy when, a few days after our
+conversation, I happened to go into a billiard-room where d'Ache was
+playing with a Swiss named Schmit, an officer in the Swedish army. As
+soon as d'Ache saw me he asked whether I would lay the ten Louis he owed
+me against him.
+
+"Yes," said I, "that will make double or quits."
+
+Towards the end of the match d'Ache made an unfair stroke, which was so
+evident that the marker told him of it; but as this stroke made him the
+winner, d'Ache seized the stakes and put them in his pocket without
+heeding the marker or the other player, who, seeing himself cheated
+before his very eyes, gave the rascal a blow across the face with his
+cue. D'Ache parried the blow with his hand, and drawing his sword rushed
+at Schmit, who had no arms. The marker, a sturdy young fellow, caught
+hold of d'Ache round the body, and thus prevented murder. The Swiss went
+out, saying,
+
+"We shall see each other again."
+
+The rascally Frenchman cooled down, and said to me,
+
+"Now, you see, we are quits."
+
+"Very much quits."
+
+"That's all very well; but, by God! you might have prevented the insult
+which has dishonoured me."
+
+"I might have done so, but I did not care to interfere. You are strong
+enough to look after yourself. Schmit had not his sword, but I believe
+him to be a brave man; and he will give you satisfaction if you will
+return him his money, for there can be no doubt that you lost the match."
+
+An officer, named de Pyene, took me up and said that he himself would
+give me the twenty louis which d'Ache had taken, but that the Swiss must
+give satisfaction. I had no hesitation in promising that he would do so,
+and said I would bring a reply to the challenge the next morning.
+
+I had no fears myself. The man of honour ought always to be ready to use
+the sword to defend himself from insult, or to give satisfaction for an
+insult he has offered. I know that the law of duelling is a prejudice
+which may be called, and perhaps rightly, barbarous, but it is a
+prejudice which no man of honour can contend against, and I believed
+Schmit to be a thorough gentleman.
+
+I called on him at day-break, and found him still in bed. As soon as he
+saw me, he said,
+
+"I am sure you have come to ask me to fight with d'Ache. I am quite ready
+to burn powder with him, but he must first pay me the twenty Louis he
+robbed me of."
+
+"You shall have them to-morrow, and I will attend you. D'Ache will be
+seconded by M. de Pyene."
+
+"Very good. I shall expect you at day-break."
+
+Two hours after I saw de Pyene, and we fixed the meeting for the next
+day, at six o'clock in the morning. The arms were to be pistols. We chose
+a garden, half a league from the town, as the scene of the combat.
+
+At day-break I found the Swiss waiting for me at the door of his
+lodgings, carolling the 'ranz-des-vaches', so dear to his
+fellow-countrymen. I thought that a good omen.
+
+"Here you are," said he; "let us be off, then."
+
+On the way, he observed, "I have only fought with men of honour up to
+now, and I don't much care for killing a rascal; it's hangman's work."
+
+"I know," I replied, "that it's very hard to have to risk one's life
+against a fellow like that."
+
+"There's no risk," said Schmit, with a laugh. "I am certain that I shall
+kill him."
+
+"How can you be certain?"
+
+"I shall make him tremble."
+
+He was right. This secret is infallible when it is applied to a coward.
+We found d'Ache and de Pyene on the field, and five or six others who
+must have been present from motives of curiosity.
+
+D'Ache took twenty louis from his pocket and gave them to his enemy,
+saying,
+
+"I may be mistaken, but I hope to make you pay dearly for your
+brutality." Then turning to me he said,
+
+"I owe you twenty louis also;" but I made no reply.
+
+Schmit put the money in his purse with the calmest air imaginable, and
+making no reply to the other's boast placed himself between two trees,
+distant about four paces from one another, and drawing two pistols from
+his pocket said to d'Ache,
+
+"Place yourself at a distance of ten paces, and fire first. I shall walk
+to and fro between these two trees, and you may walk as far if you like
+to do so when my turn comes to fire."
+
+Nothing could be clearer or more calmly delivered than this explanation.
+
+"But we must decide," said I, "who is to have the first shot."
+
+"There is no need," said Schmit. "I never fire first, besides, the
+gentleman has a right to the first shot."
+
+De Pyene placed his friend at the proper distance and then stepped aside,
+and d'Ache fired on his antagonist, who was walking slowly to and fro
+without looking at him. Schmit turned round in the coolest manner
+possible, and said,
+
+"You have missed me, sir; I knew you would. Try again."
+
+I thought he was mad, and that some arrangement would be come to; but
+nothing of the kind. D'Ache fired a second time, and again missed; and
+Schmit, without a word, but as calm as death, fired his first pistol in
+the air, and then covering d'Ache with his second pistol hit him in the
+forehead and stretched him dead on the ground. He put back his pistols
+into his pocket and went off directly by himself, as if he were merely
+continuing his walk. In two minutes I followed his example, after
+ascertaining that the unfortunate d'Ache no longer breathed.
+
+I was in a state of amazement. Such a duel was more like a combat of
+romance than a real fact. I could not understand it; I had watched the
+Swiss, and had not noticed the slightest change pass over his face.
+
+I breakfasted with Madame d'Urfe, whom I found inconsolable. It was the
+full moon, and at three minutes past four exactly I ought to perform the
+mysterious creation of the child in which she was to be born again. But
+the Lascaris, on whom the work was to be wrought, was twisting and
+turning in her bed, contorting herself in such a way that it would be
+impossible for me to accomplish the prolific work.
+
+My grief, when I heard what had happened, was hypocritical; in the first
+place because I no longer felt any desire for the girl, and in the second
+because I thought I saw a way in which I could make use of the incident
+to take vengeance on her.
+
+I lavished consolations on Madame d'Urfe; and on consulting the oracle I
+found that the Lascaris had been defiled by an evil genius, and that I
+must search for another virgin whose purity must be under the protection
+of more powerful spirits. I saw that my madwoman was perfectly happy with
+this, and I left her to visit the Corticelli, whom I found in bed with
+her mother beside her.
+
+"You have convulsions, have you, dearest?" said I.
+
+"No, I haven't. I am quite well, but all the same I shall have them till
+you give me back my jewel-casket."
+
+"You are getting wicked, my poor child; this comes of following your
+mother's advice. As for the casket, if you are going to behave like this,
+probably you will have it."
+
+"I will reveal all."
+
+"You will not be believed; and I shall send you back to Bologna without
+letting you take any of the presents which Madame d'Urfe has given you."
+
+"You ought to have given me back the casket when I declared myself with
+child."
+
+Signora Laura told me that this was only too true, though I was not the
+father.
+
+"Who is, then?" I asked.
+
+"Count N----, whose mistress she was at Prague."
+
+It did not seem probable, as she had no symptoms of pregnancy; still it
+might be so. I was obliged to plot myself to bring the plots of these two
+rascally women to nought, and without saying anything to them I shut
+myself up with Madame d'Urfe to enquire of the oracle concerning the
+operation which was to make her happy.
+
+After several answers, more obscure than any returned from the oracular
+tripod at Delphi, the interpretation of which I left to the infatuated
+Madame d'Urfe, she discovered herself--and I took care not to contradict
+her--that the Countess Lascaris had gone mad. I encouraged her fears, and
+succeeded in making her obtain from a cabalistic pyramid the statement
+that the reason the princess had not conceived was that she had been
+defiled by an evil genius--an enemy of the Fraternity of the Rosy Cross.
+This put Madame d'Urfe fairly on the way, and she added on her own
+account that the girl must be with child by a gnome.
+
+She then erected another pyramid to obtain guidance on our quest, and I
+so directed things that the answer came that she must write to the moon.
+
+This mad reply, which should have brought her to her senses, only made
+her more crazy than ever. She was quite ecstatic, and I am sure that if I
+had endeavoured to shew her the nothingness of all this I show have had
+nothing for my trouble. Her conclusion would probably have been that I
+was possessed by an evil spirit, and was no longer a true Rosy Cross. But
+I had no idea of undertaking a cure which would have done me harm and her
+no 'good. Her chimerical notions made her happy, and the cold naked truth
+would doubtless have made her unhappy.
+
+She received the order to write to the moon with the greater delight as
+she knew what ceremonies were to be observed in addressing that planet;
+but she could not dispense with the assistance of an adept, and I knew
+she would reckon on me. I told her I should always be ready to serve her,
+but that, as she knew herself, we should have to wait for the first phase
+of the new moon. I was very glad to gain time, for I had lost heavily at
+play, and I could not leave Aix-la-Chapelle before a bill, which I had
+drawn on M. d'O. of Amsterdam, was cashed. In the mean time we agreed
+that as the Countess Lascaris had become mad, we must not pay any
+attention to what she might say, as the words would not be hers but would
+proceed from the evil spirit who possessed her.
+
+Nevertheless, we determined that as her state was a pitiable one, and
+should be as much alleviated as possible, she should continue to dine
+with us, but that in the evening she was to go to her governess and sleep
+with her.
+
+After having thus disposed of Madame d'Urfe to disbelieve whatever the
+Corticelli cared to tell her, and to concentrate all her energies on the
+task of writing to Selenis, the intelligence of the moon, I set myself
+seriously to work to regain the money I had lost at play; and here my
+cabala was no good to me. I pledged the Corticelli's casket for a
+thousand louis, and proceeded to play in an English club where I had a
+much better chance of winning than with Germans or Frenchmen.
+
+Three or four days after d'Ache's death, his widow wrote me a note
+begging me to call on her. I found her in company with de Pyene. She told
+me in a lugubrious voice that her husband had left many debts unsettled,
+and that his creditors had seized everything she possessed; and--that she
+was thus unable to pay the expenses of a journey, though she wanted to
+take her daughter with her to Colmar, and there to rejoin her family.
+
+"You caused my husband's death," she added, "and I ask you to give me a
+thousand crowns; if you refuse me I shall commence a lawsuit against you,
+for as the Swiss officer has left, you are the only person I can
+prosecute."
+
+"I am surprised at your taking such a tone towards me," I replied,
+coldly, "and were it not for the respect I feel for your misfortune, I
+should answer as bitterly as you deserve. In the first place I have not a
+thousand crowns to throw away, and if I had I would not sacrifice my
+money to threats. I am curious to know what kind of a case you could get
+up against me in the courts of law. As for Schmit, he fought like a brave
+gentleman, and I don't think you could get much out of him if he were
+still here. Good-day, madam."
+
+I had scarcely got fifty paces from the house when I was joined by de
+Pyene, who said that rather than Madame d'Ache should have to complain of
+me he would cut my throat on the spot. We neither of us had swords.
+
+"Your intention is not a very flattering one," said I, "and there is
+something rather brutal about it. I had rather not have any affair of the
+kind with a man whom I don't know and to whom I owe nothing."
+
+"You are a coward."
+
+"I would be, you mean, if I were to imitate you. It is a matter of
+perfect indifference to me what opinion you may have on the subject.
+
+"You will be sorry for this."
+
+"Maybe, but I warn you that I never go out unattended by a pair of
+pistols, which I keep in good order and know how to use." So saying I
+shewd him the pistols, and took one in my right hand.
+
+At this the bully uttered an oath and we separated.
+
+At a short distance from the place where this scene had occurred I met a
+Neapolitan named Maliterni, a lieutenant-colonel and aide to the Prince
+de Condo, commander-in-chief of the French army. This Maliterni was a
+boon companion, always ready to oblige, and always short of money. We
+were friends, and I told him what had happened.
+
+"I should be sorry," said I, "to have anything to do with a fellow like
+de Pyene, and if you can rid me of him I promise you a hundred crowns."
+
+"I daresay that can be managed," he replied, "and I will tell you what I
+can do to-morrow!"
+
+In point of fact, he brought me news the next day that my cut-throat had
+received orders from his superior officer to leave Aix-la-Chapelle at
+day-break, and at the same time he gave me a passport from the Prince de
+Conde.
+
+I confess that this was very pleasant tidings. I have never feared to
+cross my sword with any man, though never sought the barbarous pleasure
+of spilling men's blood; but on this occasion I felt an extreme dislike
+to a duel with a fellow who was probably of the same caste as his friend
+d'Ache.
+
+I therefore gave Maliterni my heartiest thanks, as well as the hundred
+crowns I had promised him, which I considered so well employed that I did
+not regret their loss.
+
+Maliterni, who was a jester of the first water, and a creature of the
+Marshal d'Estrees, was lacking neither in wit nor knowledge; but he was
+deficient in a sense of order and refinement. He was a pleasant
+companion, for his gaiety was inexhaustible and he had a large knowledge
+of the world. He attained the rank of field-marshal in 1768, and went to
+Naples to marry a rich heiress, whom he left a widow a year after.
+
+The day after de Pyene's departure I received a note from Mdlle. d'Ache,
+begging me, for the sake of her sick mother, to come and see her. I
+answered that I would be at such a place at such a time, and that she
+could say what she liked to me.
+
+I found her at the place and time I appointed, with her mother, whose
+illness, it appeared, did not prevent her from going out. She called me
+her persecutor, and said that since the departure of her best friend, de
+Pyene, she did not know where to turn; that she had pledged all her
+belongings, and that I, who was rich, ought to aid her, if I were not the
+vilest of men.
+
+"I feel for your condition," I replied, "as I feel your abuse of me; and
+I cannot help saying that you have shewn yourself the vilest of women in
+inciting de Pyene, who may be an honest man for all I know, to
+assassinate me. In fine, rich or not, and though I owe you nothing, I
+will give you enough money to take your property out of pawn, and I may
+possibly take you to Colmar myself, but you must first consent to my
+giving your charming daughter a proof of my affection."
+
+"And you dare to make this horrible proposal to me?"
+
+"Horrible or not, I do make it."
+
+"I will never consent."
+
+"Good day, madam."
+
+I called the waiter to pay him for the refreshments I had ordered, and I
+gave the girl six double louis, but her proud mother forbade her to
+accept the money from me. I was not surprised, in spite of her distress;
+for the mother was in reality still more charming than the daughter, and
+she knew it. I ought to have given her the preference, and thus have
+ended the dispute, but who can account for his whims? I felt that she
+must hate me, for she did not care for her daughter, and it must have
+humiliated her bitterly to be obliged to regard her as a victorious
+rival.
+
+I left them still holding the six double louis, which pride or scorn had
+refused, and I went to the faro-table and decided in sacrificing them to
+fortune; but that capricious deity, as proud as the haughty widow,
+refused them, and though I left them on the board for five deals I almost
+broke the bank. An Englishman, named Martin, offered to go shares with
+me, and I accepted, as I knew he was a good player; and in the course of
+eight or ten days we did such good business that I was not only able to
+take the casket out of pledge and to cover all losses, but made a
+considerable profit in addition.
+
+About this period, the Corticelli, in her rage against me, had told
+Madame d'Urfe the whole history of her life, of our acquaintance, and of
+her pregnancy. But the more truthfully she told her story so much the
+more did the good lady believe her to be mad, and we often laughed
+together at the extraordinary fancies of the traitress. Madame d'Urfe put
+all her trust in the instructions which Selenis would give in reply to
+her letter.
+
+Nevertheless, as the girl's conduct displeased me, I made her eat her
+meals with her mother, while I kept Madame d'Urfe company. I assured her
+that we should easily find another vessel of election, the madness of the
+Countess Lascaris having made her absolutely incapable of participating
+in our mysterious rites.
+
+Before long, d'Ache's widow found herself obliged to give me her Mimi;
+but I won her by kindness, and in such a way that the mother could
+pretend with decency to know nothing about it. I redeemed all the goods
+she had pawned, and although the daughter had not yet yielded entirely to
+my ardour, I formed the plan of taking them to Colmar with Madame d'Urfe.
+To make up the good lady's mind, I resolved to let that be one of the
+instructions from the moon, and this she would not only obey blindly but
+would have no suspicions as to my motive.
+
+I managed the correspondence between Selenis and Madame d'Urfe in the
+following manner:
+
+On the day appointed, we supped together in a garden beyond the town
+walls, and in a room on the ground floor of the house I had made all the
+necessary preparations, the letter which was to fall from the moon, in
+reply to Madame d'Urfe's epistle, being in my pocket. At a little
+distance from the chamber of ceremonies I had placed a large bath filled
+with lukewarm water and perfumes pleasing to the deity of the night, into
+which we were to plunge at the hour of the moon, which fell at one
+o'clock.
+
+When we had burnt incense, and sprinkled the essences appropriate to the
+cult of Selenis, we took off all our clothes, and holding the letter
+concealed in my left hand, with the right I graciously led Madame d'Urfe
+to the brink of the bath. Here stood an alabaster cup containing spirits
+of wine which I kindled, repeating magical words which I did not
+understand, but which she said after me, giving me the letter addressed
+to Selenis. I burnt the letter in the flame of the spirits, beneath the
+light of the moon, and the credulous lady told me she saw the characters
+she had traced ascending in the rays of the planet.
+
+We then got into the bath, and the letter, which was written in silver
+characters on green paper appeared on the surface of the water in the
+course of ten minutes. As soon as Madame d'Urfe saw it, she picked it up
+reverently and got out of the bath with me.
+
+We dried and scented ourselves, and proceeded to put on our clothes. As
+soon as we were in a state of decency I told Madame d'Urfe that she might
+read the epistle, which she had placed on a scented silk cushion. She
+obeyed, and I saw sadness visibly expressed on her features when she saw
+that her hypostasis was deferred till the arrival of Querilinthus, whom
+she would see with me at Marseilles in the spring of next year. The
+genius also said that the Countess Lascaris could not only do her harm,
+and that she should consult me as to the best means of getting rid of
+her. The letter ended by ordering her not to leave at Aix a lady who had
+lost her husband, and had a daughter who was destined to be of great
+service to the fraternity of the R. C. She was to take them to Alsace,
+and not to leave them till they were there, and safe from that danger
+which threatened them if they were left to themselves.
+
+Madame d'Urfe, who with all her folly was an exceedingly benevolent
+woman, commended the widow to my care enthusiastically, and seemed
+impatient to hear her whole history. I told her all the circumstances
+which I thought would strengthen her in her resolution to befriend them,
+and promised to introduce the ladies to them at the first opportunity.
+
+We returned to Aix, and spent the night in discussing the phantoms which
+coursed through her brain. All was going on well, and my only care was
+for the journey to Aix, and how to obtain the complete enjoyment of Mimi
+after having so well deserved her favours.
+
+I had a run of luck at play the next day, and in the evening I gave
+Madame d'Ache an agreeable surprise by telling her that I should
+accompany her and her Mimi to Colmar. I told her that I should begin by
+introducing her to the lady whom I had the honour to accompany, and I
+begged her to be ready by the next day as the marchioness was impatient
+to see her. I could see that she could scarcely believe her ears, for she
+thought Madame d'Urfe was in love with me, and she could not understand
+her desire to make the acquaintance of two ladies who might be dangerous
+rivals.
+
+I conducted them to Madame d'Urfe at the appointed hour, and they were
+received with a warmth which surprised them exceedingly, for they could
+not be expected to know that their recommendation came from the moon. We
+made a party of four, and while the two ladies talked together in the
+fashion of ladies who have seen the world, I paid Mimi a particular
+attention, which her mother understood very well, but which Madame d'Urfe
+attributed to the young lady's connection with the Rosy Cross.
+
+In the evening we all went to a ball, and there the Corticelli, who was
+always trying to annoy me, danced as no young lady would dance. She
+executed rapid steps, pirouetted, cut capers, and shewed her legs; in
+short, she behaved like a ballet-girl. I was on thorns. An officer, who
+either ignored, or pretended to ignore, my supposed relation to her,
+asked me if she was a professional dancer. I heard another man behind me
+say that he thought he remembered seeing her on the boards at Prague. I
+resolved on hastening my departure, as I foresaw that if I stayed much
+longer at Aix the wretched girl would end by costing me my life.
+
+As I have said, Madame d'Ache had a good society manner, and this put her
+in Madame d'Urfe's good graces, who saw in her politeness a new proof of
+the favour of Selenis. Madame d'Ache felt, I suppose, that she awed me
+some return after all I had done for her, and left the ball early, so
+that when I took Mimi home I found myself alone with her, and at perfect
+liberty to do what I liked. I profited by the opportunity, and remained
+with Mimi for two hours, finding her so complaisant and even passionate
+that when I left her I had nothing more to desire.
+
+In three days time I provided the mother and daughter with their outfit,
+and we left Aix gladly in an elegant and convenient travelling carriage
+which I had provided. Half an hour before we left I made an acquaintance
+which afterwards proved fatal to me. A Flemish officer, unknown to me,
+accosted me, and painted his destitute condition in such sad colours that
+I felt obliged to give him twelve louis. Ten minutes after, he gave me a
+paper in which he acknowledged the debt, and named the time in which he
+could pay it. From the paper I ascertained that his name was Malingan. In
+ten months the reader will hear the results.
+
+Just as we were starting I shewed the Corticelli a carriage with four
+places, in which she, her mother, and the two maids, were to travel. At
+this she trembled, her pride was wounded, and for a moment I thought she
+was going out of her mind; she rained sobs, abuse, and curses on me. I
+stood the storm unmoved, however, and Madame d'Urfe only laughed at her
+niece's paroxysms, and seemed delighted to find herself sitting opposite
+to me with the servant of Selenis beside her, while Mimi was highly
+pleased to be so close to me.
+
+We got to Liege at nightfall on the next day, and I contrived to make
+Madame d'Urfe stay there the day following, wishing to get horses to take
+us through the Ardennes, and thus to have the charming Mimi longer in my
+possession.
+
+I rose early and went out to see the town. By the great bridge, a woman,
+so wrapped up in a black mantilla that only the tip of her nose was
+visible, accosted me, and asked me to follow her into a house with an
+open door which she shewed me.
+
+"As I have not the pleasure of knowing you," I replied, "prudence will
+not allow me to do so."
+
+"You do know me, though," she replied, and taking me to the corner of a
+neighbouring street she shewed me her face. What was my surprise to see
+the fair Stuart of Avignon, the statue of the Fountain of Vaucluse. I was
+very glad to meet her.
+
+In my curiosity I followed her into the house, to a room on the first
+floor, where she welcomed me most tenderly. It was all no good, for I
+felt angry with her, and despised her advances, no doubt, because I had
+Mimi, and wished to keep all my love for her. However, I took three louis
+out of my purse and gave them to her, asking her to tell me her history.
+
+"Stuart," she said, "was only my keeper; my real name is Ranson, and I am
+the mistress of a rich landed proprietor. I got back to Liege after many
+sufferings."
+
+"I am delighted to hear that you are more prosperous now, but it must be
+confessed that your behaviour at Avignon was both preposterous and
+absurd. But the subject is not worth discussing. Good day, madam."
+
+I then returned to my hotel to write an account of what I had seen to the
+Marquis Grimaldi.
+
+The next day we left Liege, and were two days passing through the
+Ardennes. This is one of the strangest tracts in Europe: a vast forest,
+the traditions of which furnished Ariosto with some splendid passages.
+
+There is no town in the forest, and though one is obliged to cross it to
+pass from one country to another, hardly any of the necessaries of life
+are to be found in it.
+
+The enquirer will seek in vain for vices or virtues, or manners of any
+kind. The inhabitants are devoid of correct ideas, but have wild notions
+of their own on the power of men they style scholars. It is enough to be
+a doctor to enjoy the reputation of an astrologer and a wizard.
+Nevertheless the Ardennes have a large population, as I was assured that
+there were twelve hundred churches in the forest. The people are
+good-hearted and even pleasant, especially the young girls; but as a
+general rule the fair sex is by no means fair in those quarters. In this
+vast district watered by the Meuse is the town of Bouillon--a regular
+hole, but in my time it was the freest place in Europe. The Duke of
+Bouillon was so jealous of his rights that he preferred the exercise of
+his prerogatives to all the honours he might have enjoyed at the Court of
+France. We stayed a day at Metz, but did not call on anyone; and in three
+days we reached Colmar, where we left Madame d'Ache, whose good graces I
+had completely won. Her family, in extremely comfortable circumstances,
+received the mother and daughter with great affection. Mimi wept bitterly
+when I left her, but I consoled her by saying that I would come back
+before long. Madame d'Urfe seemed not to mind leaving them, and I
+consoled myself easily enough. While congratulating myself on having made
+mother and daughter happy, I adored the secret paths and ways of Divine
+Providence.
+
+On the following day we went to Sulzbach, where the Baron of Schaumburg,
+who knew Madame d'Urfe, gave us a warm welcome. I should have been sadly
+boared in this dull place if it had not been for gaming. Madame d'Urfe,
+finding herself in need of company, encouraged the Corticelli to hope to
+regain my good graces, and, consequently, her own. The wretched girl,
+seeing how easily I had defeated her projects, and to what a pass of
+humiliation I had brought her, had changed her part, and was now
+submissive enough. She flattered herself that she would regain the favour
+she had completely lost, and she thought the day was won when she saw
+that Madame d'Ache and her daughter stayed at Colmar. But what she had
+more at heart than either my friendship or Madame d'Urfe's was the
+jewel-casket; but she dared not ask for it, and her hopes of seeing it
+again were growing dim. By her pleasantries at table which made Madame
+d'Urfe laugh she succeeded in giving me a few amorous twinges; but still
+I did not allow my feelings to relax my severity, and she continued to
+sleep with her mother.
+
+A week after our arrival at Sulzbach I left Madame d'Urfe with the Baron
+of Schaumburg, and I went to Colmar in the hope of good fortune. But I
+was disappointed, as the mother and daughter had both made arrangements
+for getting married.
+
+A rich merchant, who had been in love with the mother eighteen years
+before, seeing her a widow and still pretty, felt his early flames
+revive, and offered his hand and was accepted. A young advocate found
+Mimi to his taste, and asked her in marriage. The mother and daughter,
+fearing the results of my affection, and finding it would be a good
+match, lost no time in giving their consent. I was entertained in the
+family, and supped in the midst of a numerous and choice assemblage; but
+seeing that I should only annoy the ladies and tire myself in waiting for
+some chance favour if I stayed, I bade them adieu and returned to
+Sulzbach the next morning. I found there a charming girl from Strasburg,
+named Salzmann, three or four gamesters who had come to drink the waters,
+and several ladies, to whom I shall introduce the reader in the ensuing
+chapter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+I Send The Corticelli to Turin--Helen is Initiated Into The Mysteries of
+Love I Go to Lyons--My Arrival at Turin
+
+One of the ladies, Madame Saxe, was intended by nature to win the
+devotion of a man of feeling; and if she had not had a jealous officer in
+her train who never let her go out of his sight, and seemed to threaten
+anyone who aspired to please, she would probably have had plenty of
+admirers. This officer was fond of piquet, but the lady was always
+obliged to sit close beside him, which she seemed to do with pleasure.
+
+In the afternoon I played with him, and continued doing so for five or
+six days. After that I could stand it no longer, as when he had won ten
+or twelve louis he invariably rose and left me to myself. His name was
+d'Entragues; he was a fine-looking man, though somewhat thin, and had a
+good share of wit and knowledge of the world.
+
+We had not played together for two days, when one afternoon he asked if I
+would like to take my revenge.
+
+"No, I think not," said I, "for we don't play on the same principle. I
+play for amusement's sake and you play to win money."
+
+"What do you mean? Your words are offensive."
+
+"I didn't mean them to be offensive, but as a matter of fact, each time
+we have played you have risen after a quarter of an hour."
+
+"You ought to be obliged to me, as otherwise you would have lost
+heavily."
+
+"Possibly; but I don't think so."
+
+"I can prove it to you:"
+
+"I accept the offer, but the first to leave the table must forfeit fifty
+Louis."
+
+"I agree; but money down."
+
+"I never play on credit."
+
+I ordered a waiter to bring cards, and I went to fetch four or five rolls
+of a hundred Louis each. We began playing for five Louis the game, each
+player putting down the fifty Louis wagered.
+
+We began to play at three, and at nine o'clock d'Entragues said we might
+take some supper.
+
+"I am not hungry," I replied, "but you can go if you want me to put the
+hundred Louis in my pocket."
+
+He laughed at this and went on playing, but this lacy fair scowled at me,
+though I did not care in the least for that. All the guests went to
+supper, and returned to keep us company till midnight, but at that hour
+we found ourselves alone. D'Entragues saw what kind of man he had got
+hold of and said never a word, while I only opened my lips to score; we
+played with the utmost coolness.
+
+At six o'clock the ladies and gentlemen who were taking the waters began
+to assemble. We were applauded for our determination, in spite of our
+grim look. The Louis were on the table; I had lost a hundred, and yet the
+game was going in my favour.
+
+At nine the fair Madame Saxe put in an appearance, and shortly after
+Madame d'Urfe came in with M. de Schaumburg. Both ladies advised us to
+take a cup of chocolate. D'Entragues was the first to consent, and
+thinking that I was almost done he said,--
+
+"Let us agree that the first man who asks for food, who absents himself
+for more than a quarter of an hour, or who falls asleep in his chair,
+loses the bet."
+
+"I will take you at your word," I replied, "and I adhere to all your
+conditions."
+
+The chocolate came, we took it, and proceeded with our play. At noon we
+were summoned to dinner, but we both replied that we were not hungry. At
+four o'clock we allowed ourselves to be persuaded into taking some soup.
+When supper-time came and we were still playing, people began to think
+that the affair was getting serious, and Madame Saxe urged us to divide
+the wager. D'Entragues, who had won a hundred louis, would have gladly
+consented, but I would not give in, and M. de Schaumburg pronounced me
+within my rights. My adversary might have abandoned the stake and still
+found himself with a balance to the good, but avarice rather than pride
+prevented his doing so. I felt the loss myself, but what I cared chiefly
+about was the point of honour. I still looked fresh, while he resembled a
+disinterred corpse. As Madame Saxe urged me strongly to give way, I
+answered that I felt deeply grieved at not being able to satisfy such a
+charming woman, but that there was a question of honour in the case; and
+I was determined not to yield to my antagonist if I sat there till I fell
+dead to the ground.
+
+I had two objects in speaking thus: I wanted to frighten him and to make
+him jealous of me. I felt certain that a man in a passion of jealousy
+would be quite confused, and I hoped his play would suffer accordingly,
+and that I should not have the mortification of losing a hundred louis to
+his superior play, though I won the fifty louis of the wager.
+
+The fair Madame Saxe gave me a glance of contempt and left us, but Madame
+d'Urfe, who believed I was infallible, avenged me by saying to
+d'Entragues, in a tone of the profoundest conviction,--
+
+"O Lord! I pity you, sir."
+
+The company did not return after supper, and we were left alone to our
+play. We played on all the night, and I observed my antagonist's face as
+closely as the cards. He began to lose his composure, and made mistakes,
+his cards got mixed up, and his scoring was wild. I was hardly less done
+up than he; I felt myself growing weaker, and I hoped to see him fall to
+the ground every moment, as I began to be afraid of being beaten in spite
+of the superior strength of my constitution. I had won back my money by
+day-break, and I cavilled with him for being away for more than a quarter
+of an hour. This quarrel about nothing irritated him, and roused me up;
+the difference of our natures produced these different results, and my
+stratagem succeeded because it was impromptu, and could not have been
+foreseen. In the same way in war, sudden stratagems succeed.
+
+At nine o'clock Madame Saxe came in, her lover was losing.
+
+"Now, sir," she said to me, "you may fairly yield."
+
+"Madam," said I, "in hope of pleasing you, I will gladly divide the
+stakes and rise from the table."
+
+The tone of exaggerated gallantry with which I pronounced these words,
+put d'Entragues into a rage, and he answered sharply that he would not
+desist till one of us was dead.
+
+With a glance at the lady which was meant to be lovelorn, but which must
+have been extremely languid in my exhausted state, I said,--
+
+"You see, Madam, that I am not the more obstinate of the two."
+
+A dish of soup was served to us, but d'Entragues, who was in the last
+stage of exhaustion, had no sooner swallowed the soup than he fell from
+his chair in a dead faint. He was soon taken up, and after I had given
+six louis to the marker who had been watching for forty-eight hours, I
+pocketed the gold, and went to the apothecary's where I took a mild
+emetic. Afterwards I went to bed and slept for a few hours, and at three
+o'clock I made an excellent dinner.
+
+D'Entragues remained in his room till the next day. I expected a quarrel,
+but the night brings counsel, and I made a mistake. As soon as he saw me
+he ran up to me and embraced me, saying,--
+
+"I made a silly bet, but you have given me a lesson which will last me
+all my days, and I am much obliged to you for it."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it, provided that your health has not suffered."
+
+"No, I am quite well, but we will play no more together."
+
+"Well, I hope we shan't play against each other any more."
+
+In the course of eight or ten days I took Madame d'Urfe and the pretended
+Lascaris to Bale. We put up at the inn of the famous Imhoff, who swindled
+us, but, all the same, the "Three Kings" is the best inn in the town. I
+think I have noted that noon at Bale is at eleven o'clock--an absurdity
+due to some historic event, which I had explained to me but have
+forgotten. The inhabitants are said to be subject to a kind of madness,
+of which they are cured by taking the waters of Sulzbach; but they 'get
+it again as soon as they return.
+
+We should have stayed at Bale some time, if it had not been for an
+incident which made me hasten our departure. It was as follows:
+
+My necessities had obliged me to forgive the Corticelli to a certain
+extent, and when I came home early I spent the night with her; but when I
+came home late, as often happened, I slept in my own room. The little
+hussy, in the latter case, slept also alone in a room next to her
+mother's, through whose chamber one had to pass to get to the daughter's.
+
+One night I came in at one o'clock, and not feeling inclined to sleep, I
+took a candle and went in search of my charmer. I was rather surprised to
+find Signora Laura's door half open, and just as I was going in the old
+woman came forward and took me by the arm, begging me not to go into her
+daughter's room.
+
+"Why?" said I.
+
+"She has been very poorly all the evening, and she is in need of sleep."
+
+"Very good; then I will sleep too."
+
+So saying I pushed the mother to one side, and entering the girl's room I
+found her in bed with someone who was hiding under the sheets.
+
+I 'gazed at the picture for a moment and then began to laugh, and sitting
+down on the bed begged to enquire the name of the happy individual whom I
+should have the pleasure of throwing out of the window. On a chair I saw
+the coat, trousers, hat, and cane of the gentleman; but as I had my two
+trusty pistols about me I knew I had nothing to fear; however, I did not
+want to make a noise.
+
+With tears in her eyes, and trembling all over, the girl took my hand and
+begged me to forgive her.
+
+"It's a young lord," said she, "and I don't even know his name."
+
+"Oh, he is a young lord, is he? and you don't know his name, you little
+hussy, don't you? Well, he will tell me himself."
+
+So saying, I took a pistol and vigorously stripped the sheets off the
+cuckoo who had got into my nest. I saw the face of a young man whom I did
+not know, his head covered with a nightcap, but the rest perfectly naked,
+as indeed was my mistress. He turned his back to me to get his shirt
+which he had thrown on the floor, but seizing him by the arm I held him
+firmly, with my pistol to his forehead.
+
+"Kindly tell me your name, fair sir."
+
+"I am Count B----, canon of Bale."
+
+"And do you think you have been performing an ecclesiastical function
+here?"
+
+"No sir, no, and I hope you will forgive me and the lady too, for I am
+the only guilty party."
+
+"I am not asking you whether she is guilty or not."
+
+"Sir, the countess is perfectly innocent."
+
+I felt in a good temper, and far from being angry I was strongly inclined
+to laugh. I found the picture before me an attractive one; it was amusing
+and voluptuous. The sight of the two nudities on the bed was a truly
+lascivious one, and I remained contemplating it in silence for a quarter
+of an hour, occupied in resisting a strong temptation to take off my
+clothes and lie beside them. The only thing which prevented my yielding
+to it was the fear that I might find the canon to be a fool, incapable of
+playing the part with dignity. As for the Corticelli, she soon passed
+from tears to laughter, and would have done it well, but if, as I feared,
+the canon was a blockhead, I should have been degrading myself.
+
+I felt certain that neither of them had guessed my thoughts, so I rose
+and told the canon to put on his clothes.
+
+"No one must hear anything more of this," said I, "but you and I will go
+to a distance of two hundred paces and burn a little powder."
+
+"No, no, sir," cried my gentleman, "you may take me where you like, and
+kill me if you please, but I was not meant for a fighting man."
+
+"Really?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and I only became a priest to escape the fatal duty of
+duelling."
+
+"Then you are a coward, and will not object to a good thrashing?"
+
+"Anything you like, but it would be cruelty, for my love blinded me. I
+only came here a quarter of an hour ago, and the countess and her
+governess were both asleep."
+
+"You are a liar."
+
+"I had only just taken off my shirt when you came, and I have never seen
+this angel before."
+
+"And that's gospel truth," said the Corticelli.
+
+"Are you aware that you are a couple of impudent scoundrels? And as for
+you, master canon, you deserve to be roasted like St. Laurence."
+
+In the meanwhile the wretched ecclesiastic had huddled on his clothes.
+
+"Follow me, sir," said I, in a tone which froze the marrow of his bones;
+and I accordingly took him to my room.
+
+"What will you do," said I, "if I forgive you and let you go without
+putting you to shame?"
+
+"I will leave in an hour and a half, and you shall never see me here
+again; but even if we meet in the future, you will find me always ready
+to do you a service."
+
+"Very good. Begone, and in the future take more precautions in your
+amorous adventures."
+
+After this I went to bed, well pleased with what I had seen and what I
+had done, for I now had complete power over the Corticelli.
+
+In the morning I called on her as soon as I got up, and told her to pack
+up her things, forbidding her to leave her room till she got into the
+carriage.
+
+"I shall say I am ill."
+
+"Just as you please, but nobody will take any notice of you."
+
+I did not wait for her to make any further objections, but proceeded to
+tell the tale of what had passed to Madame d'Urfe, slightly embroidering
+the narrative. She laughed heartily, and enquired of the oracle what must
+be done with the Lascaris after her evident pollution by the evil genius
+disguised as a priest. The oracle replied that we must set out the next
+day for Besancon, whence she would go to Lyons and await me there, while
+I would take the countess to Geneva, and thus send her back to her native
+country.
+
+The worthy visionary was enchanted with this arrangement, and saw in it
+another proof of the benevolence of Selenis, who would thus give her an
+opportunity of seeing young Aranda once more. It was agreed that I was to
+rejoin her in the spring of the following year, to perform the great
+operation which was to make her be born a man. She had not the slightest
+doubts as to the reasonableness of this performance.
+
+All was ready, and the next day we started; Madame d'Urfe and I in the
+travelling carriage, and the Corticelli, her mother, and the servants in
+another conveyance.
+
+When we got to Besancon Madame d'Urfe left me, and on the next day I
+journeyed towards Geneva with the mother and daughter.
+
+On the way I not only did not speak to my companions, I did not so much
+as look at them. I made them have their meals with a servant from the
+Franche Comte, whom I had taken on M. de Schaumburg's recommendation.
+
+I went to my banker, and asked him to get me a good coachman, who would
+take two ladies of my acquaintance to Turin.
+
+When I got back to the inn I wrote to the Chevalier Raiberti, sending him
+a bill of exchange. I warned him that in three or four days after the
+receipt of my letter he would be accosted by a Bolognese dancer and her
+mother, bearing a letter of commendation. I begged him to see that they
+lodged in a respectable house, and to pay for them on my behalf. I also
+said that I should be much obliged if he would contrive that she should
+dance, even for nothing, at the carnival, and I begged him to warn her
+that, if I heard any tales about her when I came to Turin, our relations
+would be at an end.
+
+The following day a clerk of M. Tronchin's brought a coachman for me to
+see. The man said he was ready to start as soon as he had had his dinner.
+I confirmed the agreement he had made with the banker, I summoned the two
+Corticellis, and said to the coachman,
+
+"These are the persons you are to drive, and they will pay you when they
+reach Turin in safety with their luggage. You are to take four days and a
+half for the journey, as is stipulated in the agreement, of which they
+have one copy and you another." An hour after he called to put the
+luggage in.
+
+The Corticelli burst into tears, but I was not so cruel as to send her
+away without any consolation. Her bad conduct had been severely enough
+punished already. I made her dine with me, and as I gave her the letter
+for M. Raiberti, and twenty-five Louis for the journey, I told her what I
+had written to the gentleman, who would take good care of them. She asked
+me for a trunk containing three dresses and a superb mantle which Madame
+d'Urfe had given her before she became mad, but I said that we would talk
+of that at Turin. She dared not mention the casket, but continued
+weeping; however, she did not move me to pity. I left her much better off
+than when I first knew her; she had good clothes, good linen, jewels, and
+an exceedingly pretty watch I had given her; altogether a good deal more
+than she deserved.
+
+As she was going I escorted her to the carriage, less for politeness'
+sake than to commend her once more to the coachman. When she was fairly
+gone I felt as if a load had been taken off my back, and I went to look
+up my worthy syndic, whom the reader will not have forgotten. I had not
+written to him since I was in Florence, and I anticipated the pleasure of
+seeing his surprise, which was extreme. But after gazing at me for a
+moment he threw his arms round my neck, kissed me several times, and said
+he had not expected the pleasure of seeing me.
+
+"How are our sweethearts getting on?"
+
+"Excellently. They are always talking about you and regretting your
+absence; they will go wild with joy when they know you are here."
+
+"You must tell them directly, then."
+
+"I will go and warn them that we shall all sup together this evening. By
+the way, M. de Voltaire has given up his house at Delices to M. de
+Villars, and has gone to live at Ferney."
+
+"That makes no difference to me, as I was not thinking of calling on him
+this time. I shall be here for two or three weeks, and I mean to devote
+my time to you."
+
+"You are too good."
+
+"Will you give me writing materials before you go out? I will write a few
+letters while you are away."
+
+He put me in possession of his desk, and I wrote to my late housekeeper,
+Madame Lebel, telling her that I was going to spend three weeks at
+Geneva, and that if I were sure of seeing her I would gladly pay a visit
+to Lausanne. Unfortunately, I also wrote to the bad Genoese poet, Ascanio
+Pogomas, or Giaccomo Passano, whom I had met at Leghorn. I told him to go
+to Turin and to wait for me there. At the same time I wrote to M. F----,
+to whom I had commended him, asking him to give the poet twelve Louis for
+the journey.
+
+My evil genius made me think of this man, who was an imposing-looking
+fellow, and had all the air of a magician, to introduce him to Madame
+d'Urfe as a great adept. You will see, dear reader, in the course of a
+year whether I had reason to repent of this fatal inspiration.
+
+As the syndic and I were on our way to our young friend's house I saw an
+elegant English carriage for sale, and I exchanged it for mine, giving
+the owner a hundred Louis as well. While the bargain was going on the
+uncle of the young theologian who argued so well, and to whom I had given
+such pleasant lessons in physiology, came up to me, embraced me, and
+asked me to dine with him the next day.
+
+Before we got to the house the syndic informed me that we should find
+another extremely pretty but uninitiated girl present.
+
+"All the better," said I, "I shall know how to regulate my conduct, and
+perhaps I may succeed in initiating her."
+
+In my pocket I had placed a casket containing a dozen exquisite rings. I
+had long been aware that such trifling presents are often very
+serviceable.
+
+The moment of meeting those charming girls once more was one of the
+happiest I have ever enjoyed. In their greeting I read delight and love
+of pleasure. Their love was without envy or jealousy, or any ideas which
+would have injured their self-esteem. They felt worthy of my regard, as
+they had lavished their favours on me without any degrading feelings, and
+drawn by the same emotion that had drawn me.
+
+The presence of the neophyte obliged us to greet each other with what is
+called decency, and she allowed me to kiss her without raising her eyes,
+but blushing violently.
+
+After the usual commonplaces had passed and we had indulged in some
+double meanings which made us laugh and her look thoughtful, I told her
+she was pretty as a little love, and that I felt sure that her mind, as
+beautiful as its casket, could harbour no prejudices.
+
+"I have all the prejudices which honour and religion suggest," she
+modestly replied.
+
+I saw that this was a case requiring very delicate treatment. There was
+no question of carrying the citadel by sudden assault. But, as usual, I
+fell in love with her.
+
+The syndic having pronounced my name, she said,--
+
+"Ah! then, you, sir, are the person who discussed some very singular
+questions with my cousin, the pastor's niece. I am delighted to make your
+acquaintance."
+
+"I am equally pleased to make yours, but I hope the pastor's niece said
+nothing against me."
+
+"Not at all; she has a very high opinion of you."
+
+"I am going to dine with her to-morrow, and I shall take care to thank
+her."
+
+"To-morrow! I should like to be there, for I enjoy philosophical
+discussions though I never dare to put a word in."
+
+The syndic praised her discretion and wisdom in such a manner that I was
+convinced he was in love with her, and that he had either seduced her or
+was trying to do so. Her name was Helen. I asked the young ladies if
+Helen was their sister. The eldest replied, with a sly smile, that she
+was a sister, but as yet she had no brother; and with this explanation
+she ran up to Helen and kissed her. Then the syndic and I vied with each
+other in paying her compliments, telling her that we hoped to be her
+brothers. She blushed, but gave no answer to our gallantries. I then drew
+forth my casket, and seeing that all the girls were enchanted with the
+rings, I told them to choose which ones they liked best. The charming
+Helen imitated their example, and repaid me with a modest kiss. Soon
+after she left us, and we were once more free, as in old times.
+
+The syndic had good cause to shew for his love of Helen. She was not
+merely pleasing, she was made to inspire a violent passion. However, the
+three friends had no hope of making her join in their pleasures, for they
+said that she had invincible feelings of modesty where men were
+concerned.
+
+We supped merrily, and after supper we began our sports again, the syndic
+remaining as usual a mere looker-on, and well pleased with his part. I
+treated each of the three nymphs to two courses, deceiving them whenever
+I was forced by nature to do so. At midnight we broke up, and the worthy
+syndic escorted me to the door of my lodging.
+
+The day following I went to the pastor's and found a numerous party
+assembled, amongst others M. d'Harcourt and M. de Ximenes, who told me
+that M. de Voltaire knew that I was at Geneva and hoped to see me. I
+replied by a profound bow. Mdlle. Hedvig, the pastor's niece,
+complimented me, but I was still better pleased to see her cousin Helen.
+The theologian of twenty-two was fair and pleasant to the eyes, but she
+had not that 'je ne sais quoi', that shade of bitter-sweet, which adds
+zest to hope as well as pleasure. However, the evident friendship between
+Hedvig and Helen gave me good hopes of success with the latter.
+
+We had an excellent dinner, and while it lasted the conversation was
+restricted to ordinary topics; but at dessert the pastor begged M. de
+Ximenes to ask his niece some questions. Knowing his worldwide
+reputation, I expected him to put her some problem in geometry, but he
+only asked whether a lie could be justified on the principle of a mental
+reservation.
+
+Hedvig replied that there are cases in which a lie is necessary, but that
+the principle of a mental reservation is always a cheat.
+
+"Then how could Christ have said that the time in which the world was to
+come to an end was unknown to Him?"
+
+"He was speaking the truth; it was not known to Him."
+
+"Then he was not God?"
+
+"That is a false deduction, for since God may do all things, He may
+certainly be ignorant of an event in futurity."
+
+I thought the way in which she brought in the word "futurity" almost
+sublime. Hedvig was loudly applauded, and her uncle went all round the
+table to kiss her. I had a very natural objection on the tip of my
+tongue, which she might have found difficult to answer, but I wanted to
+get into her good graces and I kept my own counsel.
+
+M. d'Harcourt was urged to ask her some questions, but he replied in the
+words of Horace, 'Nulla mihi religio est'. Then Hedvig turned to me and
+asked me to put her some hard question, "something difficult, which you
+don't know yourself."
+
+"I shall be delighted. Do you grant that a god possesses in a supreme
+degree the qualities of man?"
+
+"Yes, excepting man's weaknesses."
+
+"Do you class the generative power as a weakness?"
+
+"No."
+
+"Will you tell me, then, of what nature would have been the offspring of
+a union between a god and a mortal woman?"
+
+Hedvig looked as red as fire.
+
+The pastor and the other guests looked at each other, while I gazed
+fixedly at the young theologian, who was reflecting. M. d'Harcourt said
+that we should have to send for Voltaire to settle a question so
+difficult, but as Hedvig had collected her thoughts and seemed ready to
+speak everybody was silent.
+
+"It would be absurd," said she, "to suppose that a deity could perform
+such an action without its having any results. At the end of nine months
+a woman would be delivered a male child, which would be three parts man
+and one part god."
+
+At these words all the guests applauded, M. de Ximenes expressed his
+admiration of the way the question had been solved, adding,--
+
+"Naturally, if the son of the woman married, his children would be
+seven-eighths men and one-eighth gods."
+
+"Yes," said I, "unless he married a goddess, which would have made the
+proportion different."
+
+"Tell me exactly," said Hedvig, "what proportion of divinity there would
+be in a child of the sixteenth generation."
+
+"Give me a pencil and I will soon tell you," said M. de Ximenes.
+
+"There is no need to calculate it," said I; "the child would have some
+small share of the wit which you enjoy."
+
+Everybody applauded this gallant speech, which did not by any means
+offend the lady to whom it was addressed.
+
+This pretty blonde was chiefly desirable for the charms of her intellect.
+We rose from the table and made a circle round her, but she told us with
+much grace not to pay her any more compliments.
+
+I took Helen aside, and told her to get her cousin to choose a ring from
+my casket, which I gave her, and she seemed glad to execute the
+commission. A quarter of an hour afterwards Hedvig came to shew me her
+hand adorned with the ring she had chosen. I kissed it rapturously, and
+she must have guessed from the warmth of my kisses with what feelings she
+had inspired me.
+
+In the evening Helen told the syndic and the three girls all about the
+morning's discussion without leaving out the smallest detail. She told
+the story with ease and grace, and I had no occasion to prompt her. We
+begged her to stay to supper, but she whispered something to the three
+friends, and they agreed that it was impossible; but she said that she
+might spend a couple of days with them in their country house on the
+lake, if they would ask her mother.
+
+At the syndic's request the girls called on the mother the next day, and
+the day after that they went off with Helen. The same evening we went and
+supped with them, but we could not sleep there. The syndic was to take me
+to a house at a short distance off, where we should be very comfortable.
+This being the case there was no hurry, and the eldest girl said that the
+syndic and I could leave whenever we liked, but that they were going to
+bed. So saying she took Helen to her room, while the two others slept in
+another room. Soon after the syndic went into the room where Helen was,
+and I visited the two others.
+
+I had scarcely been with my two sweethearts for an hour when the syndic
+interrupted my erotic exploits by begging me to go.
+
+"What have you done with Helen?" I asked.
+
+"Nothing; she's a simpleton, and an intractable one. She hid under the
+sheets and would not look at my performance with her friend."
+
+"You ought to go to her direct."
+
+"I have done so, but she repulsed me again and again. I have given it up,
+and shall not try it again, unless you will tame her for me."
+
+"How is it to be done?"
+
+"Come to dinner to-morrow. I shall be away at Geneva. I shall be back by
+supper-time. I wish we could give her too much to drink!"
+
+"That would be a pity. Let me see what I can do."
+
+I accordingly went to dine with them by myself the next day, and they
+entertained me in all the force of the word. After dinner we went for a
+walk, and the three friends understanding my aims left me alone with the
+intractable girl, who resisted my caresses in a manner which almost made
+me give up the hope of taming her.
+
+"The syndic," said I, "is in love with you, and last night . . .
+
+"Last night," she said, "he amused himself with his old friend. I am for
+everyone's following their own tastes, but I expect to be allowed to
+follow mine."
+
+"If I could gain your heart I should be happy."
+
+"Why don't you invite the pastor and my cousin to dine with you? I could
+come too, for the pastor makes much of everyone who loves his niece."
+
+"I am glad to hear that. Has she a lover?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I can scarcely believe it. She is young, pretty, agreeable, and very
+clever."
+
+"You don't understand Genevan ways. It is because she is so clever that
+no young man falls in love with her. Those who might be attracted by her
+personal charms hold themselves aloof on account of her intellectual
+capacities, as they would have to sit in silence before her."
+
+"Are the young Genevans so ignorant, then?"
+
+"As a rule they are. Some of them have received excellent educations, but
+in a general way they are full of prejudice. Nobody wishes to be
+considered a fool or a blockhead, but clever women are not appreciated;
+and if a girl is witty or well educated she endeavors to hide her lights,
+at least if she desires to be married."
+
+"Ah! now I see why you did not open your lips during our discussion."
+
+"No, I know I have nothing to hide. This was not the motive which made me
+keep silence, but the pleasure of listening. I admired my cousin, who was
+not afraid to display her learning on a subject which any other girl
+would have affected to know nothing about."
+
+"Yes, affected, though she might very probably know as much as her
+grandmother."
+
+"That's a matter of morals, or rather of prejudices."
+
+"Your reasoning is admirable, and I am already longing for the party you
+so cleverly suggested:"
+
+"You will have the pleasure of being with my cousin."
+
+"I do her justice. Hedvig is certainly a very interesting and agreeable
+girl, but believe me it is your presence that will constitute my chief
+enjoyment."
+
+"And how if I do not believe you?"
+
+"You would wrong me and give me pain, for I love you dearly."
+
+"In spite of that you have deceived me. I am sure that you have given
+marks of your affection to those three young ladies. For my part I pity
+them."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because neither of them can flatter herself that you love her, and her
+alone."
+
+"And do you think that your delicacy of feeling makes you happier than
+they are?"
+
+"Yes, I think so though of course, I have no experience in the matter.
+Tell me truly, do you think I am right?"
+
+"Yes, I do."
+
+"I am delighted to hear it; but you must confess that to associate me
+with them in your attentions would not be giving me the greatest possible
+proof of your love."
+
+"Yes, I do confess it, and I beg your pardon. But tell me how I should
+set to work to ask the pastor to dinner."
+
+"There will be no difficulty. Just call on him and ask him to come, and
+if you wish me to be of the party beg him to ask my mother and myself."
+
+"Why your mother?"
+
+"Because he has been in love with her these twenty years, and loves her
+still."
+
+"And where shall I give this dinner?"
+
+"Is not M. Tronchin your banker?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"He has a nice pleasure house on the lake; ask him to lend it you for the
+day; he will be delighted to do so. But don't tell the syndic or his
+three friends anything about it; they can hear of it afterwards."
+
+"But do you think your learned cousin will be glad to be in my company?"
+
+"More than glad, you may be sure."
+
+"Very good, everything will be arranged by tomorrow. The day after, you
+will be returning to Geneva, and the party will take place two or three
+days later."
+
+The syndic came back in due course, and we had a very pleasant evening.
+After supper the ladies went to bed as before, and I went with the eldest
+girl while the syndic visited the two younger ones. I knew that it would
+be of no use to try to do anything with Helen, so I contented myself with
+a few kisses, after which I wished them good night and passed on to the
+next room. I found them in a deep sleep, and the syndic seemed visibly
+bored. He did not look more cheerful when I told him that I had had no
+success with Helen.
+
+"I see," said he, "that I shall waste my time with the little fool. I
+think I shall give her up."
+
+"I think that's the best thing you could do," I replied, "for a man who
+languishes after a woman who is either devoid of feeling or full of
+caprice, makes himself her dupe. Bliss should be neither too easy nor too
+hard to be won."
+
+The next day we returned to Geneva, and M. Tronchin seemed delighted to
+oblige me. The pastor accepted my invitation, and said I was sure to be
+charmed with Helen's mother. It was easy to see that the worthy man
+cherished a tenderness for her, and if she responded at all it would be
+all the better for my purposes.
+
+I was thinking of supping with the charming Helen and her three friends
+at the house on the lake, but an express summoned me to Lausanne. Madame
+Lebel, my old housekeeper, invited me to sup with her and her husband.
+She wrote that she had made her husband promise to take her to Lausanne
+as soon as she got my letter, and she added she was sure that I would
+resign everything to give her the pleasure of seeing me. She notified the
+hour at which she would be at her mother's house.
+
+Madame Lebel was one of the ten or twelve women for whom in my happy
+youth I cherished the greatest affection. She had all the qualities to
+make a man a good wife, if it had been my fate to experience such
+felicity. But perhaps I did well not to tie myself down with irrevocable
+bonds, though now my independence is another name for slavery. But if I
+had married a woman of tact, who would have ruled me unawares to myself,
+I should have taken care of my fortune and have had children, instead of
+being lonely and penniless in my old age.
+
+But I must indulge no longer in digressions on the past which cannot be
+recalled, and since my recollections make me happy I should be foolish to
+cherish idle regrets.
+
+I calculated that if I started directly I should get to Lausanne an hour
+before Madame Lebel, and I did not hesitate to give her this proof of my
+regard. I must here warn my readers, that, though I loved this woman
+well, I was then occupied with another passion, and no voluptuous thought
+mingled with my desire of seeing her. My esteem for her was enough to
+hold my passions in check, but I esteemed Lebel too, and nothing would
+have induced me to disturb the happiness of this married pair.
+
+I wrote in haste to the syndic, telling him that an important and sudden
+call obliged me to start for Lausanne, but that I should have the
+pleasure of supping with him and his three friends at Geneva on the
+following day.
+
+I knocked at Madame Dubois's door at five o'clock, almost dying with
+hunger. Her surprise was extreme, for she did not know that her daughter
+was going to meet me at her house. Without more ado I gave her two louis
+to get us a good supper.
+
+At seven o'clock, Madame Lebel, her husband, and a child of eighteen
+months, whom I easily recognized as my own, arrived. Our meeting was a
+happy one indeed; we spent ten hours at table, and mirth and joy
+prevailed. At day-break she started for Soleure, where Lebel had
+business. M. de Chavigni had desired to be remembered most affectionately
+to me. Lebel assured me that the ambassador was extremely kind to his
+wife, and he thanked me heartily for having given such a woman up to him.
+I could easily see that he was a happy husband, and that his wife was as
+happy as he.
+
+My dear housekeeper talked to me about my son. She said that nobody
+suspected the truth, but that neither she nor Lebel (who had faithfully
+kept his promise, and had not consummated the marriage for the two months
+agreed upon) had any doubts.
+
+"The secret," said Lebel to me, "will never be known, and your son will
+be my sole heir, or will share my property with my children if I ever
+have any, which I doubt."
+
+"My dear," said his wife, "there is somebody who has very strong
+suspicions on the subject, and these suspicions will gain strength as the
+child grows older; but we have nothing to fear on that score, as she is
+well paid to keep the secret."
+
+"And who is this person?" said I.
+
+"Madame----. She has not forgotten the past, and often speaks of you."
+
+"Will you kindly remember me to her?"
+
+"I shall be delighted to do so, and I am sure the message will give her
+great pleasure."
+
+Lebel shewed me my ring, and I shewed him his, and gave him a superb
+watch for my son.
+
+"You must give it him," I said, "when you think he is old enough."
+
+We shall hear of the young gentleman in twenty-one years at
+Fontainebleau.
+
+I passed three hours in telling them of all the adventures I had during
+the twenty-seven months since we had seen one another. As to their
+history, it was soon told; it had all the calm which belongs to
+happiness.
+
+Madame Lebel was as pretty as ever, and I could see no change in her, but
+I was no longer the same man. She thought me less lively than of old, and
+she was right. The Renaud had blasted me, and the pretended Lascaris had
+given me a great deal of trouble and anxiety.
+
+We embraced each other tenderly, and the wedded pair returned to Soleure
+and I to Geneva; but feeling that I wanted rest I wrote to the syndic
+that I was not well and could not come till the next day, and after I had
+done so I went to bed.
+
+The next day, the eve of my dinner party, I ordered a repast in which no
+expense was to be spared. I did not forget to tell the landlord to get me
+the best wines, the choicest liqueurs, ices, and all the materials for a
+bowl of punch. I told him that we should be six in number, for I foresaw
+that M. Tronchin would dine with us. I was right; I found him at his
+pretty house ready to receive us, and I had not much trouble in inducing
+him to stay. In the evening I thought it as well to tell the syndic and
+his three friends about it in Helen's presence, while she, feigning
+ignorance, said that her mother had told her they were going somewhere or
+other to dinner.
+
+"I am delighted to hear it," said I; "it must be at M. Tronchin's."
+
+My dinner would have satisfied the most exacting gourmet, but Hedvig was
+its real charm. She treated difficult theological questions with so much
+grace, and rationalised so skilfully, that though one might not be
+convinced it was impossible to help being attracted. I have never seen
+any theologian who could treat the most difficult points with so much
+facility, eloquence, and real dignity, and at dinner she completed her
+conquest of myself. M. Tronchin, who had never heard her speak before,
+thanked me a hundred times for having procured him this pleasure, and
+being obliged to leave us by the call of business he asked us to meet
+again in two days' time.
+
+I was much interested during the dessert by the evident tenderness of the
+pastor for Helen's mother. His amorous eloquence grew in strength as he
+irrigated his throat with champagne, Greek wine, and eastern liqueurs.
+The lady seemed pleased, and was a match for him as far as drinking was
+concerned, while the two girls and myself only drank with sobriety.
+However, the mixture of wines, and above all the punch, had done their
+work, and my charmers were slightly elevated. Their spirits were
+delightful, but rather pronounced.
+
+I took this favourable opportunity to ask the two aged lovers if I might
+take the young ladies for a walk in the garden by the lake, and they told
+us enthusiastically to go and enjoy ourselves. We went out arm in arm,
+and in a few minutes we were out of sight of everyone.
+
+"Do you know," said I to Hedvig, "that you have made a conquest of M.
+Tronchin?"
+
+"Have I? The worthy banker asked me some very silly questions."
+
+"You must not expect everyone to be able to contend with you."
+
+"I can't help telling you that your question pleased me best of all. A
+bigoted theologian at the end of the table seemed scandalized at the
+question and still more at the answer."
+
+"And why?"
+
+"He says I ought to have told you that a deity could not impregnate a
+woman. He said that he would explain the reason to me if I were a man,
+but being a woman and a maid he could not with propriety expound such
+mysteries. I wish you would tell me what the fool meant."
+
+"I should be very glad, but you must allow me to speak plainly, and I
+shall have to take for granted that you are acquainted with the physical
+conformation of a man."
+
+"Yes, speak as plainly as you like, for there is nobody to hear what we
+say; but I must confess that I am only acquainted with the peculiarities
+of the male by theory and reading. I have no practical knowledge. I have
+seen statues, but I have never seen or examined a real live man. Have
+you, Helen?"
+
+"I have never wished to do so."
+
+"Why not? It is good to know everything."
+
+"Well, Hedvig, your theologian meant to say that a god was not capable of
+this."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"Give me your hand."
+
+"I can feel it, and have thought it would be something like that; without
+this provision of nature man would not be able to fecundate his mate. And
+how could the foolish theologian maintain that this was an imperfection?"
+
+"Because it is the result of desire, Hedvig, and it would not have taken
+place in me if I had not been charmed with you, and if I had not
+conceived the most seducing ideas of the beauties that I cannot see from
+the view of the beauties I can see. Tell me frankly whether feeling that
+did not give you an agreeable sensation."
+
+"It did, and just in the place where your hand is now. Don't you feel a
+pleasant tickling there, Helen, after what the gentleman has been saying
+to us?"
+
+"Yes, I feel it, but I often do, without anything to excite me."
+
+"And then," said I, "nature makes you appease it . . . thus?"
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"Oh, yes!" said Hedvig. "Even when we are asleep our hands seek that spot
+as if by instinct, and if it were not for that solace I think we should
+get terribly ill."
+
+As this philosophical discourse, conducted by the young theologian in
+quite a professional manner, proceeded, we reached a beautiful basin of
+water, with a flight of marble steps for bathers. Although the air was
+cool our heads were hot, and I conceived the idea of telling them that it
+would do them good to bathe their feet, and that if they would allow me I
+would take off their shoes and stockings.
+
+"I should like to so much," said Hedvig.
+
+"And I too," said Helen.
+
+"Then sit down, ladies, on the first step."
+
+They proceeded to sit down and I began to take off their shoes, praising
+the beauty of their legs, and pretending for the present not to want to
+go farther than the knee. When they got into the water they were obliged
+to pick up their clothes, and I encouraged them to do so.
+
+"Well, well," said Hedvig, "men have thighs too."
+
+Helen, who would have been ashamed to be beaten by her cousin, was not
+backward in shewing her legs.
+
+"That will do, charming maids," said I, "you might catch cold if you
+stayed longer in the water."
+
+They walked up backwards, still holding up their clothes for fear of
+wetting them, and it was then my duty to wipe them dry with all the
+handkerchiefs I had. This pleasant task left me at freedom to touch and
+see, and the reader will imagine that I did my best in that direction.
+The fair theologian told me I wanted to know too much, but Helen let me
+do what I liked with such a tender and affectionate expression that it
+was as much as I could do to keep within bounds. At last, when I had
+drawn on their shoes and stockings, I told them that I was delighted to
+have seen the hidden charms of the two prettiest girls in Geneva.
+
+"What effect had it on you?" asked Hedvig.
+
+"I daren't tell you to look, but feel, both of you."
+
+"Do you bathe, too."
+
+"It's out of the question, a man's undressing takes so much trouble."
+
+"But we have still two hours before us, in which we need not fear any
+interruption."
+
+This reply gave me a foretaste of the bliss I had to gain, but I did not
+wish to expose myself to an illness by going into the water in my present
+state. I noticed a summer-house at a little distance, and feeling sure
+that M. Tronchin had left the door open, I took the two girls on my arm
+and led them there without giving them any hint of my intentions. The
+summer-house was scented with vases of pot-pourri and adorned with
+engravings; but, best of all, there was a large couch which seemed made
+for repose and pleasure. I sat down on it between my two sweethearts, and
+as I caressed them I told them I was going to shew them something they
+had never seen before, and without more ado I displayed to their gaze the
+principal agent in the preservation of the human race. They got up to
+admire it, and taking a hand of each one I procured them some enjoyment,
+but in the middle of their labours an abundant flow of liquid threw them
+into the greatest astonishment.
+
+"That," said I, "is the Word which makes men."
+
+"It's beautiful!" cried Helen, laughing at the term "word."
+
+"I have a word too," said Hedvig, "and I will shew it to you if you will
+wait a minute."
+
+"Come, Hedvig, and I will save you the trouble of making it yourself, and
+will do it better."
+
+"I daresay, but I have never done it with a man."
+
+"No more have I," said Helen.
+
+Placing them in front of me I gave them another ecstacy. We then sat
+down, and while I felt all their charms I let them touch me as much as
+they liked till I watered their hands a second time.
+
+We made ourselves decent once more, and spent half an hour in kisses and
+caresses, and I then told them that they had made me happy only in part,
+but that I hoped they would make my bliss complete by presenting me with
+their maidenheads. I shewed them the little safety-bags invented by the
+English in the interests of the fair sex. They admired them greatly when
+I explained their use, and the fair theologian remarked to her cousin
+that she would think it over. We were now close friends, and soon
+promised to be something more; and we walked back and found the pastor
+and Helen's mother strolling by the side of the lake.
+
+When I got back to Geneva I went to spend the evening with the three
+friends, but I took good care not to tell the syndic anything about my
+victory with Helen. It would only have served to renew his hopes, and he
+would have had this trouble for nothing. Even I would have done no good
+without the young theologian; but as Helen admired her she did not like
+to appear her inferior by refusing to imitate her freedom.
+
+I did not see Helen that evening, but I saw her the next day at her
+mother's house, for I was in mere politeness bound to thank the old lady
+for the honour she had done me. She gave me a most friendly reception,
+and introduced me to two very pretty girls who were boarding with her.
+They might have interested me if I had been stopping long in Geneva, but
+as if was Helen claimed all my attraction.
+
+"To-morrow," said the charming girl, "I shall be able to get a word with
+you at Madame Tronchin's dinner, and I expect Hedvig will have hit on
+some way for you to satisfy your desires."
+
+The banker gave us an excellent dinner. He proudly told me that no
+inn-keeper could give such a good dinner as a rich gentleman who has a
+good cook, a good cellar, good silver plate, and china of the best
+quality. We were twenty of us at table, and the feast was given chiefly
+in honour of the learned theologian and myself, as a rich foreigner who
+spent money freely. M. de Ximenes, who had just arrived from Ferney was
+there, and told me that M. de Voltaire was expecting me, but I had
+foolishly determined not to go.
+
+Hedvig shone in solving the questions put to her by the company. M. de
+Ximenes begged her to justify as best she could our first mother, who had
+deceived her husband by giving him the fatal apple to eat.
+
+"Eve," she said, "did not deceive her husband, she only cajoled him into
+eating it in the hope of giving him one more perfection. Besides Eve had
+not been forbidden to eat the fruit by God, but only by Adam, and in all
+probability her woman's sense prevented her regarding the prohibition as
+serious."
+
+At this reply, which I found full of sense and wit, two scholars from
+Geneva and even Hedvig's uncle began to murmur and shake their heads.
+Madame Tronchin said gravely that Eve had received the prohibition from
+God himself, but the girl only answered by a humble "I beg your pardon,
+madam." At this she turned to the pastor with a frightened manner, and
+said,--
+
+"What do you say to this?"
+
+"Madam, my niece is not infallible."
+
+"Excuse me, dear uncle, I am as infallible as Holy Writ when I speak
+according to it."
+
+"Bring a Bible, and let me see."
+
+"Hedvig, my dear Hedvig, you are right after all. Here it is. The
+prohibition was given before woman was made."
+
+Everybody applauded, but Hedvig remained quite calm; it was only the two
+scholars and Madame Tronchin who still seemed disturbed. Another lady
+then asked her if it was allowable to believe the history of the apple to
+be symbolical. She replied,--
+
+"I do not think so, because it could only be a symbol of sexual union,
+and it is clear that such did not take place between Adam and Eve in the
+Garden of Eden."
+
+"The learned differ on this point."
+
+"All the worse for them, madam, the Scripture is plain enough. In the
+first verse of the fourth chapter it is written, that Adam knew his wife
+after they had been driven from the Garden, and that in consequence she
+conceived Cain."
+
+"Yes, but the verse does not say that Adam did not know her before and
+consequently he might have done so."
+
+"I cannot admit the inference, as in that case she would have conceived;
+for it would be absurd to suppose that two creatures who had just left
+God's hands, and were consequently as nearly perfect as is possible,
+could perform the act of generation without its having any result."
+
+This reply gained everyone's applause, and compliments to Hedvig made the
+round of the table.
+
+Mr. Tronchin asked her if the doctrine of the immortality of the soul
+could be gathered from the Old Testament alone.
+
+"The Old Testament," she replied, "does not teach this doctrine; but,
+nevertheless, human reason teaches it, as the soul is a substance, and
+the destruction of any substance is an unthinkable proposition."
+
+"Then I will ask you," said the banker, "if the existence of the soul is
+established in the Bible."
+
+"Where there is smoke there is always fire."
+
+"Tell me, then, if matter can think."
+
+"I cannot answer that question, for it is beyond my knowledge. I can only
+say that as I believe God to be all powerful, I cannot deny Him the power
+to make matter capable of thought."
+
+"But what is your own opinion?"
+
+"I believe that I have a soul endowed with thinking capacities, but I do
+not know whether I shall remember that I had the honour of dining with
+you to-day after I die."
+
+"Then you think that the soul and the memory may be separable; but in
+that case you would not be a theologian."
+
+"One may be a theologian and a philosopher, for philosophy never
+contradicts any truth, and besides, to say 'I do not know' is not the
+same as 'I am sure'."
+
+Three parts of the guests burst into cries of admiration, and the fair
+philosopher enjoyed seeing me laugh for pleasure at the applause. The
+pastor wept for joy, and whispered something to Helen's mother. All at
+once he turned to me, saying,--
+
+"Ask my niece some question."
+
+"Yes," said Hedvig, "but it must be something quite new."
+
+"That is a hard task," I replied, "for how am I to know that what I ask
+is new to you? However, tell me if one must stop at the first principle
+of a thing one wants to understand."
+
+"Certainly, and the reason is that in God there is no first principle,
+and He is therefore incomprehensible."
+
+"God be praised! that is how I would have you answer. Can God have any
+self-consciousness?"
+
+"There my learning is baffled. I know not what to reply. You should not
+ask me so hard a thing as that."
+
+"But you wished for something new. I thought the newest thing would be to
+see you at a loss."
+
+"That's prettily said. Be kind enough to reply for me, gentlemen, and
+teach me what to say."
+
+Everybody tried to answer, but nothing was said worthy of record. Hedvig
+at last said,--
+
+"My opinion is that since God knows all, He knows of His own existence,
+but you must not ask me how He knows it."
+
+"That's well said," I answered; and nobody could throw any further light
+on the matter.
+
+All the company looked on me as a polite Atheist, so superficial is the
+judgment of society, but it did not matter to me whether they thought me
+an Atheist or not.
+
+M. de Ximenes asked Hedvig if matter had been created.
+
+"I cannot recognize the word 'created,'" she replied. "Ask me whether
+matter was formed, and I shall reply in the affirmative. The word
+'created' cannot have existence, for the existence of anything must be
+prior to the word which explains it."
+
+"Then what meaning do you assign to the word 'created'?"
+
+"Made out of nothing. You see the absurdity, for nothing must have first
+existed. I am glad to see you laugh. Do you think that nothingness could
+be created?"
+
+"You are right."
+
+"Not at all, not at all," said one of the guests, superciliously.
+
+"Kindly tell me who was your teacher?" said M. de Ximenes.
+
+"My uncle there."
+
+"Not at all, my dear niece. I certainly never taught you what you have
+been telling us to-day. But my niece, gentlemen, reads and reflects over
+what she has read, perhaps with rather too much freedom, but I love her
+all the same, because she always ends by acknowledging that she knows
+nothing."
+
+A lady who had not opened her lips hitherto asked Hedvig for a definition
+of spirit.
+
+"Your question is a purely philosophical one, and I must answer that I do
+not know enough of spirit or matter to be able to give a satisfactory
+definition."
+
+"But since you acknowledge the existence of Deity and must therefore have
+an abstract idea of spirit, you must have some notions on the subject,
+and should be able to tell me how it acts on matter."
+
+"No solid foundation can be built on abstract ideas. Hobbes calls such
+ideas mere fantasms. One may have them, but if one begins to reason on
+them, one is landed in contradiction. I know that God sees me, but I
+should labour in vain if I endeavoured to prove it by reasoning, for
+reason tells us no one can see anything without organs of sight; and God
+being a pure spirit, and therefore without organs, it is scientifically
+impossible that He can see us any more than we can see Him. But Moses and
+several others have seen Him, and I believe it so, without attempting to
+reason on it."
+
+"You are quite right," said I, "for you would be confronted by blank
+impossibility. But if you take to reading Hobbes you are in danger of
+becoming an Atheist."
+
+"I am not afraid of that. I cannot conceive the possibility of Atheism."
+
+After dinner everybody crowded round this truly astonishing girl, so that
+I had no opportunity of whispering my love. However, I went apart with
+Helen, who told me that the pastor and his niece were going to sup with
+her mother the following day.
+
+"Hedvig," she added, "will stay the night and sleep with me as she always
+does when she comes to supper with her uncle. It remains to be seen if
+you are willing to hide in a place I will shew you at eleven o'clock
+tomorrow, in order to sleep with us. Call on my mother at that hour
+to-morrow, and I will find an opportunity of shewing you where it is. You
+will be safe though not comfortable, and if you grow weary you can
+console yourself by thinking that you are in our minds."
+
+"Shall I have to stay there long?"
+
+"Four hours at the most. At seven o'clock the street door is shut, and
+only opened to anyone who rings."
+
+"If I happen to cough while I am in hiding might I be heard?"
+
+"Yes, that might happen."
+
+"There's a great hazard. All the rest is of no consequence; but no
+matter, I will risk all for the sake of so great happiness."
+
+In the morning I paid the mother a visit, and as Helen was escorting me
+out she shewed me a door between the two stairs.
+
+"At seven o'clock," said she, "the door will be open, and when you are in
+put on the bolt. Take care that no one sees you as you are entering the
+house."
+
+At a quarter to seven I was already a prisoner. I found a seat in my
+cell, otherwise I should neither have been able to lie down or to stand
+up. It was a regular hole, and I knew by my sense of smell that hams and
+cheeses were usually kept there; but it contained none at present, for I
+fell all round to see how the land lay. As I was cautiously stepping
+round I felt my foot encounter some resistance, and putting down my hand
+I recognized the feel of linen. It was a napkin containing two plates, a
+nice roast fowl, bread, and a second napkin. Searching again I came
+across a bottle and a glass. I was grateful to my charmers for having
+thought of my stomach, but as I had purposely made a late and heavy meal
+I determined to defer the consumption of my cold collation till a later
+hour.
+
+At nine o'clock I began, and as I had neither a knife nor a corkscrew I
+was obliged to break the neck of the bottle with a brick which I was
+fortunately able to detach from the mouldering floor. The wine was
+delicious old Neuchatel, and the fowl was stuffed with truffles, and I
+felt convinced that my two nymphs must have some rudimentary ideas on the
+subject of stimulants. I should have passed the time pleasantly enough if
+it had not been for the occasional visits of a rat, who nearly made me
+sick with his disgusting odour. I remembered that I had been annoyed in
+the same way at Cologne under somewhat similar circumstances.
+
+At last ten o'clock struck, and I heard the pastor's voice as he came
+downstairs talking; he warned the girls not to play any tricks together,
+and to go to sleep quietly. That brought back to my memory M. Rose
+leaving Madame Orio's house at Venice twenty-two years before; and
+reflecting on my character I found myself much changed, though not more
+reasonable; but if I was not so sensible to the charms of the sex, the
+two beauties who were awaiting me were much superior to Madame Orio's
+nieces.
+
+In my long and profligate career in which I have turned the heads of some
+hundreds of ladies, I have become familiar with all the methods of
+seduction; but my guiding principle has been never to direct my attack
+against novices or those whose prejudices were likely to prove an
+obstacle except in the presence of another woman. I soon found out that
+timidity makes a girl averse to being seduced, while in company with
+another girl she is easily conquered; the weakness of the one brings on
+the fall of the other. Fathers and mothers are of the contrary opinion,
+but they are in the wrong. They will not trust their daughter to take a
+walk or go to a ball with a young man, but if she has another girl with
+her there is no difficulty made. I repeat, they are in the wrong; if the
+young man has the requisite skill their daughter is a lost woman. A
+feeling of false shame hinders them from making an absolute and
+determined resistance, and the first step once taken the rest comes
+inevitably and quickly. The girl grants some small favour, and
+immediately makes her friend grant a much greater one to hide her own
+blushes; and if the seducer is clever at his trade the young innocent
+will soon have gone too far to be able to draw back. Besides the more
+innocence a girl has, the less she knows of the methods of seduction.
+Before she has had time to think, pleasure attracts her, curiosity draws
+her a little farther, and opportunity does the rest.
+
+For example, I might possibly have been able to seduce Hedvig without
+Helen, but I am certain I should never have succeeded with Helen if she
+had not seen her cousin take liberties with me which she no doubt thought
+contrary to the feelings of modesty which a respectable young woman ought
+to have.
+
+Though I do not repent of my amorous exploits, I am far from wishing that
+my example should serve for the perversion of the fair sex, who have so
+many claims on my homage. I desire that what I say may be a warning to
+fathers and mothers, and secure me a place in their esteem at any rate.
+
+Soon after the pastor had gone I heard three light knocks on my prison
+door. I opened it, and my hand was folded in a palm as soft as satin. All
+my being was moved. It was Helen's hand, and that happy moment had
+already repaid me for my long waiting.
+
+"Follow me on tiptoe," she whispered, as soon as she had shut the door;
+but in my impatience I clasped her in my arms, and made her feel the
+effect which her mere presence had produced on me, while at the same time
+I assured myself of her docility. "There," she said, "now come upstairs
+softly after me."
+
+I followed her as best I could in the darkness, and she took me along a
+gallery into a dark room, and then into a lighted one which contained
+Hedvig almost in a state of nudity. She came to me with open arms as soon
+as she saw me, and, embracing me ardently, expressed her gratitude for my
+long and dreary imprisonment.
+
+"Divine Hedvig," I answered, "if I had not loved you madly I would not
+have stayed a quarter of an hour in that dismal cell, but I am ready to
+spend four hours there every day till I leave Geneva for your sake. But
+we must not lose any time; let us go to bed."
+
+"Do you two go to bed," said Helen; "I will sleep on the sofa."
+
+"No, no," cried Hedvig, "don't think of it; our fate must be exactly
+equal."
+
+"Yes, darling Helen," said I, embracing her; "I love you both with equal
+ardour, and these ceremonies are only wasting the time in which I ought
+to be assuring you of my passion. Imitate my proceedings. I am going to
+undress, and then I shall lie in the middle of the bed. Come and lie
+beside me, and I'll shew you how I love you. If all is safe I will remain
+with you till you send me away, but whatever you do do not put out the
+light."
+
+In the twinkling of an eye, discussing the theory of shame the while with
+the theological Hedvig, I presented myself to their gaze in the costume
+of Adam. Hedvig blushed and parted with the last shred of her modesty,
+citing the opinion of St. Clement Alexandrinus that the seat of shame is
+in the shirt. I praised the charming perfection of her shape, in the hope
+of encouraging Helen, who was slowly undressing herself; but an
+accusation of mock modesty from her cousin had more effect than all my
+praises. At last this Venus stood before me in a state of nature,
+covering her most secret parts with her hand, and hiding one breast with
+the other, and appearing woefully ashamed of what she could not conceal.
+Her modest confusion, this strife between departing modesty and rising
+passion, enchanted me.
+
+Hedvig was taller than Helen; her skin was whiter, and her breasts double
+the size of Helen's; but in Helen there was more animation, her shape was
+more gently moulded, and her breast might have been the model for the
+Venus de Medicis.
+
+She got bolder by degrees, and we spent some moments in admiring each
+other, and then we went to bed. Nature spoke out loudly, and all we
+wanted was to satisfy its demands. With much coolness I made a woman of
+Hedvig, and when all was over she kissed me and said that the pain was
+nothing in comparison with the pleasure.
+
+The turn of Helen (who was six years younger than Hedvig) now came, but
+the finest fleece that I have ever seen was not won without difficulty.
+She was jealous of her cousin's success, and held it open with her two
+hands; and though she had to submit to great pain before being initiated
+into the amorous mysteries, her sighs were sighs of happiness, as she
+responded to my ardent efforts. Her great charms and the vivacity of her
+movements shortened the sacrifice, and when I left the sanctuary my two
+sweethearts saw that I needed repose.
+
+The alter was purified of the blood of the victims, and we all washed,
+delighted to serve one another.
+
+Life returned to me under their curious fingers, and the sight filled
+them with joy. I told them that I wished to enjoy them every night till I
+left Geneva, but they told me sadly that this was impossible.
+
+"In five or six days time, perhaps, the opportunity may recur again, but
+that will be all."
+
+"Ask us to sup at your inn to-morrow," said Hedvig; "and maybe, chance
+will favour the commission of a sweet felony."
+
+I followed this advice.
+
+I overwhelmed them with happiness for several hours, passing five or six
+times from one to the other before I was exhausted. In the intervals,
+seeing them to be docile and desirous, I made them execute Aretin's most
+complicated postures, which amused them beyond words. We kissed whatever
+took our fancy, and just as Hedvig applied her lips to the mouth of the
+pistol, it went off and the discharge inundated her face and her bosom.
+She was delighted, and watched the process to the end with all the
+curiosity of a doctor. The night seemed short, though we had not lost a
+moment's time, and at daybreak we had to part. I left them in bed and I
+was fortunate enough to get away without being observed.
+
+I slept till noon, and then having made my toilette I went to call on the
+pastor, to whom I praised Hedvig to the skies. This was the best way to
+get him to come to supper at Balances the next day.
+
+"We shall be in the town," said I, "and can remain together as long as we
+please, but do not forget to bring the amiable widow and her charming
+daughter."
+
+He promised he would bring them both.
+
+In the evening I went to see the syndic and his three friends, who
+naturally found me rather insensible to their charms. I excused myself by
+saying that I had a bad headache. I told them that I had asked the young
+theologian to supper, and invited the girls and the syndic to come too;
+but, as I had foreseen, the latter would not hear of their going as it
+would give rise to gossip.
+
+I took care that the most exquisite wines should form an important
+feature of my supper. The pastor and the widow were both sturdy drinkers,
+and I did my best to please them. When I saw that they were pretty mellow
+and were going over their old recollections, I made a sign to the girls,
+and they immediately went out as if to go to a retiring-room. Under
+pretext of shewing them the way I went out too, and took them into a room
+telling them to wait for me.
+
+I went back to the supper-room, and finding the old friends taken up with
+each other and scarcely conscious of my presence, I gave them some punch,
+and told them that I would keep the young ladies company; they were
+looking at some pictures, I explained. I lost no time, and shewed them
+some extremely interesting sights. These stolen sweets have a wonderful
+charm. When we were to some extent satisfied, we went back, and I plied
+the punch-ladle more and more freely. Helen praised the pictures to her
+mother, and asked her to come and look at them.
+
+"I don't care to," she replied.
+
+"Well," said Helen, "let us go and see them again."
+
+I thought this stratagem admissible, and going out with my two
+sweethearts I worked wonders. Hedvig philosophised over pleasure, and
+told me she would never have known it if I had not chanced to meet her
+uncle. Helen did not speak; she was more voluptuous than her cousin, and
+swelled out like a dove, and came to life only to expire a moment
+afterwards. I wondered at her astonishing fecundity; while I was engaged
+in one operation she passed from death to life fourteen times. It is true
+that it was the sixth time with me, so I made my progress rather slower
+to enjoy the pleasure she took in it.
+
+Before we parted I agreed to call on Helen's mother every day to
+ascertain the night I could spend with them before I left Geneva. We
+broke up our party at two o'clock in the morning.
+
+Three or four days after, Helen told me briefly that Hedvig was to sleep
+with her that night, and that she would leave the door open at the same
+time as before.
+
+"I will be there."
+
+"And I will be there to shut you up, but you cannot have a light as the
+servant might see it."
+
+I was exact to the time, and when ten o'clock struck they came to fetch
+me in high glee.
+
+"I forgot to tell you," said Helen, "that you would find a fowl there."
+
+I felt hungry, and made short work of it, and then we gave ourselves up
+to happiness.
+
+I had to set out on my travels in two days. I had received a couple of
+letters from M. Raiberti. In the first he told me that he had followed my
+instructions as to the Corticelli, and in the second that she would
+probably he paid for dancing at the carnival as first 'figurante'. I had
+nothing to keep me at Geneva, and Madame d'Urfe, according to our
+agreement, would be waiting for me at Lyons. I was therefore obliged to
+go there. Thus the night that I was to pass with my two charmers would be
+my last.
+
+My lessons had taken effect, and I found they had become past mistresses
+in the art of pleasure. But now and again joy gave place to sadness.
+
+"We shall be wretched, sweetheart," said Hedvig, "and if you like we will
+come with you."
+
+"I promise to come and see you before two years have expired," said I;
+and in fact they had not so long to wait.
+
+We fell asleep at midnight, and waking at four renewed our sweet battles
+till six o'clock. Half an hour after I left them, worn out with my
+exertions, and I remained in bed all day. In the evening I went to see
+the syndic and his young friends. I found Helen there, and she was
+cunning enough to feign not to be more vexed at my departure than the
+others, and to further the deception she allowed the syndic to kiss her.
+I followed suit, and begged her to bid farewell for me to her learned
+cousin and to excuse my taking leave of her in person.
+
+The next day I set out in the early morning, and on the following day I
+reached Lyons. Madame d'Urfe was not there, she had gone to an estate of
+hers at Bresse. I found a letter in which she said that she would be
+delighted to see me, and I waited on her without losing any time.
+
+She greeted me with her ordinary cordiality, and I told her that I was
+going to Turin to meet Frederic Gualdo, the head of the Fraternity of the
+Rosy Cross, and I revealed to her by the oracle that he would come with
+me to Marseilles, and that there he would complete her happiness. After
+having received this oracle she would not go to Paris before she saw us.
+The oracle also bade her wait for me at Lyons with young d'Aranda; who
+begged me to take him with me to Turin. It may be imagined that I
+succeeded in putting him off.
+
+Madame d'Urfe had to wait a fortnight to get me fifty thousand francs
+which I might require on my journey. In the course of this fortnight I
+made the acquaintance of Madame Pernon, and spent a good deal of money
+with her husband, a rich mercer, in refurnishing my wardrobe. Madame
+Pernon was handsome and intelligent. She had a Milanese lover, named
+Bono, who did business for a Swiss banker named Sacco. It was through
+Madame Peron that Bono got Madame d'Urfe the fifty thousand francs I
+required. She also gave me the three dresses which she had promised to
+the Countess of Lascaris, but which that lady had never seen.
+
+One of these dresses was furred, and was exquisitely beautiful. I left
+Lyons equipped like a prince, and journeyed towards Turin, where I was to
+meet the famous Gualdo, who was none other than Ascanio Pogomas, whom I
+had summoned from Berne. I thought it would be easy to make the fellow
+play the part I had destined for him, but I was cruelly deceived as the
+reader will see.
+
+I could not resist stopping at Chamberi to see my fair nun, whom I found
+looking beautiful and contented. She was grieving, however, after the
+young boarder, who had been taken from the convent and married.
+
+I got to Turin at the beginning of December, and at Rivoli I found the
+Corticelli, who had been warned by the Chevalier de Raiberti of my
+arrival. She gave me a letter from this worthy gentleman, giving the
+address of the house he had taken for me as I did not want to put up at
+an inn. I immediately went to take possession of my new lodging.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+My Old Friends--Pacienza--Agatha--Count Boryomeo--The Ball--Lord Percy
+
+The Corticelli was as gentle as a lamb, and left me as we got into Turin.
+I promised I would come and see her, and immediately went to the house
+the Chevalier had taken, which I found convenient in every way.
+
+The worthy Chevalier was not long in calling on me. He gave me an account
+of the moneys he had spent on the Corticelli, and handed over the rest to
+me.
+
+"I am flush of money," I said, "and I intend to invite my friends to
+supper frequently. Can you lay your hands on a good cook?"
+
+"I know a pearl amongst cooks," said he, "and you can have him directly."
+
+"You, chevalier, are the pearl of men. Get me this wonder, tell him I am
+hard to please, and agree on the sum I am to pay him per month."
+
+The cook, who was an excellent one, came the same evening.
+
+"It would be a good idea," said Raiberti, "to call on the Count d'Aglie.
+He knows that the Corticelli is your mistress, and he has given a formal
+order to Madame Pacienza, the lady with whom she lives, that when you
+come and see her you are not to be left alone together."
+
+This order amused me, and as I did not care about the Corticelli it did
+not trouble me in the least, though Raiberti, who thought I was in love
+with her, seemed to pity me.
+
+"Since she has been here," he said, "her conduct has been
+irreproachable."
+
+"I am glad to hear that."
+
+"You might let her take some lessons from the dancing-master Dupre," said
+he. "He will no doubt give her something to do at the carnival."
+
+I promised to follow his advice, and I then paid a visit to the
+superintendent of police.
+
+He received me well, complimented me on my return to Turin, and then
+added with a smile:--
+
+"I warn you that I have been informed that you keep a mistress, and that
+I have given strict orders to the respectable woman with whom she lives
+not to leave her alone with you."
+
+"I am glad to hear it," I replied, "and the more as I fear her mother is
+not a person of very rigid morals. I advised the Chevalier Raiberti of my
+intentions with regard to her, and I am glad to see that he has carried
+them out so well. I hope the girl will shew herself worthy of your
+protection."
+
+"Do you think of staying here throughout the carnival?"
+
+"Yes, if your excellency approves."
+
+"It depends entirely on your good conduct."
+
+"A few peccadilloes excepted, my conduct is always above reproach."
+
+"There are some peccadilloes we do not tolerate here. Have you seen the
+Chevalier Osorio?"
+
+"I think of calling on him to-day or to-morrow."
+
+"I hope you will remember me to him."
+
+He rang his bell, bowed, and the audience was over.
+
+The Chevalier Osorio received me at his office, and gave me a most
+gracious reception. After I had given him an account of my visit to the
+superintendent, he asked me, with a smile, if I felt inclined to submit
+with docility to not seeing my mistress in freedom.
+
+"Certainly," said I, "for I am not in love with her."
+
+Osorio looked at me slyly, and observed, "Somehow I don't think your
+indifference will be very pleasing to the virtuous duenna."
+
+I understood what he meant, but personally I was delighted not to be able
+to see the Corticelli save in the presence of a female dragon. It would
+make people talk, and I loved a little scandal, and felt curious to see
+what would happen.
+
+When I returned to my house I found the Genoese Passano, a bad poet and
+worse painter, to whom I had intended to give the part of a Rosicrucian,
+because there was something in his appearance which inspired, if not
+respect, at least awe and a certain feeling of fear. In point of fact,
+this was only a natural presentiment that the man must be either a clever
+rogue or a morose and sullen scholar.
+
+I made him sup with me and gave him a room on the third floor, telling
+him not to leave it without my permission. At supper I found him insipid
+in conversation, drunken, ignorant, and ill disposed, and I already
+repented of having taken him under my protection; but the thing was done.
+
+The next day, feeling curious to see how the Corticelli was lodged, I
+called on her, taking with me a piece of Lyons silk.
+
+I found her and her mother in the landlady's room, and as I came in the
+latter said that she was delighted to see me and that she hoped I would
+often dine with them. I thanked her briefly and spoke to the girl coolly
+enough.
+
+"Shew me your room," said I. She took me there in her mother's company.
+"Here is something to make you a winter dress," said I, skewing her the
+silk.
+
+"Is this from the marchioness?"
+
+"No, it is from me."
+
+"But where are the three dresses she said she would give me?"
+
+"You know very well on what conditions you were to have them, so let us
+say no more about it."
+
+She unfolded the silk which she liked very much, but she said she must
+have some trimmings. The Pacienza offered her services, and said she
+would send for a dressmaker who lived close by. I acquiesced with a nod,
+and as soon as she had left the room the Signora Laura said she was very
+sorry only to be able to receive me in the presence of the landlady.
+
+"I should have thought," said I, "that a virtuous person like you would
+have been delighted."
+
+"I thank God for it every morning and night."
+
+"You infernal old hypocrite!" said I, looking contemptuously at her.
+
+"Upon my word, anybody who didn't know you would be taken in."
+
+In a few minutes Victorine and another girl came in with their
+band-boxes.
+
+"Are you still at Madame R----'s?" said I.
+
+"Yes sir," said she, with a blush.
+
+When the Corticelli had chosen what she wanted I told Victorine to
+present my compliments to her mistress, and tell her that I would call
+and pay for the articles.
+
+The landlady had also sent for a dressmaker, and while the Corticelli was
+being measured, she shewed me her figure and said she wanted a corset. I
+jested on the pregnancy with which she threatened me, and of which there
+was now no trace, pitying Count N---- for being deprived of the joys of
+fatherhood. I then gave her what money she required and took my leave.
+She escorted me to the door, and asked me if she should have the pleasure
+of seeing me again before long.
+
+"It's a pleasure, is it?" I replied; "well, I don't know when you will
+have it again; it depends on my leisure and my fancy."
+
+It is certain that if I had any amorous feelings or even curiosity about
+the girl, I should not have left her in that house for a moment; but I
+repeat my love for her had entirely vanished. There was one thing,
+however, which annoyed me intolerably, namely, that in spite of my
+coolness towards her, the little hussy pretended to think that I had
+forgotten and forgiven everything.
+
+On leaving the Corticelli, I proceeded to call on my bankers, amongst
+others on M. Martin, whose wife was justly famous for her wit and beauty.
+
+I chanced to meet the horse-dealing Jew, who had made money out of me by
+means of his daughter Leah. She was still pretty, but married; and her
+figure was too rounded for my taste. She and her husband welcomed me with
+great warmth, but I cared for her no longer, and did not wish to see her
+again.
+
+I called on Madame R----, who had been awaiting me impatiently ever since
+Victorine had brought news of me. I sat down by the counter and had the
+pleasure of hearing from her lips the amorous histories of Turin for the
+past few months.
+
+"Victorine and Caton are the only two of the old set that still remain,
+but I have replaced them with others."
+
+"Has Victorine found anyone to operate on her yet?"
+
+"No, she is just as you left her, but a gentleman who is in love with her
+is going to take her to Milan."
+
+This gentleman was the Comte de Perouse, whose acquaintance I made three
+years afterwards at Milan. I shall speak of him in due time. Madame
+R---- told me that, in consequence of her getting into trouble several
+times with the police, she had been obliged to promise the Count d'Aglie
+only to send the girls to ladies, and, consequently, if I found any of
+them to my taste I should be obliged to make friends with their relations
+and take them to the festas. She shewed me the girls in the work-room,
+but I did not think any of them worth taking trouble about.
+
+She talked about the Pacienza, and when I told her that I kept the
+Corticelli, and of the hard conditions to which I was obliged to submit,
+she exclaimed with astonishment, and amused me by her jests on the
+subject.
+
+"You are in good hands, my dear sir," said she; "the woman is not only a
+spy of d'Aglie's, but a professional procuress. I wonder the Chevalier
+Raiberti placed the girl with her."
+
+She was not so surprised when I told her that the chevalier had good
+reasons for his action, and that I myself had good reasons of my own for
+wishing the Corticelli to remain there.
+
+Our conversation was interrupted by a customer who wanted silk stockings.
+Hearing him speak of dancing, I asked him if he could tell me the address
+of Dupre, the ballet-master.
+
+"No one better, sir, for I am Dupre, at your service."
+
+"I am delighted at this happy chance. The Chevalier Raiberti gave me to
+understand that you might be able to give dancing lessons to a
+ballet-girl of my acquaintance."
+
+"M. de Raiberti mentioned your name to me this morning. You must be the
+Chevalier de Seingalt?"
+
+"Exactly."
+
+"I can give the young lady lessons every morning at nine o'clock at my
+own home."
+
+"No, do you come to her house, but at whatever hour you like. I will pay
+you, and I hope you will make her one of your best pupils. I must warn
+you, however, that she is not a novice."
+
+"I will call on her to-day, and to-morrow I will tell you what I can make
+of her; but I think I had better tell you my terms: I charge three
+Piedmontese livres a lesson."
+
+"I think that is very reasonable; I will call on you to-morrow."
+
+"You do me honour. Here is my address. If you like to come in the
+afternoon you will see the rehearsal of a ballet."
+
+"Is it not rehearsed at the theatre?"
+
+"Yes, but at the theatre no on-lookers are allowed by the orders of the
+superintendent of police."
+
+"This superintendent of yours puts his finger into a good many pies."
+
+"In too many."
+
+"But at your own house anybody may come?"
+
+"Undoubtedly, but I could not have the dancers there if my wife were not
+present. The superintendent knows her, and has great confidence in her."
+
+"You will see me at the rehearsal."
+
+The wretched superintendent had erected a fearful system of surveillance
+against the lovers of pleasure, but it must be confessed that he was
+often cheated. Voluptuousness was all the more rampant when thus
+restrained; and so it ever will be while men have passions and women
+desires. To love and enjoy, to desire and to satisfy one's desires, such
+is the circle in which we move, and whence we can never be turned. When
+restrictions are placed upon the passions as in Turkey, they still attain
+their ends, but by methods destructive to morality.
+
+At the worthy Mazzali's I found two gentlemen to whom she introduced me.
+One was old and ugly, decorated with the Order of the White Eagle--his
+name was Count Borromeo; the other, young and brisk, was Count
+A---- B---- of Milan. After they had gone I was informed that they were
+paying assiduous court to the Chevalier Raiberti, from whom they hoped to
+obtain certain privileges for their lordships which were under the
+Sardinian rule.
+
+The Milanese count had not a penny, and the Lord of the Borromean Isles
+was not much better off. He had ruined himself with women, and not being
+able to live at Milan he had taken refuge in the fairest of his isles,
+and enjoyed there perpetual spring and very little else. I paid him a
+visit on my return from Spain, but I shall relate our meeting when I come
+to my adventures, my pleasures, my misfortunes, and above all my follies
+there, for of such threads was the weft of my life composed, and folly
+was the prominent element.
+
+The conversation turned on my house, and the lively Mazzoli asked me how
+I liked my cook. I replied that I had not yet tried him, but I proposed
+to put him to test the next day, if she and the gentlemen would do me the
+honour of supping with me.
+
+The invitation was accepted, and she promised to bring her dear chevalier
+with her, and to warn him of the event, as his health only allowed him to
+eat once a day.
+
+I called on Dupre in the afternoon. I saw the dancers, male and female,
+the latter accompanied by their mothers, who stood on one side muffled up
+in thick cloaks. As I passed them under review in my lordly manner, I
+noticed that one of them still looked fresh and pretty, which augured
+well for her daughter, though the fruit does not always correspond to the
+tree.
+
+Dupre introduced me to his wife, who was young and pretty, but who had
+been obliged to leave the theatre owing to the weakness of her chest. She
+told me that if the Corticelli would work hard her husband would make a
+great dancer of her, as her figure was eminently suited for dancing.
+While I was talking with Madame Dupre, the Corticelli, late Lascaris,
+came running up to me with the air of a favourite, and told me she wanted
+some ribbons and laces to make a bonnet. The others girls began to
+whisper to each other, and guessing what they must be saying I turned to
+Dupre without taking any notice of Madame Madcap, and gave him twelve
+pistoles, saying that I would pay for the lessons three months in
+advance, and that I hoped he would bring his new pupil on well. Such a
+heavy payment in advance caused general surprise, which I enjoyed, though
+pretending not to be aware of it. Now I know that I acted foolishly, but
+I have promised to speak the truth in these Memoirs, which will not see
+the light till all light has left my eyes, and I will keep my promise.
+
+I have always been greedy of distinction; I have always loved to draw the
+eyes of men towards men, but I must also add that if I have humiliated
+anyone it has always been a proud man or a fool, for it has been my rule
+to please everyone if I can.
+
+I sat on one side, the better to observe the swarm of girls, and I soon
+fixed my eyes on one whose appearance struck me. She had a fine figure,
+delicate features, a noble air, and a patient look which interested me in
+the highest degree. She was dancing with a man who did not scruple to
+abuse her in the coarsest manner when she made any mistakes, but she bore
+it without replying, though an expression of contempt mingled with the
+sweetness of her face.
+
+Instinct drew me to the mother I have remarked on, and I asked her to
+whom the dancer that interested me belonged.
+
+"I am her mother," she replied.
+
+"You, madam! I should not have thought it possible."
+
+"I was very young when she was born."
+
+"I should think so. Where do you come from?"
+
+"I am from Lucca, and what is more-a poor widow."
+
+"How can you be poor, when you are still young and handsome, and have an
+angel for a daughter?"
+
+She replied only by an expressive glance. I understood her reserve, and I
+stayed by her without speaking. Soon after, Agatha, as her daughter was
+named, came up to her to ask for a handkerchief to wipe her face.
+
+"Allow me to offer you mine," said I. It was a white handkerchief, and
+scented with attar of roses; this latter circumstance gave her an excuse
+for accepting it, but after smelling it she wanted to return it to me.
+
+"You have not used it," said I! "do so."
+
+She obeyed, and then returned it to me with a bow by way of thanks.
+
+"You must not give it me back, fair Agatha, till you have had it washed."
+
+She smiled, and gave it to her mother, glancing at me in a grateful
+manner, which I considered of good omen.
+
+"May I have the pleasure of calling on you?" said I. "I cannot receive
+you, sir, except in the presence of my landlady."
+
+"This cursed restriction is general in Turin, then?"
+
+"Yes, the superintendent uses everybody in the same way."
+
+"Then I shall have the pleasure of seeing you again here?"
+
+In the evening I had one of the best suppers I ever had in my life, if I
+except those I enjoyed during my stay at Turin. My cook was worthy of a
+place in the kitchen of Lucullus; but without detracting from his skill I
+must do justice to the products of the country. Everything is delicious;
+game, fish, birds, meat, vegetables, fruit, milk, and truffles--all are
+worthy of the table of the greatest gourmets, and the wines of the
+country yield to none. What a pity that strangers do not enjoy liberty at
+Turin! It is true that better society, and more politeness, such as are
+found in several French and Italian towns, are to be wished for.
+
+The beauty of the women of Turin is no doubt due to the excellence of the
+air and diet.
+
+I had not much trouble in extracting a promise from Madame Mazzoli and
+the two counts to sup with me every night, but the Chevalier de Raiberti
+would only promise to come whenever he could.
+
+At the Carignan Theatre, where opera-bouffe was being played, I saw
+Redegonde, with whom I had failed at Florence. She saw me in the pit and
+gave me a smile, so I wrote to her, offering my services if the mother
+had changed her way of thinking. She answered that her mother was always
+the same, but that if I would ask the Corticelli she could come and sup
+with me, though the mother would doubtless have to be of the party. I
+gave her no answer, as the terms she named were by no means to my taste.
+
+I had a letter from Madame du Rumain, enclosing one from M. de Choiseul
+to M. de Chauvelin, the French ambassador at Turin. It will be remembered
+that I had known this worthy nobleman at Soleure, and had been treated
+with great politeness by him, but I wished to have a more perfect title
+to his acquaintance; hence I asked Madame du Rumain to give me a letter.
+
+M. de Chauvelin received me with the greatest cordiality; and reproaching
+me for having thought a letter of introduction necessary, introduced me
+to his charming wife, who was no less kind than her husband. Three or
+four days later he asked me to dine with him, and I met at his table M.
+Imberti, the Venetian ambassador, who said he was very sorry not to be
+able to present me at Court. On hearing the reason M. de Chauvelin
+offered to present me himself, but I thought it best to decline with
+thanks. No doubt it would have been a great honour, but the result would
+be that I should be more spied on than even in this town of spies, where
+the most indifferent actions do not pass unnoticed. My pleasures would
+have been interfered with.
+
+Count Borromeo continued to honour me by coming every night to sup with
+me, preserving his dignity the while, for as he accompanied Madame
+Mazzoli it was not to be supposed that he came because he was in need of
+a meal. Count A---- B---- came more frankly, and I was pleased with him. He
+told me one day that the way I put up with his visits made him extremely
+grateful to Providence, for his wife could not send him any money, and he
+could not afford to pay for his dinner at the inn, so that if it were not
+for my kindness he would often be obliged to go hungry to bed. He shewed
+me his wife's letters; he had evidently a high opinion of her. "I hope,"
+he would say, "that you will come and stay with us at Milan, and that she
+will please you."
+
+He had been in the service of Spain, and by what he said I judged his
+wife to be a pleasing brunette of twenty-five or twenty-six. The count
+had told her how I had lent him money several times, and of my goodness
+to him, and she replied, begging him to express her gratitude to me, and
+to make me promise to stay with them at Milan. She wrote wittily, and her
+letters interested me to such an extent that I gave a formal promise to
+journey to Milan, if it were only for the sake of seeing her.
+
+I confess that in doing so I was overcome by my feelings of curiosity. I
+knew they were poor, and I should not have given a promise which would
+either bring them into difficulties or expose me to paying too dearly for
+my lodging. However, by way of excuse, I can only say that curiosity is
+near akin to love. I fancied the countess sensible like an Englishwoman,
+passionate like a Spaniard, caressing like a Frenchwoman, and as I had a
+good enough opinion of my own merit, I did not doubt for a moment that
+she would respond to my affection. With these pleasant delusions in my
+head, I counted on exciting the jealousy of all the ladies and gentlemen
+of Milan. I had plenty of money, and I longed for an opportunity of
+spending it.
+
+Nevertheless, I went every day to rehearsal at Dupre's, and I soon got
+madly in love with Agatha. Madame Dupre won over by several presents I
+made her, received my confidences with kindness, and by asking Agatha and
+her mother to dinner procured me the pleasure of a more private meeting
+with my charmer. I profited by the opportunity to make known my feelings,
+and I obtained some slight favours, but so slight were they that my flame
+only grew the fiercer.
+
+Agatha kept on telling me that everybody knew that the Corticelli was my
+mistress, and that for all the gold in the world she would not have it
+said that she was my last shift, as I could not see the Corticelli in
+private. I swore to her that I did not love the Corticelli, and that I
+only kept her to prevent M. Raiberti being compromised; but all this was
+of no avail, she had formed her plans, and nothing would content her but
+a formal rupture which would give all Turin to understand that I loved
+her and her alone. On these conditions she promised me her heart, and
+everything which follows in such cases.
+
+I loved her too well not to endeavour to satisfy her, since my
+satisfaction depended on hers. With this idea I got Dupre to give a ball
+at my expense in some house outside the town, and to invite all the
+dancers, male and female, who were engaged for the carnival at Turin.
+Every gentleman had the right to bring a lady to have supper and look on,
+as only the professional dancers were allowed to dance.
+
+I told Dupre that I would look after the refreshment department, and that
+he might tell everybody that no expense was to be spared. I also provided
+carriages and sedan-chairs for the ladies, but nobody was to know that I
+was furnishing the money. Dupre saw that there was profit in store for
+him, and went about it at once. He found a suitable house, asked the lady
+dancers, and distributed about fifty tickets.
+
+Agatha and her mother were the only persons who knew that the project was
+mine, and that I was responsible to a great extent for the expenses; but
+these facts were generally known the day after the ball.
+
+Agatha had no dress that was good enough, so I charged Madame Dupre to
+provide one at my expense, and I was well served. It is well known that
+when this sort of people dip their fingers into other's purses they are
+not sparing, but that was just what I wanted. Agatha promised to dance
+all the quadrilles with me, and to return to Turin with Madame Dupre.
+
+On the day fixed for the ball I stayed to dinner at the Dupre's to be
+present at Agatha's toilette. Her dress was a rich and newly-made Lyons
+silk, and the trimming was exquisite Alencon point lace, of which the
+girl did not know the value. Madame R----, who had arranged the dress,
+and Madame Dupre, had received instructions to say nothing about it to
+her.
+
+When Agatha was ready to start, I told her that the ear-rings she was
+wearing were not good enough for her dress.
+
+"That's true," said Madame Dupre, "and it's a great pity."
+
+"Unfortunately," said the mother, "my poor girl hasn't got another pair."
+
+"I have some pretty imitation pendants, which I could lend you," said I;
+"they are really very brilliant."
+
+I had taken care to put the ear-rings which Madame d'Urfe had intended
+for the Countess Lascaris in my pocket. I drew them out, and they were
+greatly admired.
+
+"One would swear they were real diamonds," said Madame Dupre.
+
+I put them in Agatha's ears. She admired them very much, and said that
+all the other girls would be jealous, as they would certainly take them
+for real stones.
+
+I went home and made an elaborate toilette, and on arriving at the ball I
+found Agatha dancing with Lord Percy, a young fool, who was the son of
+the Duke of Northumberland, and an extravagant spendthrift.
+
+I noticed several handsome ladies from Turin, who, being merely
+onlookers, might be thinking that the ball was given for their amusement,
+like the fly on the chariot wheel. All the ambassadors were present, and
+amongst others M. de Chauvelin, who told me that to make everything
+complete my pretty housekeeper at Soleure was wanting.
+
+The Marquis and Marchioness de Prie were there also. The marquis did not
+care to dance, so was playing a little game of quinze with a rude
+gamester, who would not let the marquis's mistress look over his cards.
+She saw me, but pretended not to recognize me; the trick I had played her
+at Aix being probably enough to last her for some time.
+
+The minuets came to an end, and Dupre announced the quadrilles, and I was
+glad to see the Chevalier Ville-Follet dancing with the Corticelli. My
+partner was Agatha, who had great difficulty in getting rid of Lord
+Percy, though she told him that she was fully engaged.
+
+Minuets and quadrilles followed each other in succession, and
+refreshments began to make their appearance. I was delighted to see that
+the refreshment counter was furnished with the utmost liberality. The
+Piedmontese, who are great at calculations, estimated that Dupre must
+lose by it, the firing of champagne corks was continuous.
+
+Feeling tired I asked Agatha to sit down, and I was telling her how I
+loved her when Madame de Chauvelin and another lady interrupted us. I
+rose to give them place, and Agatha imitated my example; but Madame de
+Chauvelin made her sit down beside her, and praised her dress, and above
+all the lace trimming. The other lady said how pretty her ear-rings were,
+and what a pity it was that those imitation stones would lose their
+brilliance in time. Madame de Chauvelin, who knew something about
+precious stones, said that they would never lose their brilliance, as
+they were diamonds of the first water.
+
+"It is not so?" she added, to Agatha, who in the candour of her heart
+confessed that they were imitation, and that I had lent them to her.
+
+At this Madame de Chauvelin burst out laughing, and said,--
+
+"M. de Seingalt has deceived you, my dear child. A gentleman of his caste
+does not lend imitation jewellery to such a pretty girl as you are. Your
+ear-rings are set with magnificent diamonds."
+
+She blushed, for my silence confirmed the lady's assertion, and she felt
+that the fact of my having lent her such stones was a palpable proof of
+the great esteem in which I held her.
+
+Madame de Chauvelin asked me to dance a minuet with Agatha, and my
+partner executed the dance with wonderful grace. When it was over Madame
+de Chauvelin thanked me, and told me that she should always remember our
+dancing together at Soleure, and that she hoped I would dance again with
+her at her own house. A profound bow shewed her how flattered I felt by
+the compliment.
+
+The ball did not come to an end till four o'clock in the morning, and I
+did not leave it till I saw Agatha going away in the company with Madame
+Dupre.
+
+I was still in bed the next morning, when my man told me a pretty woman
+wanted to speak to me. I had her in and was delighted to find it was
+Agatha's mother. I made her sit down beside me, and gave her a cup of
+chocolate. As soon as we were alone she drew my ear-rings from her
+pocket, and said, with a smile, that she had just been shewing them to a
+jeweller, who had offered her a thousand sequins for them.
+
+"The man's mad," said I, "you ought to have let him have them; they are
+not worth four sequins."
+
+So saying, I drew her to my arms and gave her a kiss. Feeling that she
+had shared in the kiss, and that she seemed to like it, I went farther,
+and at last we spent a couple of hours in shewing what a high opinion we
+had of each other.
+
+Afterwards we both looked rather astonished, and it was the beautiful
+mother who first broke the silence.
+
+"Am I to tell my girl," said she, with a smile, "of the way in which you
+proved to me that you love her?"
+
+"I leave that to your discretion, my dear," said I. "I have certainly
+proved that I love you, but it does not follow that I do not adore your
+daughter. In fact, I burn for her; and yet, if we are not careful to
+avoid being alone together, what has just happened between us will often
+happen again."
+
+"It is hard to resist you, and it is possible that I may have occasion to
+speak to you again in private."
+
+"You may be sure you will always be welcome, and all I ask of you is not
+to put any obstacles in the way of my suit with Agatha."
+
+"I have also a favour to ask."
+
+"If it is within my power, you may be sure I will grant it."
+
+"Very good! Then tell me if these ear-rings are real, and what was your
+intention in putting them in my daughter's ears?"
+
+"The diamonds are perfectly genuine, and my intention was that Agatha
+should keep them as a proof of my affection."
+
+She heaved a sigh, and then told me that I might ask them to supper, with
+Dupre and his wife, whenever I pleased. I thanked her, gave her ten
+sequins, and sent her away happy.
+
+On reflection I decided that I had never seen a more sensible woman than
+Agatha's mother. It would have been impossible to announce the success of
+my suit in a more delicate or more perspicuous manner.
+
+My readers will no doubt guess that I seized the opportunity and brought
+this interesting affair to a conclusion. The same evening I asked Dupre
+and his wife, Agatha and her mother, to sup with me the next day, in
+addition to my usual company. But as I was leaving Dupre's I had an
+adventure.
+
+My man, who was a great rascal, but who behaved well on this occasion,
+ran up to me panting for breath, and said triumphantly,
+
+"Sir, I have been looking for you to warn you that I have just seen the
+Chevalier de Ville-Follet slip into Madame Pacienza's house, and I
+suspect he is making an amorous call on the Corticelli."
+
+I immediately walked to the abode of the worthy spy in high spirits, and
+hoping that my servant's guess had been correct. I walked in and found
+the landlady and the mother sitting together. Without noticing them, I
+was making my way towards the Corticelli's room when the two old ladies
+arrested my course, telling me that the signora was not well and wanted
+rest. I pushed them aside, and entered the room so swiftly and suddenly
+that I found the gentleman in a state of nature while the girl remained
+stretched on the bed as if petrified by my sudden apparition.
+
+"Sir," said I, "I hope you will pardon me for coming in without
+knocking."
+
+"Wait a moment, wait a moment."
+
+Far from waiting I went away in high glee, and told the story to the
+Chevalier Raiberti, who enjoyed it as well as I did. I asked him to warn
+the Pacienza woman that from that day I would pay nothing for Corticelli,
+who had ceased to belong to me. He approved, and said,--
+
+"I suppose you will not be going to complain to the Count d'Aglie?"
+
+"It is only fools who complain, above all in circumstances like these."
+
+This scandalous story would have been consigned to forgetfulness, if it
+had not been for the Chevalier de Ville-Follet's indiscretion. He felt
+angry at being interrupted in the middle of the business, and remembering
+he had seen my man just before fixed on him as the informer. Meeting him
+in the street the chevalier reproached him for spying, whereon the
+impudent rascal replied that he was only answerable to his master, and
+that it was his duty to serve me in all things. On this the chevalier
+caned him, and the man went to complain to the superintendent, who
+summoned Ville-Follet to appear before him and explain his conduct.
+Having nothing to fear, he told the whole story.
+
+The Chevalier de Raiberti, too, was very ill received when he went to
+tell Madame Pacienza that neither he nor I were going to pay her anything
+more in future; but he would listen to no defence. The chevalier came to
+sup with me, and he informed me that on leaving the house he had met a
+police sergeant, whom he concluded had come to cite the landlady to
+appear before the Count d'Aglie.
+
+The next day, just as I was going to M. de Chauvelin's ball, I received
+to my great surprise a note from the superintendent begging me to call on
+him as he had something to communicate to me. I immediately ordered my
+chairmen to take me to his residence.
+
+M. de Aglie received me in private with great politeness, and after
+giving me a chair he began a long and pathetic discourse, the gist of
+which was that it was my duty to forgive this little slip of my
+mistress's.
+
+"That's exactly what I am going to do," said I; "and for the rest of my
+days I never wish to see the Corticelli again, or to make or mar in her
+affairs, and for all this I am greatly obliged to the Chevalier de
+Ville-Follet."
+
+"I see you are angry. Come, come! you must not abandon the girl for that.
+I will have the woman Pacienza punished in such a way as to satisfy you,
+and I will place the girl in a respectable family where you can go and
+see her in perfect liberty."
+
+"I am greatly obliged to you for your kindness, indeed I am grateful; but
+I despise the Pacienza too heartily to wish for her punishment, and as to
+the Corticelli and her mother, they are two female swindlers, who have
+given me too much trouble already. I am well quit of them."
+
+"You must confess, however, that you had no right to make a forcible
+entry into a room in a house which does not belong to you."
+
+"I had not the right, I confess, but if I had not taken it I could never
+have had a certain proof of the perfidy of my mistress; and I should have
+been obliged to continue supporting her, though she entertained other
+lovers."
+
+"The Corticelli pretends that you are her debtor, and not vice versa. She
+says that the diamonds you have given another girl belong of right to
+her, and that Madame d'Urfe, whom I have the honour to know, presented
+her with them."
+
+"She is a liar! And as you know Madame d'Urfe, kindly write to her (she
+is at Lyons); and if the marchioness replies that I owe the wretched girl
+anything, be sure that I will discharge the debt. I have a hundred
+thousand francs in good banks of this town, and the money will be a
+sufficient surety for the ear-rings I have disposed of."
+
+"I am sorry that things have happened so."
+
+"And I am very glad, as I have ridden myself of a burden that was hard to
+bear."
+
+Thereupon we bowed politely to one another, and I left the office.
+
+At the French ambassador's ball I heard so much talk of my adventure that
+at last I refused to reply to any more questions on the subject. The
+general opinion was that the whole affair was a trifle of which I could
+not honourably take any notice; but I thought myself the best judge of my
+own honour, and was determined to take no notice of the opinions of
+others. The Chevalier de Ville-Follet came up to me and said that if I
+abandoned the Corticelli for such a trifle, he should feel obliged to
+give me satisfaction. I shook his hand, saying,--
+
+"My dear chevalier, it will be enough if you do not demand satisfaction
+of me."
+
+He understood how the land lay, and said no more about it; but not so his
+sister, the Marchioness de Prie, who made a vigorous attack on me after
+we had danced together. She was handsome, and might have been victorious
+if she had liked, but luckily she did not think of exerting her power,
+and so gained nothing.
+
+Three days after, Madame de St. Giles, a great power in Turin, and a kind
+of protecting deity to all actresses, summoned me to her presence by a
+liveried footman. Guessing what she wanted, I called on her
+unceremoniously in a morning coat. She received me politely, and began to
+talk of the Corticelli affair with great affability; but I did not like
+her, and replied dryly that I had had no hesitation in abandoning the
+girl to the protection of the gallant gentleman with whom I had surprised
+her in 'flagrante delicto'. She told me I should be sorry for it, and
+that she would publish a little story which she had already read and
+which did not do me much credit. I replied that I never changed my mind,
+and that threats were of no avail with me. With that parting shot I left
+her.
+
+I did not attach much importance to the town gossip, but a week after I
+received a manuscript containing an account--accurate in most
+respects--of my relations with the Corticelli and Madame d'Urfe, but so
+ill written and badly expressed that nobody could read it without
+weariness. It did not make the slightest impression on me, and I stayed a
+fortnight longer in Turin without its causing me the slightest annoyance.
+I saw the Corticelli again in Paris six months after, and will speak of
+our meeting in due time.
+
+The day after M. de Chauvelin's ball I asked Agatha, her mother, the
+Dupres, and my usual company to supper. It was the mother's business to
+so arrange matters that the ear-rings should become Agatha's lawful
+property, so I left everything to her. I knew she would manage to
+introduce the subject, and while we were at supper she said that the
+common report of Turin was that I had given her daughter a pair of
+diamond ear-rings worth five hundred Louis, which the Corticelli claimed
+as hers by right.
+
+"I do not know," she added, "if they are real diamonds, or if they belong
+to the Corticelli, but I do know that my girl has received no such
+present from the gentleman."
+
+"Well, well," said I, "we will have no more surmises in the matter;" and
+going up to Agatha I put the earrings on her, saying,--
+
+"Dearest Agatha, I make you a present of them before this company, and my
+giving them to you now is a proof that hitherto they have belonged to
+me."
+
+Everybody applauded, and I read in the girl's eyes that I should have no
+cause to regret my generosity.
+
+We then fell to speaking of the affair of Ville-Follet and the
+Corticelli, and of the efforts that had been made to compel me to retain
+her. The Chevalier Raiberti said that in my place he would have offered
+Madame de St. Giles or the superintendent to continue paying for her
+board, but merely as an act of charity, and that I could have deposited
+money with either of them.
+
+"I should be very glad to do so," said I; and the next day the worthy
+chevalier made the necessary arrangements with Madame de St. Giles, and I
+furnished the necessary moneys.
+
+In spite of this charitable action, the wretched manuscript came out,
+but, as I have said, without doing me any harm. The superintendent made
+the Corticelli live in the same house with Redegonde, and Madame Pacienza
+was left in peace.
+
+After supper, with the exception of the Chevalier Raiberti, we all
+masked, and went to the ball at the opera-house. I soon seized the
+opportunity of escaping with Agatha, and she granted me all that love can
+desire. All constraint was banished; she was my titular mistress, and we
+were proud of belonging the one to the other, for we loved each other.
+The suppers I had given at my house had set me perfectly at liberty, and
+the superintendent could do nothing to thwart our love, though he was
+informed of it, so well are the spies of Turin organized.
+
+Divine Providence made use of me as its instrument in making Agatha's
+fortune. It may be said that Providence might have chosen a more moral
+method, but are we to presume to limit the paths of Providence to the
+narrow circle of our prejudices and conventions? It has its own ways,
+which often appear dark to us because of our ignorance. At all events, if
+I am able to continue these Memoirs for six or seven years more, the
+reader will see that Agatha shewed herself grateful. But to return to our
+subject.
+
+The happiness we enjoyed by day and night was so great, Agatha was so
+affectionate and I so amorous, that we should certainly have remained
+united for some time if it had not been for the event I am about to
+relate. It made me leave Turin much sooner than I had intended, for I had
+not purposed to visit the wonderful Spanish countess at Milan till Lent.
+The husband of the Spanish lady had finished his business and left Turin,
+thanking me with tears in his eyes; and if it had not been for me he
+would not have been able to quit the town, for I paid divers small debts
+he had incurred, and gave him the wherewithal for his journey. Often is
+vice thus found allied to virtue or masking in virtue's guise; but what
+matter? I allowed myself to be taken in, and did not wish to be
+disabused. I do not seek to conceal my faults. I have always led a
+profligate life, and have not always been very delicate in the choice of
+means to gratify my passions, but even amidst my vices I was always a
+passionate lover of virtue. Benevolence, especially, has always had a
+great charm for me, and I have never failed to exercise it unless when
+restrained by the desire of vengeance--a vice which has always had a
+controlling influence on my actions.
+
+Lord Percy, as I have remarked, was deeply in love with my Agatha. He
+followed her about everywhere, was present at all the rehearsals, waited
+for her at the wings, and called on her every day, although her landlady,
+a duenna of the Pacienza school, would never let her see him alone. The
+principal methods of seduction--rich presents--had not been spared, but
+Agatha persistently refused them all, and forbade her duenna to take
+anything from the young nobleman. Agatha had no liking for him, and kept
+me well informed of all his actions, and we used to laugh at him
+together. I knew that I possessed her heart, and consequently Lord
+Percy's attempts neither made me angry or jealous--nay, they flattered my
+self-esteem, for his slighted love made my own happiness stand out in
+greater relief. Everybody knew that Agatha remained faithful to me, and
+at last Lord Percy was so convinced of the hopelessness of the attempt
+that he resolved on making a friend of me, and winning me over to his
+interests.
+
+With the true Englishman's boldness and coolness he came to me one
+morning, and asked me to give him breakfast. I welcomed him in the French
+manner, that is, with combined cordiality and politeness, and he was soon
+completely at his ease.
+
+With insular directness he went straight to the point at the first
+interview, declared his love for Agatha, and proposed an exchange, which
+amused, but did not offend me, as I knew that such bargains were common
+in England.
+
+"I know," said he, "that you are in love with Redegonde, and have long
+tried vainly to obtain her; now I am willing to exchange her for Agatha,
+and all I want to know is what sum of money you want over and above?"
+
+"You are very good, my dear lord, but to determine the excess of value
+would require a good mathematician. Redegonde is all very well, and
+inspires me with curiosity, but what is she compared to Agatha?"
+
+"I know, I know, and I therefore offer you any sum you like to mention."
+
+Percy was very rich, and very passionate. I am sure that if I had named
+twenty-five thousand guineas as overplus, or rather as exchange--for I
+did not care for Redegonde--he would have said done. However, I did not,
+and I am glad of it. Even now, when a hundred thousand francs would be a
+fortune to me, I never repent of my delicacy.
+
+After we had breakfasted merrily together, I told him that I liked him
+well, but that in the first place it would be well to ascertain whether
+the two commodities would consent to change masters.
+
+"I am sure of Redegonde's consent," said Lord Percy.
+
+"But I am not at all sure of Agatha's," said I.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"I have very strong grounds for supposing that she would not consent to
+the arrangement. What reasons have you for the contrary opinion?"
+
+"She will shew her sense."
+
+"But she loves me."
+
+"Well, Redegonde loves me."
+
+"I dare say; but does she love me?"
+
+"I am sure I don't know, but she will love you."
+
+"Have you consulted her upon the point?"
+
+"No, but it is all the same. What I want to know now is whether you
+approve of my plan, and how much you want for the exchange, for your
+Agatha is worth much more than my Redegonde."
+
+"I am delighted to hear you do my mistress justice. As for the money
+question, we will speak of that later. In the first place I will take
+Agatha's opinion, and will let you know the result to-morrow morning."
+
+The plan amused me, and though I was passionately attached to Agatha I
+knew my inconstant nature well enough to be aware that another woman, may
+be not so fair as she, would soon make me forget her. I therefore
+resolved to push the matter through if I could do so in a manner that
+would be advantageous for her.
+
+What surprised me was that the young nobleman had gained possession of
+Redegonde, whose mother appeared so intractable, but I knew what an
+influence caprice has on woman, and this explained the enigma.
+
+Agatha came to supper as usual, and laughed heartily when I told her of
+Lord Percy's proposal.
+
+"Tell me," said I, "if you would agree to the change?"
+
+"I will do just as you like," said she; "and if the money he offers be
+acceptable to you, I advise you to close with him."
+
+I could see by the tone of her voice that she was jesting, but her reply
+did not please me. I should have liked to have my vanity flattered by a
+peremptory refusal, and consequently I felt angry. My face grew grave,
+and Agatha became melancholy.
+
+"We will see," said I, "how it all ends."
+
+Next day I went to breakfast with the Englishman, and told him Agatha was
+willing, but that I must first hear what Redegonde had to say.
+
+"Quite right," he observed.
+
+"I should require to know how we are to live together."
+
+"The four of us had better go masked to the first ball at the Carignan
+Theatre. We will sup at a house which belongs to me, and there the
+bargain can be struck."
+
+The party took place according to agreement, and at the given signal we
+all left the ball-room. My lord's carriage was in waiting, and we all
+drove away and got down at a house I seemed to know. We entered the hall,
+and the first thing I saw was the Corticelli. This roused my choler, and
+taking Percy aside I told him that such a trick was unworthy of a
+gentleman. He laughed, and said he thought I should like her to be thrown
+in, and that two pretty women were surely worth as much as Agatha. This
+amusing answer made me less angry; but, calling him a madman, I took
+Agatha by the arm and went out without staying for any explanations. I
+would not make use of his carriage, and instead of returning to the ball
+we went home in sedan-chairs, and spent a delicious night in each other's
+arms.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Adventures In The South: Back Again to
+Paris, by Jacques Casanova de Seingalt
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