 CHAPTER XII. The next morning P. C. called on me with an air of triumph. He told me that his sister had confessed to her mother that we loved one another and that if she was ever to be married she would be unhappy with any other husband. I adore your sister, I said to him, but do you think that your father will be willing to give her to me? I think not, but he is old. In the meantime, love one another. My mother has given her permission to go to the opera this evening with us. Very well, my dear friend, we must go. I find myself under the necessity of claiming a slight service at your hands. Dispose of me. There is some excellent cypress wine to be sold very cheap, and I can obtain a casque of it against my bill at six months. I am certain of selling it again immediately with a good profit, but the merchant requires a guarantee and he is disposed to accept yours if you will give it. Will you be kind enough to endorse my note of hand? With pleasure. I signed my name without hesitation, for where is the man in love who in such a case would have refused that service to a person who, to revenge himself, might have made him miserable? We made an appointment for the evening and parted highly pleased with each other. After I had dressed myself I went out and bought a dozen pairs of gloves, as many pairs of silk stockings, and a pair of garters embroidered in gold and with gold clasps, promising myself much pleasure in offering that first present to my young friend. I need not say that I was exact in reaching the appointed place, but they were there already waiting for me. Had I not suspected the intentions of P.C., their coming so early would have been very flattering to my vanity. The moment I had joined them P.C. told me that, having other engagements to fulfill, he would leave his sister with me and meet us at the theatre in the evening. When he had gone I told C.C. that we would sail in a gondola unto the opening of the theatre. No, she answered, let us rather go to the Zuika Garden. With all my heart. I hired a gondola and we went to St. Blaise, where I knew a very pretty garden which, for one sequin, was placed at my disposal for the remainder of the day, with the express condition that no one else would be allowed admittance. We had not had any dinner, and after I had ordered a good meal we went up to a room where we took off our disguises and masks, after which we went to the garden. My lovely C.C. had nothing on but a bodice made of light silk and a skirt of the same description, but she was charming in that simple costume. My amorous looks went through those light veils, and in my imagination I saw her entirely naked. I sighed with burning desires, with a mixture of discreet reserve and voluptuous love. The moment we had reached the Long Avenue, my young companion, as lively as a fawn, finding herself at liberty on the green sward, and enjoying that happy freedom for the first time in her life, began to run about and to give way to the spirit of cheerfulness which was natural to her. When she was compelled to stop for want of breath, she burst out laughing at seeing me gazing at her in a sort of ecstatic silence. She then challenged me to run a race. The game was very agreeable to me. I accepted, but I proposed to make it interesting by a wager. Whoever loses the race, I said, shall have to do whatever the winner asks. Agreed. We marked the winning post, and made a fair start. I was certain to win, but I lost on purpose so as to see what she would ask me to do. At first she ran with all her might while I reserved my strength, and she was the first to reach the goal. As she was trying to recover her breath, she thought of sentencing me to a good penance. She hid herself behind a tree and told me a minute afterwards that I had to find her ring. She had concealed it about her, and that was putting me in possession of all her person. I thought it was a delightful forfeit, for I could easily see that she had chosen it with intentional mischief. But I felt that I ought not to take too much advantage of her, because her artless confidence required to be encouraged. We sat on the grass. I visited her pockets, the folds of her stays of her petticoat. Then I looked in her shoes, and even at her garters which were fastened below the knees. Not finding anything I kept on my search, and as the ring was about her, I was, of course, bound to discover it. My reader has most likely guessed that I had some suspicion of the charming hiding-place in which the young beauty had concealed the ring, but before coming to it I wanted to enjoy myself. The ring was at last found between the two most beautiful keepers that nature had ever rounded, but I felt such emotion as I drew it out that my hand was trembling. �What are you trembling for?� she asked. �Only for joy at having found the ring. You had concealed it so well, but you owe me a revenge, and this time you shall not beat me. We shall see.� We began a new race, and seeing that she was not running very fast, I thought I could easily distance her whenever I liked. I was mistaken. She had husbanded her strength, and when we had run about two-thirds of the race, she suddenly sprang forward at full speed, left me behind, and I saw that I had lost. I then thought of a trick, the effect of which never fails. I feigned a heavy fall, and I uttered a shriek of pain. The poor child stopped at once, ran back to me in great fright, and pitying me, she assisted me to raise myself from the ground. The moment I was on my feet again, I laughed heartily, and, taking a spring forward, I had reached the goal long before her. The charming runner, thoroughly amazed, said to me, �Then you did not hurt yourself?� �No, for I fell purposely. � �Purposely? Oh, to deceive me? I would never have believed you capable of that. It is not fair to win by fraud, therefore I have not lost the race. Oh, yes, you have, for I reached the goal before you. Trick for trick! Confess that you tried to deceive me at the start. But that is fair, and your trick is a very different thing. Yet it has given me the victory, and, �Bincaasi per fortund o per iniano il vincere semper fu la debil cosa�. I have often heard those words from my brother, but never from my father. While never mind, I have lost. Give your judgment now, I will obey. Wait a little, let me see. Ah! My sentence is that you shall exchange your garters for mine. Exchange our garters? But you have seen mine. They are ugly and worth nothing. Never mind. Twice every day I shall think of the person I love, and as nearly as possible at the same hours you will have to think of me. It is a very pretty idea, and I like it. Now I forgive you for having deceived me. Here are my ugly garters. Ah! My dear deceiver, how beautiful yours are! What a handsome present! How they will please my mother! They must be a present which you have just received, for they are quite new. No, they have not been given to me. I bought them for you, and I have been wracking my brain to find how I could make you accept them. Love suggested to me the idea of making them the price of the race. You may now imagine my sorrow when I saw that you would win. Vexation inspired me with a deceitful strategy in which arose from a feeling you had caused yourself and which turned entirely to your honour, for you must admit that you would have shown a very hard heart if you had not come to my assistance. And I feel certain that you would not have had recourse to that stratagem if you could have guessed how deeply it would pain me. Do you then feel much interest in me? I would do anything in the world to convince you of it. I like my pretty garters exceedingly. I will never have another pair, and I promise you that my brothers shall not steal them from me. Can you suppose him capable of such an accent? Oh, certainly, especially if the fastenings are in gold. Yes, they are in gold, but let him believe that they are in gilt brass. Will you teach me how to fasten my beautiful garters? Of course I will. We went upstairs, and after our dinner, which we both enjoyed with a good appetite, she became more lively, and I more excited by love, but at the same time more to be pitied in consequence of the restraint to which I had condemned myself. Very anxious to try her garter, she begged me to help her, and that request was made in good faith without mischievous coquetry. An innocent young girl, who in spite of her fifteen years has not loved yet, who has not frequented the society of other girls, and does not know the violence of amorous desires or what is likely to excite them, she has no idea of the danger of a tet-a-tet. When a natural instinct makes her love for the first time, she believes the object of her love worthy of her confidence, and she thinks that to be loved herself, she must show the most boundless trust. Seeing that her stockings were too short to fasten the garter above the knee, she told me that she would in future use longer ones, and I immediately offered her those that I had purchased. Full of gratitude she sat on my knees, and in the effusion of her satisfaction, she bestowed upon me all the kisses that she would have given to her father if he had made her such a present. I returned her kisses, forcibly keeping down the violence of my feelings. I only told her that one of her kisses was worth a kingdom. My charming C.C. took off her shoes and stockings, and put on one of the pairs I had given her, which went half way up her thigh. The more innocent I found her to be, the less I could make up my mind to possess myself of that ravishing prey. We returned to the garden, and after walking about until the evening we went to the opera, taking care to keep on our masks, because the theatre being small we might easily have been recognized, and my lovely friend was certain that her father would not allow her to come out again if he found out that she had gone to the opera. We were rather surprised not to see her brother. On our left we had the Marquis of Montelagra, the Spanish ambassador, with his acknowledged mistress, Mamzal Bola, and in the box on our right a man and a woman who had not taken off their masks. Those two persons kept their eyes constantly fixed upon us, but my young friend did not remark it as her back was turned towards them. During the ballet, C.C., having left the libretto of the opera on the ledge of the box, the man with the mask stretched forth his hand and took it. That proved to me that we were known to him, and I said so to my companion, who turned round and recognized her brother. The lady who was with him could be no other than Madame C. As P.C. knew the number of our box he had taken the next one, he could not have done so without some intention, and I foresaw that he meant to make his sister have supper with that woman. I was much annoyed, but I could not prevent it without breaking off with him altogether, and I was in love. After the second ballet he came into our box with his lady, and after the usual exchange of compliments the acquaintance was made, and we had to accept supper at his casino. As soon as the two ladies had thrown off their masks they embraced one another, and the mistress of P.C. overwhelmed my young friend with compliments and attentions. At table she affected to treat her with extreme affability, and C.C. not having any experience of the world behaved towards her with the greatest respect. I could however see that C., in spite of all her art, could hardly hide the vexations she felt at the sight of the superior beauty which I had preferred to her own charms. P.C., who was of an extravagant gaiety, launched forth in stupid jokes at which his mistress alone laughed. In my anger I shrugged my shoulders, and his sister, not understanding his jests, took no notice of them. Altogether our party carer was not formed of congenial spirits, and was rather a dull affair. As the dessert was placed on the table P.C. somewhat excited by the wine he had drunk, kissed his lady love, and challenged me to follow his example with his sister. I told him that I loved Mamzell C.C. truly, and that I would not take such liberties with her until I should have acquired a legal right to her favours. P.C. began to scoff at what I had said, but C. stopped him. Grateful for that mark of propriety I took out of my pocket the twelve pairs of gloves which I had bought in the morning, and after I had begged her acceptance of half a dozen pairs I gave the other six to my young friend. P.C. rose from the table with a sneer dragging along with him his mistress, who had likewise drunk rather freely, and he threw himself on a sofa with her. The scene, taking a lewd turn, I placed myself in such a manner as to hide them from the view of my young friend, whom I led into the recess of a window. But I had not been able to prevent C.C. from seeing, in a looking-glass, the position of the two impudent wretches, and her face was suffused with blushes. I, however, spoke to her quietly of indifferent things, and recovering her composer she answered me, speaking of her gloves, which she was folding on the peer-table, after his brutal exploit P.C. came impudently to me and embraced me. His disillet companion, imitating his example, kissed my young friend, saying she was certain that she had seen nothing. C.C. answered modestly, that she did not know what she could have seen, but the looks she cast towards me made me understand all she felt. If the reader has any knowledge of the human heart, he must guess what my feelings were. How was it possible to endure such a scene going on in the presence of an innocent girl whom I adored, when I had to fight hard myself with my own burning desires so as not to abuse her innocence? I was on a bed of thorns, anger and indignation, restrained by the reserve I was compelled to adopt for fear of losing the object of my ardent love made me tremble all over. The inventors of hell would not have failed to place that suffering amongst its torments if they had known it. The lustful P.C. had thought of giving me a great proof of his friendship by the disgusting action he had been guilty of, and he had reckoned as nothing the dishonor of his mistress and the delicacy of his sister whom he had thus exposed to prostitution. I do not know how I contrived not to strangle him. The next day, when he called on me, I overwhelmed him with the most bitter reproaches, and he tried to excuse himself by saying that he never would have acted in that manner if he had not felt satisfied that I had already treated his sister in the teta-tep in the same way he treated his mistress before us. My love for P.C. became every instant more intense, and I had made up my mind to undertake everything necessary to save her from the fearful position in which her unworthy brother might throw her by selling her for his own profit to some man less scrupulous than I was. It seemed to me urgent. What a disgusting state of things! What an unheard of species of seduction! What a strange way to gain my friendship! And I found myself under the dire necessity of dissembling with the man whom I despised most in the world. I had been told that he was deeply in debt, that he had been a bankrupt in Vienna, where he had a wife and a family of children, that in Venice he had compromised his father who had been obliged to turn him out of his house, and who, out of pity, pretended not to know that he had kept his room in it. He had seduced his wife, or rather his mistress, who had been driven away by her husband, and after he had squandered everything she possessed, and he found himself at the end of his wits, he had tried to turn her prostitution to advantage. His poor mother, who idolized him, had given him everything she had, even her own clothes, and I expected him to plague me again for some loan or security, but I was firmly resolved on refusing. I could not bear the idea of C.C. being the innocent cause of my ruin, and used as a tool by her brother to keep up his disgusting life. Moved by an irresistible feeling, by what is called perfect love, I called upon P.C. on the following day, and after I had told him that I adored his sister with the most honorable intentions, I tried to make him realize how deeply he had grieved me by forgetting all respect, and that modesty which the most inveterate libertine ought never to insult if he has any pretension to be worthy of respectable society. Even if I had to give up, I added, the pleasure of seeing your angelic sister, I have taken the firm resolution of not keeping company with you, but I candidly warn you that I will do everything in my power to prevent her from going out with you, and from being the victim of some infamous bargain in your hands. He excused himself again by saying that he had drunk too much and that he did not believe that my love for his sister was such as to despise the gratification of my senses. He begged my pardon, he embraced me with tears in his eyes, and I would perhaps have given way to my own emotion when his mother and sister entered the room. They offered me their heartfelt thanks for the handsome present I had given to the young lady. I told the mother that I loved her daughter, and that my fondest hope was to obtain her for my wife. In the hope of securing that happiness, madam, I added, I shall get a friend to speak to your husband as soon as I shall have secured a position giving me sufficient means to keep her comfortably and to assure her happiness. So saying I kissed her hand and I felt so deeply moved that the tears ran down my cheeks. Those tears were sympathetic, and the excellent woman was soon crying like me. She thanked me affectionately and left me with her daughter and her son, who looked as if he had been changed into a statue. There are a great many mothers of that kind in the world, and very often they are women who have led a virtuous life. They do not suppose that deceit can exist, because their own nature understands only what is upright and true. But they are almost always the victims of their good faith and of their trust in those who seem to them to be patterns of honesty. What I had told the mother surprised the daughter, but her astonishment was much greater when she heard of what I had said to her brother. After one moment of consideration she told him that with any other man but me she would have been ruined, and that if she had been in the place of Madame C. she would never have forgiven him, because the way he had treated her was as debasing for her as for himself. P. C. was weeping, but the trader could command tears whenever he pleased. It was wit Sunday, and as the theatres were closed he told me that if I would be at the same place of appointment as before the next day he would leave his sister with me and go by himself with Madame C. whom he could not honourably leave alone. I will give you my key, he added, and you can bring back my sister here as soon as you have supper together wherever you like. And he handed me his key, which I had not the courage to refuse. After that he left us. I went away myself a few minutes afterwards, having previously agreed with C. C. that we would go to the Zuecha Garden on the following day. I was punctual and love exciting me to the highest degree I foresaw what would happen on that day. I had engaged a box at the opera, and we went to our garden until the evening. As it was a holiday there were several small parties of friends sitting at various tables and being unwilling to mix with other people we made up our minds to remain in the apartment which was given to us, and to go to the opera only towards the end of the performance. I therefore ordered a good supper. We had seven hours to spend together, and my charming young friend remarked that the time would certainly not seem long to us. She threw off her disguise and sat on my knees, telling me that I had completed the conquest of her heart by my reserve towards her during the supper with her brother. But all our conversation was accompanied by kisses which little by little were becoming more and more ardent. Did you see, she said to me, what my brother did to Madame C. when she placed herself astride on his knees? I only saw it in the looking-glass, but I could guess what it was. Were you not afraid of my treating you in the same manner? No, I can assure you. How could I possibly fear such a thing, knowing how much you loved me? You would have humiliated me so deeply that I should no longer have loved you. We will wait until we are married. Will we not, dear? You cannot realize the extent of the joy I felt when I heard you speak to my mother as you did. We will love each other for ever, but will you explain to me, dearest, the meaning of the words embroidered upon my garters? Is there any motto upon them? I was not aware of it. Oh, yes, it is in French. Pray, read it. Seated on my knees, she took off one of her garters while I was un-clasping the other. And here are the two lines which I found embroidered on them, and which I ought to have read before offering them to her. En voyant choc jour le bijoux de ma belle, vous louez, d'y ray, comme vous, qu'il louis, sois fidèle. Those verses, rather free, I must confess, struck me as very comic. I burst out laughing, and my mirth increased when, to please her, I had to translate their meaning. As it was an idea entirely new to her, I found it necessary to enter into particulars which lighted an ardent fire in our veins. Now, she observed, I shall not dare to show my garters to anybody, and I am very sorry for it. As I was rather thoughtful, she added, Tell me what you are thinking of. I am thinking that those lucky garters have a privilege which perhaps I shall never enjoy, how I wish myself in their place. I may die of that wish and die miserable. No, dearest, for I am in the same position as you, and I am certain to live. Besides, we can hasten our marriage. As far as I am concerned, I am ready to become your wife to-morrow, if you wish it. We are both free, and my father cannot refuse his consent. You are right, for he would be bound to consent for the sake of his honour, but I wish to give him a mark of my respect by asking for your hand, and after that everything will soon be ready. It might be in a week or ten days. So soon? You will see that my father will say that I am too young. Perhaps he is right. No, I am young, but not too young, and I am certain that I can be your wife. I was on burning coals, and I felt that it was impossible for me to resist any longer the ardent fire which was consuming me. Oh, my best beloved, I exclaimed. Do you feel certain of my love? Do you think me capable of deceiving you? Are you sure that you will never repent being my wife? More than certain, darling, for you could not wish to make me unhappy. Well then, let our marriage take place now. Let God alone receive our mutual pledges. We cannot have a better witness, for he knows the purity of our intentions. Let us mutually engage our faith. Let us unite our destinies and be happy. We will afterwards illegalize our tender love with your father's consent and with the ceremonies of the church. In the meantime, be mine, entirely mine. Dispose of me, dearest. I promise to God. I promise to you that from this very moment and forever I will be your faithful wife. I will say the same to my father, to the priest who will bless our union, in fact, to everybody. I take the same oath towards you, darling, and I can assure you that we are now truly married. Come to my arms, O dearest, complete my felicity. O dear, I am indeed so near happiness. After kissing her tenderly, I went down to tell the mistress of the house not to disturb us, and not to bring up our dinner until we called for it. During my short absence, the charming CC had thrown herself dressed on the bed, but I told her that the God of Love disapproved of unnecessary veils, and in less than a minute I made of her a new eve, beautiful in her nakedness as if she had just come out of the hands of the supreme artist. Her skin as soft as satin was dazzlingly white, and seemed still more so beside her splendid black hair which I had spread over her alabaster shoulders. Her slender figure, her prominent hips, her beautifully mottled bosom, her large eyes from which flashed the sparkle of amorous desire, everything about her was strikingly beautiful, and presented to my hungry looks the perfection of the mother of love, adorned by all the charms which modesty throws over the attractions of a lovely woman. Beside myself, I almost feared lest my felicity should not prove real, or lest it should not be made perfect by complete enjoyment, when mischievous love contrived in so serious a moment to supply me with a reason for mirth. Is there by any chance a law to prevent the husband from undressing himself, inquired beautiful CC? No, darling angel, no, and even if there were such a barbarous law I would not submit to it. In one instant I had thrown off all my garments, and my mistress in her turn gave herself up to all the impulse of natural instinct and curiosity, for every part of my body was an entirely new thing to her. At last, as if she had enough of the pleasure her eyes were enjoying, she pressed me against her bosom and exclaimed, O dearest, what a difference between you and my pillow! Your pillow, darling, are you laughing? What do you mean? Oh, it is nothing but a childish fancy. I am afraid you will be angry. Angry? How could I be angry with you, my love, in the happiest moment of my life? Well, for several days past I could not go to sleep without holding my pillow in my arms. I caressed it, I called it my dear husband, I fancied it was you, and when a delightful enjoyment had left me without movement I would go to sleep, and in the morning find my pillow still between my arms. Dear CC became my wife with the courage of a true heroine, for her intense love caused her to delight even in bodily pain. After three hours spent in delicious enjoyment, I got up and called for our supper. The repast was simple, but very good. We looked at one another without speaking, for how could we find words to express our feelings. We thought that our felicity was extreme, and we enjoyed it with the certainty that we could renew it at will. The hostess came up to inquire whether we wanted anything, and she asked if we were not going to the opera, which everybody said was so beautiful. Have you never been to the opera? Never, because it is too dear for people in our position. My daughter has such a wish to go that, God forgive me for saying it, she would give herself, I truly believe, to the man who would take her there once. That would be paying very dear for it, said my little wife, laughing. Dearest, we could make her happy at less cost, for that hurts very much. I was thinking of it, my love. Here is the key of the box. You can make them a present of it. Here is the key of a box at the St. Moses Theatre, she said to the hostess. It costs two sequins. Go instead of us, and tell your daughter to keep her rosebud for something better. To enable you to amuse yourself, my good woman, take these two sequins, I added. Let your daughter enjoy herself well. The good hostess, thoroughly amazed at the generosity of her guests, ran in a great hurry to her daughter, while we were delighted at having laid ourselves under the pleasant necessity of again going to bed. She came up with her daughter, a handsome, tempting blonde, who insisted upon kissing the hands of her benefactors. She is going this minute with her lover, said the mother. He is waiting for her, but I will not let her go alone with him, for he is not to be trusted. I am going with them. That is right, my good woman, but when you come back this evening, let the gondola wait for us. It will take us to Venice. What? Do you mean to remain here until we return? Yes, for this is our wedding day. Today, God bless you. She then went to the bed to put it to rights, and seeing the marks of my wife's virginity, she came to my dear C.C., and in her joy, kissed her, and immediately began a sermon for the special benefit of her daughter, showing her those marks which, in her opinion, did infinite honour to the young bride. Respectable marks, she said, which in our days the God of Hymen sees, but seldom on his altar. The daughter, casting down her beautiful blue eyes, answered that the same would certainly be seen on her wedding day. I am certain of it, said the mother, for I never lose sight of thee. Go and get some water in this basin and bring it here. This charming bride must be in need of it. The girl obeyed, the two women having left us we went to bed, and four hours of ecstatic delights passed off with wonderful rapidity. Our last engagement would have lasted longer if my charming sweetheart had not taken a fancy to take my place and to reverse the position. Warn out with happiness and enjoyment we were going to sleep when the hostess came to tell us that the gondola was waiting for us. I immediately got up to open the door, in the hope that she would amuse us with her description of the opera, but she left that task to her daughter, who had come up with her, and she went down again to prepare some coffee for us. The young girl assisted my sweetheart to dress, but now and then she would wink at me in a manner which made me think that she had more experience than her mother imagined. Nothing could be more indiscreet than the eyes of my beloved mistress. They were the irrefutable marks of her first exploits. It is true that she had just been fighting a battle which had positively made her a different being to what she was before the engagement. We took some hot coffee, and I told our hostess to get us a nice dinner for the next day. We then left in the gondola. The dawn of day was breaking when we landed at St. Sophia's Square, in order to set the curiosity of the gondoliers at fault, and we parted happy, delighted, and certain that we were thoroughly married. I went to bed having made up my mind to compel Monsieur de Bregadin, through the power of the Oracle, to obtain legally for me the hand of my beloved C.C. I remained in bed until noon, and spent the rest of the day in playing with ill luck, as if Dame Fortune had wished to warn me that she did not approve of my love. CHAPTER XIII. CHAPTER XIII. FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR TO VOLUNTEER, PLEASE VISIT LIBORVOX.ORG. CHAPTER XIII. CONTINUATION OF MY INTRIGES WITH C.C. Monsieur de Bregadin asks the hand of that young person for me. Her father refuses and sends her to a convent, De La Hay. I lose all my money at the fossil table. My partnership with Crochi replenishes my purse. Various incidents. The happiness derived from my love had prevented me from attaching any importance to my losses, and being entirely engrossed with the thought of my sweetheart, my mind did not seem to care for whatever did not relate to her. I was thinking of her the next morning when her brother called on me with a beaming countenance and said, I am certain that you have slept with my sister, and I am very proud of it. She does not confess as much, but her confession is not necessary. I will bring her to you today. You will oblige me for I adore her, and I will get a friend of mine to ask her in marriage from your father in such a manner that he will not be able to refuse. I wish it may be so, but I doubt it. In the meantime, I find myself compelled to beg another service from your kindness. I can obtain against a note of hand payable in six months, a ring of the value of two hundred sequins, and I am certain to sell it again this very day for the same amount. That sum is very necessary to me just now, but the jeweler who knows you will not let me have it without your security. Will you oblige me in this instance? I know that you lost a great deal last night. If you want some money, I will give you one hundred sequins, which you will return when the note of hand falls due. How could I refuse him? I knew very well that I would be happy, but I loved his sister so much. I am ready, said I to him, to sign the note of hand, but you are wrong in abusing my love for your sister in such a manner. We went out, and the jeweler having accepted my security, the bargain was completed. The merchant, who knew me only by name, thinking of paying me a great compliment, told P.C. that with my guarantee all his goods were at his service. I did not feel flattered by the compliment, but I thought I could see the bravery of P.C., who was clever enough to find out, out of a hundred, the fool who without any reason placed confidence in me when I possessed nothing. It was thus that my angelic C.C., who seemed made to ensure my happiness, was the innocent cause of my ruin. At noon P.C. brought his sister, and wishing most likely to prove its honesty, for a cheat always tries hard to do that, he gave me back the letter of exchange which I had endorsed Cyprus wine, assuring me likewise that at our next meeting he would hand me the one hundred sequins which he had promised me. I took my mistress as usual to Zoeka. I agreed for the garden to be kept closed, and we dined under a vine-arbor. My dear C.C. seemed to me more beautiful since she was mine, and friendship being united to love we felt a delightful sensation of happiness which shone on our features. The hostess, who had found me generous, gave us some excellent game and some very fine fish. Her daughter served us. She also came to undress my little wife as soon as we had gone upstairs to give ourselves up to the sweet pleasures natural to a young married couple. When we were alone my loved asked me what was the meaning of the one hundred sequins which her brother had promised to bring me, and I told her all that had taken place between him and me. I entreat you, darling, she said to me, to refuse all the demands of my brother in the future. He is, unfortunately, in such difficulties that he would at the end drag you down to the abyss into which he must fall. This time our enjoyment seemed to us more substantial. We relished it with a more refined delight and, so to speak, re-reasoned over it. O my best beloved, she said to me, do all in your power to render me pregnant, for in that case my father could no longer refuse his consent to my marriage, under the pretext of my being too young. It was with great difficulty that I made her understand that the fulfillment of that wish, however much I shared it myself, was not entirely in our power, but that under the circumstances it would most probably be fulfilled sooner or later. After working with all our mind at the completion of that great undertaking we gave several hours to a profound and delightful repose. As soon as we were awake I called for candles and coffee, and we set to work again in the hope of obtaining the mutual harmony of ecstatic enjoyment which was necessary to ensure our future happiness. It was in the midst of our loving sport that the two early dawns surprised us and we hurried back to Venice to avoid inquisitive eyes. We renewed our pleasures on the Friday, but whatever delight I may feel now in the remembrance of those happy moments I will spare my readers the description of my new enjoyment because they might not feel interested in such repetitions. I must therefore only say that before parting on that day we fixed for the following Monday the last day of the carnival, our last meeting in the Garden of Zueca. Death alone could have hindered me from keeping that appointment, for it was to be the last opportunity of enjoying our amorous sport. On the Monday morning I saw P. C., who confirmed the appointment for the same hour and at the place previously agreed upon, and I was there in good time. In spite of the impatience of a lover the first hour of expectation passes rapidly, but the second is mortally long, yet the third and the fourth pass without my seeing my beloved mistress. I was in a state of fearful anxiety. I imagined the most terrible disasters. It seemed to me that if C. C. had been unable to go out her brother ought to have come to let me know it. But some unexpected mishap might have detained him, and I could not go and fetch her myself at her house, even if I had feared nothing else than to miss them on the road. At last as the church bells were tolling the Angelus, C. C. came alone and masked. I was certain, she said, that you were here, and here I am in spite of all my mother could say. You must be starving. My brother has not put in an appearance through the whole of this day. Let us go quickly to our garden, for I am very hungry, too, and love will console us for all we have suffered today. She had spoken very rapidly, and without giving me time to utter a single word, I had nothing more to ask her. We went off, and took a gondola to our garden. The wind was very high. It blew almost a hurricane, and the gondola having only one rower, the danger was great. C. C., who had no idea of it, was playing with me to make up for the restraint under which she had been all day. But her movements exposed the gondolier to danger. If he had fallen into the water nothing could have saved us, and we would have found death on our way to pleasure. I told her to keep quiet, but being anxious not to frighten her, I dared not acquaint her with the danger we were running. The gondolier, however, had not the same reasons for sparing her feelings, and he called out to us in a stentorian voice, that if we did not keep quiet we were all lost. His threat had the desired effect, and we reached the landing without mishap. I paid the man generously, and he laughed for joy when he saw the money for which he was indebted to the bad weather. We spent six delightful hours in our casino. This time sleep was not allowed to visit us. The only thought which threw a cloud over our felicity was that, the carnival, being over, we did not know how to contrive our future meetings. We agreed, however, that on the following Wednesday morning I should pay a visit to her brother, and that she would come to his room as usual. We took leave of our worthy hostess, who, entertaining no hope of seeing us again, expressed her sorrow and overwhelmed us with blessings. I escorted my darling without any accident as far as the door of her house and went home. I had just risen at noon when, to my great surprise, I had a visit from De La Hay, with his pupil Calvi, a handsome young man, but the very copy of his master in everything. He walked, spoke, laughed exactly like him. It was the same language as that of the Jesuits, correct, but rather harsh French. I thought that excess of imitation perfectly scandalous, and I could not help telling De La Hay that he ought to change his pupil's deportment, because such servile mimicry would only expose him to bitter railery. As I was giving him my opinion on that subject, Bavois made his appearance, and when he had spent an hour in the company of the young man, he was entirely of the same mind. Calvi died two or three years later. De La Hay, who was bent upon forming pupils, became two or three months after Calvi's death, the tutor of the young Chevalier de Morassini, the nephew of the nobleman to whom Bavois was indebted for his rapid fortune, who was then the commissioner of the Republic to settle its boundaries with the Austrian government, represented by Count Christiani. I was in love beyond all measure, and I would not postpone an application on which my happiness depended any longer. After dinner, and as soon as everybody had retired, I begged M. de Bragedant and his two friends to grant me an audience of two hours in the room in which we were always inaccessible. There, without any preamble, I told them that I was in love with C. C., and determined on carrying her off if they could not contrive to bring her from her father for my wife. The question at issue, I said to M. de Bragedant, is how to give me a respectable position, and to guarantee a dowry of ten thousand ducats which the young lady would bring me. They answered that if Perales gave them the necessary instructions they were ready to fulfill them. That was all I wanted. I spent two hours informing all the pyramids they wished, and the result was that M. de Bragedant himself would demand in my name the hand of the young lady, the oracle explaining the reason of that choice by stating that it must be the same person who would guarantee the dowry with his own fortune. The father of my mistress, being then at his country house, I told my friends that they would have due notice of his return, and that they were to be all three together when M. de Bragedant demanded the young lady's hand. Well pleased with what I had done, I called on P. C. the next morning. An old woman who opened the door for me told me that he was not at home, but that his mother would see me. She came immediately with her daughter, and they both looked very sad, which at once struck me as a bad sign. C. C. told me that her brother was in prison for debt, and that it would be difficult to get him out of it because his debts amounted to a very large sum. The mother, crying bitterly, told me how deeply grieved she was at not being able to support him in the prison, and she showed me the letter he had written to her in which he requested her to deliver an enclosure to his sister. I asked C. C. whether I could read it. She handed it to me, and I saw that he begged her to speak to me on his behalf. As I returned it to her, I told her to write to him that I was not in a position to do anything for him, but I entreated the mother to accept twenty-five sequins which would enable her to assist him by sending him one or two at a time. She made up her mind to take them only when her daughter joined her in treaties to mine. After this painful scene I gave them account of what I had done in order to obtain the hand of my young sweetheart. Madame C. thanked me, expressed her appreciation of my honorable conduct, but she told me not to entertain any hope because her husband, who was very stubborn in his ideas, had decided that his daughter should marry a merchant, and not before the age of eighteen. He was expected home that very day. As I was taking leave of them, my mistress contrived to slip in my hand a letter in which she told me that I could safely make use of the key which I had in my possession to enter the house at midnight, and that I would find her in her brother's room. This snooze made me very happy, for notwithstanding all the doubts of her mother I hoped for success in obtaining her hand. When I returned home I told Monsieur de Bregadin of the expected arrival of the father of my charming C.C., and the kind old man wrote to him immediately in my presence. He requested him to name at what time he might call on him on important business. I asked Monsieur de Bregadin not to send his letter until the following day. The reader can very well guess that C.C. had not to wait for me long after midnight. I gained admittance without any difficulty, and I found my father in the house of my charming C.C. de Bregadin, who received me with open arms. You have nothing to fear, she said to me. My father has arrived in excellent health, and everyone in the house is fast asleep. Except love, I answered, which is now inviting us to enjoy ourselves. Love will protect us, dearest, and tomorrow your father will receive a letter from my worthy protector. At those words C.C. shuttered. It was a presentiment of the heart. He said to me, My father thinks of me now as if I were nothing but a child, but his eyes are going to be opened respecting me. He will examine my conduct, and God knows what will happen. Now we are happy, even more than we were during our visits to Zueca, for we can see each other every night without restraint. But what will my father do when he hears that I have a lover? What can he do? If he refuses me your hand, I will carry you off, and the patriarch would certainly marry us. We shall be one another's for life. It is my most ardent wish, and to realize it I am ready to do anything, but dearest, I know my father. We remained two hours together, thinking less of our pleasures than of our sorrow. I went away promising to see her again the next night. The whole of the morning passed off very heavily for me, and that noon, M. de Brageden informed me that he had sent his letter to the father, who had answered that he would call himself on the following day to retain M. de Brageden's wishes. At midnight I saw my beloved mistress again, and I gave her an account of all that had transpired. C.C. told me that the message of the senator had greatly puzzled her father, because, as he had never had any intercourse with that noble man, he could not imagine what he wanted with him. Uncertainty, a sort of anxious dread, and a confused hope rendered our enjoyment much less lively during the two hours which we spent together. I had no doubt that M. Charles C., the father of my young friend, would go home immediately after his interview with M. de Brageden, that he would ask his daughter a great many questions, and I feared lest C.C. in her trouble and confusion should betray herself. She felt herself that it might be so, and I could see how painfully anxious she was. I was extremely uneasy myself, and I suffered much, because not knowing how her father would look at the matter, I could not give her any advice. As a matter of course, it was necessary for her to conceal certain circumstances which would have prejudiced his mind against us. Yet it was urgent to tell him the truth, and to show herself entirely submissive to his will. I found myself placed in a strange position, and above all I regretted having made the all-important application precisely because it was certain to have too decisive a result. I longed to get out of the state of indecision in which I was, and I was surprised to see my young mistress less anxious than I was. We parted with heavy hearts, but with the hope that the next night would again bring us together, for the contrary did not seem to us possible. The next day after dinner, M. Charles C. called upon M. de Brageden, but I did not show myself. He remained a couple of hours with my three friends, and as soon as he had gone, I heard that his answer had been what the mother had told me, but with the addition of a circumstance most painful to me, namely that his daughter would pass the four years which were to elapse before she could think of marriage in a convent. As a palliative to his refusal, he had added that if by that time I had a well-established position in the world he might consent to our wedding. That answer struck me as most cruel, and in the despair in which it threw me I was not astonished when the same night I found the door by which I used to gain abitance to see see, closed and locked inside. I returned home more dead than alive, and lost twenty-four hours in that fearful perplexity in which a man is often thrown when he feels himself bound to take a decision without knowing what to decide. I thought of carrying her off, but a thousand difficulties combined to prevent the execution of that scheme, and her brother was in prison. I saw how difficult it would be to contrive a correspondence with my wife, for I considered C.C. as such much more than if our marriage had received the sanction of the priest's blessing or of the notary's legal contract. Tortured by a thousand distressing ideas, I made at my mind at last to pay a visit to Madame C. A servant opened the door and informed me that Madame had gone to the country. She could not tell me when she was expected to return to Venice. This news was a terrible thunderbolt to me. I remained as motionless as a statue, for now that I had lost that last resource I had no means of procuring the slightest information. I tried to look calm in the presence of my three friends, but in reality I was in a state truly worthy of pity, and the reader will perhaps realize it if I tell him that, in my despair, I made at my mind to call on P.C. in his prison in the hope that he might give me some information. My visit proved useless. He knew nothing, and I did not enlighten his ignorance. He told me a great many lies which I pretended to accept as gospel, and giving him two sequins I went away wishing him a prompt release. I was wracking my brain to contrive some way to know the position of my mistress, for I felt certain it was a fearful one, and believing her to be unhappy I reproached myself most bitterly as the cause of her misery. I had reached such a state of anxiety that I could neither eat nor sleep. Two days after the refusal of the father, matured the bragedan and his two friends went to Padua for a month. I had not had the heart to go with them, and I was alone in the house. I needed consolation, and I went to the gaming-table, but I played without attention, and lost a great deal. I had already sold whatever I possessed of any value, and I owed money everywhere. I could expect no assistance except for my three kind friends, but shame prevented me from confessing my position to them. I was in that disposition, which leads easily to self-destruction, and I was thinking of it as I was shaving myself before a toilet-glass, when the servant brought to my room a woman who had a letter for me. The woman came up to me, and handing me the letter, she said, Are you the person to whom it is addressed? I recognized at once a seal which I had given to C.C. I thought I would drop down dead. In order to recover my composure I told the woman to wait, and tried to do so myself, but my hand refused to perform its office. I put the razor down, turned my back on the messenger, and opening the letter I read the following lines. Before I can write all I have to say I must be sure of my messenger. I am boarding in a convent, and am very well treated, and I enjoy excellent health in spite of the anxiety of my mind. The superior has been instructed to forbid me all visitors in correspondence. I am, however, already certain of being able to write outstanding these very strict orders. I entertain no doubt of your good faith, my beloved husband, and I feel sure that you will never doubt a heart which is wholly yours. Trust to me for the execution of whatever you may wish me to do, for I am yours and only yours. Answer only a few words until we are quite certain of our messenger. Maran, June 12. In less than three weeks my young friend had become a clever moralist. It is true that love has been her teacher, and love alone can work miracles. As I concluded the reading of her letter, I was in the state of a criminal pardoned at the foot of the scaffold. I required several minutes before I recovered the exercise of my will and my presence of mind. I turned towards the messenger and asked her if she could read. Ah, sir, if I could not read it would be a great misfortune for me. There are seven women appointed for the service of the Nuns of Maran. One of us comes in turn to Venice once a week. I come every Wednesday, and this day week I shall be able to bring you an answer to the letter which, if you like, you can write now. Then you can take charge of the letters entrusted to you by the Nuns. That is not supposed to be one of our duties, but the faithful delivery of letters being the most important of the commissions committed to our care. We should not be trusted if we could not read the address of the letters placed in our hands. The Nuns wanted to be sure that we shall not give to Peter the letter addressed to Paul. The good mothers are always afraid of our being guilty of such blunders. Therefore I shall be here again without fail, this day week, at the same hour, but pleased to order your servant to wake you in case you should be asleep. For our time is measured as if it were gold. Above all, rely entirely upon my discretion as long as you employ me, for if I did not know how to keep a silent tongue in my head I should lose my bread, and then what would become of me, a widow with four children, a boy, eight years old, and three pretty girls, the eldest of whom is only sixteen. You can see them when you come to Moran. I live near the church, on the garden side, and I am always at home when I am not engaged in the service of the Nuns, who are always sending me on one commission or another. The young lady, I do not know her name yet, for she has only been one week with us, gave me this letter, but so cleverly, oh, she must be as witty as she is pretty, for three Nuns who were there were completely bamboozled. She gave it to me with this other letter for myself, which I likewise leave in your hands. Poor child, she tells me to be discreet. She need not be afraid. Right to her, I entreat you, sir, that she can trust me and answer boldly. I would not tell you to act in the same manner with all the other messengers of the convent, although I believe them to be honest, and God forbid I should speak ill of my fellow creature, but they are all ignorant, you see, and it is certain that they babble, at least with their confessors, if with nobody else. As for me, thank God I know very well that I need not confess anything but my sins, and surely to carry a letter from a Christian woman to her brother in Christ is not a sin. Besides, my confessor is a good old monk, quite deaf, I believe, for the worthy man never answers me, but that is his business, not mine. I had not intended to ask her any questions, but if such had been my intention she would not have given me time to carry it into execution, and without my asking her anything she was telling me everything I cared to know, and she did so in her anxiety for me to avail myself of her services exclusively. I immediately sat down to write to my dear Recluse, intending at first to write only a few lines, as she had requested me, but my time was too short to write so little. My letter was a screed of four pages, and very likely it said less than her note of one short page. I told her her letter had saved my life, and asked her whether I could hope to see her. I informed her that I had given a sequin to the messenger, and that she would find another for herself under the seal of my letter, and that I would send her all the money she might want. I entreated her not to fail writing every Wednesday, to be certain that her letters would never be long enough to give me full particulars, not only of all she did, of all she was allowed to do, but also of all her thoughts respecting her release from imprisonment, and the overcoming of all the obstacles which were in the way of our mutual happiness, for I was as much hers as she was mine. I hinted to her the necessity of gaining the love of all the nuns and boarders, but without taking them into her confidence, and of showing no dislike of her convent life. After praising her for the clever manner in which she had contrived to write to me, in spite of superior orders, I made her understand how careful she was to be to avoid being surprised while she was writing, because in such a case her room would certainly be searched, and all her paper seized. Burn all my letters, darling, I added, and recollect that you must go to confession often, but without implicating our love. Share with me all your sorrows, which interest me even more than your joys. I sealed my letter in such a manner that no one could possibly guess that there was a sequin hidden under the ceiling-wax, and I rewarded the woman, promising her that I would give her the same reward every time that she brought me a letter from my friend. When she saw the sequin which I had put in her hand, the good woman cried for joy, and she told me that, as the gates of the convent were never closed for her, she would deliver my letter the moment she found the young lady alone. Here is the note C.C. had given to the woman with the letter addressed to me. God himself, my good woman, prompts me to have confidence in you rather than in anybody else. Take this letter to Venice, and should the person to whom it is addressed not be in the city, bring it back to me. You must deliver to that person himself, and if you find him, you will most likely have an answer, which you must give me, but only when you are certain that nobody can see you. It is only in the hope of enjoyment, but when it is necessary to bring back happiness destroyed by some untoward accident, love for sees all that the keenest perspicacity could possibly find out. The letter of my charming wife overwhelmed me with joy, and in one moment I passed from a state of despair to that of extreme felicity. I felt certain that I should succeed in carrying her off, even if the walls of the convent could boast of artillery, and after the departure of the messenger my first thought was to endeavor to spend the seven days before I could receive the second letter, pleasantly. Gambling alone could do it, but everybody had gone to Padua. I got my trunk ready, and immediately sent it to the Bertiello, then ready to start, and I left for Foussina. From that place I posted, and in less than three hours I arrived at the door of the Bragadan Palace, where I was the protector on the point of sitting down to dinner. He embraced me affectionately, and seeing me covered with perspiration, he said to me, I am certain that you are in no hurry. No, I answered, but I am starving. I brought joy to the brotherly trio, and I enhanced their happiness when I told my friends that I would remain six days with them. De La Haye dined with us on that day. As soon as dinner was over he closeted and for two hours they remained together. I had gone to bed during that time, but Mr. Dandolo came up to me and told me that I had arrived just in time to consult the oracle, respecting an important affair entirely private to himself. He gave me the questions and requested me to find the answers. He wanted to know whether he would act rightly if he accepted a project proposed to him by De La Haye. The oracle answered negatively. Mr. Dandolo rather surprised, asked a second question. He wished Peralis to give his reasons for the denial. I formed the cabalistic pile and brought out this answer. I asked Casanova's opinion, and as I find it opposed to the proposal made by De La Haye I do not wish to hear any more about it. Oh, wonderful power of self-delusion. This worthy man, pleased at being able to throw the odium of a refusal on me, left me perfectly satisfied. I had no idea of the nature of the affair to which he had been eluding, and I felt no curiosity about it, but it annoyed me that a Jesuit should interfere and try to make my friends do anything otherwise than through my instrumentality, and I wanted that intrigue to know that my influence was greater than his own. After that I dressed, masked myself, and went to the opera where I sat down to a pharaoh-table and lost all my money. Fortune was determined to show me that I would not always agree with love. My heart was heavy. I felt miserable. I went to bed. When I woke in the morning I said De La Haye come into my room with a beaming countenance, and assuming an air of devoted friendship, he made a great show of his feelings towards me. I knew what to think of it all, and I waited for the denouement. My dear friend, he said to me at last, why did you dissuade Mr. Dandolo from doing what I had insinuated to him? You know well enough. If I knew it I would not ask you. Mr. Dandolo himself told me that you had advised him against it, advised against, that may be, but certainly not dissuaded, for if he had been persuaded in his own mind he would not have asked my advice. As you please, but may I inquire your reasons? Tell me first what your proposal was. Has he not told you? Perhaps he has, but if you wish to know my reasons, I must hear the whole affair from your own lips, because Mr. Dandolo spoke to me under a promise of secrecy. Of what good is all this reserve? Everyone has his own principles and his own way of thinking. I have a sufficiently good opinion of you to believe that you would act exactly as I do, for I have heard you say that in all secret matters one ought to guard against surprise. I am incapable of taking such an advantage of a friend, but as a general rule I am the right one. I like prudence. I will tell you the whole affair. You are aware that Madame Tripolo has been left a widow, and that Mr. Dandolo was courting her assiduously after having done the same for fourteen years during the life of the husband. The lady, who is still young, beautiful, and lovely, and also is very respectable, wishes to become his wife. It is to me that she has confided her wishes, and as I saw nothing that was not praiseworthy either in a temporal or in a spiritual point of view in that union for after all we are all men, I took the affair in hand with real pleasure. I fancied even that Mr. Dandolo felt some inclination for that marriage when he told me that he would give me his decision this morning. I am not astonished at his having asked your advice in such an important affair, for a prudent man is right in asking the opinion of a wise friend before taking a decision. I must tell you candidly that I am astonished at your disapproval of such a marriage. Pray excuse me if, in order to improve by the information, I ask why your opinion is exactly the reverse of mine. Delighted at having discovered the whole affair, at having arrived in time to prevent my friend who was goodness itself contracting an absurd marriage, I answered the hypocrite that I loved Mr. Dandolo, that I knew that a marriage with a woman like Madame Tripolo would shorten his life. That being my opinion, I added, you must admit that as a true friend I was right in advising him against your proposal. Do you recollect having told me that you never married for the very same reason? Do you recollect your strong arguments in favor of celibacy while we were at Parma? Consider also, I beg, that every man has a certain small stock to be allowed to have mine when I think that if Mr. Dandolo took a wife the influence of that wife would of course have some weight and that the more she gained an influence over him the more I should lose. So you see it would not be natural for me to advise him to take a step which would ultimately prove very detrimental to my interests. If you can prove that my reasons are either trifling or sophisticated, speak openly. I will tell Mr. Dandolo that my mind has changed. Madame Triple-O will become his wife when we return to Venice, but let me warn you that thorough conviction can alone move me. I do not believe myself clever enough to convince you. I shall write to Madame Triple-O that she must apply to you. Do not write anything of the sort to that lady, or she will think that you are laughing at her. Do you suppose her foolish enough to expect that I will give way to her wishes? She knows that I do not like her. How can she possibly know that? She must have remarked that I have never cared to accompany Mr. Dandolo to her house. Learn from me once for all that as long as I live with my three friends they shall have no wife but me. You may get married as soon as you please. I promise not to throw any obstacle in your way, but if you wish to remain on friendly terms with me give up all idea of leading my three friends astray. You are very caustic this morning. I lost all my money last night. Then I have chosen a bad time. Farewell. From that day De La Hay became my secret enemy, and to him I was in a great measure indebted. Two years later, for my imprisonment under the Leeds of Venice, not owing to his slanders, for I do not believe he was capable of that. Jesuit though he was, and even amongst such people there is sometimes some honorable feeling. But through the mystical insinuations which he made in the presence of bigoted persons I must give fair notice to my readers that if they are fond of such people they must not read these memoirs, for they belong to a tribe which I have good reason to attack unmercifully. The fine marriage was never again alluded to, but Mr. Dandolo continued to visit his beautiful widow every day, and I took care to elicit from Peralis a strong interdiction ever to put my foot in her house. Don Antonio Croce, a young Milanese whom I had known in Reggio, a confirmed gambler and a downright clever hand in securing the favors of Dame Fortune, called on me a few minutes after De La Hay had retired. He told me that having seen me lose all my money the night before he had come to offer me the means of retrieving my losses, if I would take an equal interest with him in a ferro bank that he meant to hold at his house, and in which he would have as punters seven or eight rich foreigners who were courting his wife. If you will put three hundred sequins in my bank, he added, you shall be my partner. I have three hundred sequins myself, but that is not enough because the punters play high. Come and dine at my house, and you will make their acquaintance. We can play next Friday, as there will be no opera, and you may rely upon our winning plenty of gold for a certain Gillen Spitz, a swede, may lose twenty sequins. I was without any resources, or at all events I could expect no assistance except from Mr. Dabragadan, upon whom I felt ashamed of encroaching. I was well aware that the proposal made by Crocha was not strictly moral, and that I might have chosen a more honorable society, but if I had refused, the purse of Madame Crocha's admirers would not have been more mercifully treated. Another would have profited by that stroke of good fortune. I was refused my assistance, as adjutant, and my share of the pie. I accepted Crocha's invitation. CHAPTER XIV This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Joelle Peebles. The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova. Volume II. Paris and Prison. By Jacques-Cameau Casanova. Translated by Arthur Machin. Episode VII. Venice. Chapter XIV. I Get Rich Again. My Adventure at Dolo. Analysis of a Long Letter from CC. Mischievous Trick Played Upon Me by PC. At Vincenza. A Tragic Comedy at the Inn. Necessity. That Imperious Law and my only excuse, having made me almost the partner of a cheat, there was still the difficulty of finding the three hundred sequins required. But I postponed the task of finding them until after I should have made the acquaintance of the dupes of the goddess to whom they addressed their worship. Crocha took me to the Prato found madame surrounded with foreigners. She was pretty. And as a Secretary of the Imperial Ambassador Count Rosenberg had attached himself to her, not one of the Venetian nobles dared court her. Those who interested me among the satellites gravitating around that star were the Swede, Gillenspets, a hamburger, the Englishman Mendez, who has already been mentioned, and three or four others to whom Crocha called my attention. We dined altogether, and after dinner there was a general call for a pharaoh-bank. But Crocha did not accept. His refusal surprised me because with three hundred sequins, being a very skillful player, he had enough to try his fortune. He did not, however, allow my suspicions to last long, for he took me to his own room and showed me fifty pieces of eight, which were equal to three hundred sequins. When I saw that the professional had not chosen me as his partner with the intention of making a dupe of me, I told him that I would certainly procure the amount, and upon that promise he invited everybody to supper for the following day. We agreed that we would divide the spoils before parting in the evening, and that no one should be allowed to play on trust. I had to procure the amount, but to whom could I apply? I could ask no one but Mr. de Bragedin. The excellent man had that sum in his possession, for his purse was generally empty. But he found a user, a species of animal too numerous, unfortunately for young men, who, upon a note of hand endorsed by him, gave me a thousand ducats at five percent for one month. This said interest, being deducted by anticipation from the capital. It was exactly the amount I required. I went to the supper. Crocha held the bank until daylight, and divided sixteen hundred sequins between us. The game continued the next evening, and Gillen's bets alone lost two thousand sequins. The Jew Mendez lost about one thousand. Sunday was sanctified by rest, but on Monday the bank won four thousand sequins. On Tuesday we all dined together, and the play was resumed. But we had scarcely begun when an officer of the Podesta made his appearance, and informed Crocha that he wanted a conversation with him. They left the room together, and after a short absence Crocha came back rather crestfallen. He announced that by superior orders he was forbidden to hold a bank at his house. Madame fainted away. The punters hurried out, and I followed their example as soon as I had secured one half of the gold which was on the table. I was glad enough it was not worse. As I left, I went to Venice, for he had been ordered to quit Padua within twenty-four hours. I expected it would be so, because he was too well-known. But his greatest crime in the opinion of the Podesta was that he attracted the players to his own house, whilst the authorities wanted all the lovers of play to lose their money at the opera, where the bankers were mostly noblemen from Venice. I left the city on horseback in the evening, and in very bad time I came back, because early the next morning I expected a letter from my dear prisoner. I had only travelled six miles from Padua when my horse fell, and I found my left leg caught under it. My boots were soft ones, and I feared I had hurt myself. The postillian was ahead of me, but hearing the noise made by the fall he came up and disengaged me. I was not hurt, but my horse was lame. I immediately took the horse of the postillian fellow, getting hold of the bit, refused to let me proceed. I tried to make him understand that he was wrong, but far from giving way to my arguments he persisted in stopping me, and being in a great hurry to continue my journey I fired one of my pistols in his face, but without touching him. Frightened out of his wits the man let go, and I galloped off. When I reached the dolo I went straight to the stables, and I myself saddled a horse, which a man to whom I gave a crown pointed out to me as being excellent. No one thought of being astonished at my other postillian having remained behind, and we started at full speed. It was then one o'clock in the morning the storm had broken up the road, and the night was so dark that I could not see anything within a yard ahead of me. The day was breaking when we arrived in Fusina. The boatmen threatened me with a fresh storm, but setting everything on fire, I took a four-ord boat, and reached my dwelling quite safe, but shivering with cold and wet to the skin. I had scarcely been in my room for a quarter of an hour when the messenger from Muren presented herself and gave me a letter, telling me that she would call for the answer in two hours. That letter was a journal of seven pages, the faithful translation of which might weary my readers, but here is the substance of it. After the interview with Mishir Fregadan, the father of C.C. had gone home, had his wife and daughter to his room, and inquired kindly from the last where she had made my acquaintance. She answered that she had seen me five or six times in her brother's room, and that I had asked her whether she would consent to be my wife, and that she had told me that she was dependent upon her father and mother. The father had then said that she was too young to think of marriage, and besides, I had a position in society. After that decision he repaired to his son's room, and locked the small door inside, as well as the one communicating with the apartment of the mother, who was instructed by him to let me believe that she had gone to the country, in case I should call on her. Two days afterwards he came to C.C., who was beside her sick mother, and told her that her aunt would take her to a convent, where she was to remain until a husband had returned to her parents. She answered that being perfectly disposed to submit to his will she would gladly obey him. Pleased with her ready obedience he promised to go and see her, and to let her mother visit her likewise, as soon as her health was better. Immediately after that conversation the aunt had called for her, and a gondola had taken them to the convent, where she had been ever since. Her bed and her clothes had been taken to whom she had been entrusted and under whose supervision she was. It was by her that she had been forbidden to receive either letters or visits, or to write to anybody, under penalty of excommunication from the Holy Father, of everlasting damnation, and of other similar trifles. Yet the same nun had supplied her with paper, ink, and books, and it was at night that my young friend transgressed the laws of the convent in order these particulars to me. She expressed her conviction respecting the discretion and the faithfulness of the messenger, and she thought that she would remain devoted, because being poor our sequins were a little fortune for her. She related to me in the most assuring manner that the handsomeness of all the nuns in the convent loved her to distraction, gave her a French lesson twice a day, and had amicably forbidden her to use. That nun was only twenty-two years of age. She was beautiful, rich, and generous. All the other nuns showed her great respect. When we are alone, wrote my friend, she kisses me so tenderly that you would be jealous if she were not a woman. As to our project of running away she did not think it would be very difficult to carried into execution, but that it would be better to wait until she knew the locality faithful and constant, and asked me to send her my portrait hidden in a ring by a secret spring known only to us. She added that I might send it to her by her mother who had recovered her usual health and was in the habit of attending early mass at her parish church every day by herself. She assured me that the excellent woman would be delighted to see me and to do anything I might ask her. At all events she concluded, I hope to find myself in a few moments in a position which will scandalize the convent if they are obstinately bent upon keeping me here. I was just finishing my answer when Laura, the messenger, returned for it. After I had paid the sequin I had promised her, I gave her a parcel containing ceiling wax, paper, pens, and a tinder-box which she promised to deliver to CC. My darling had told her that I was her cousin, and Laura feigned to believe it. Not knowing what to do in Venice and believing that I ought for the sake of my honour to show myself in Padua, or else people might suppose that I had received the same order as Croce, I hurried my breakfast and procured a boletta from the booking office for Rome. Because I foresaw that the firing of my pistol and the lame horse might not have improved the temper of the post-masters, but by showing them what is called in Italy a boletta, I knew that they would not refuse to supply me with horses whenever they had any in their stables. As far as the pistol shot was concerned I had no fear for I had purposely missed the insolent postillian, and even if I had killed him on the spot it would not have been of much importance. In Fusina I took a two-wheeled chaise for I was so tired that I could not have performed the journey on horseback, and I reached the dolo where I was recognised and horses were refused me. A good deal of noise and the postmaster coming out threatened to have me arrested if I did not pay him for his dead horse. I answered that if the horse were dead I would account for it to the postmaster and Padua, but what I wanted was fresh horses without delay. And I showed him the dread boletta, the side of which made him lower his tone, but he told me that even if he supplied me with horses I had treated the postillian so badly if that is the case I answered you shall accompany me yourself. The fellow laughed in my face, turned his back upon me, and went away. I took two witnesses, and I called with them at the office of a public notary who drew up a properly worded document by which I gave notice to the postmaster that I should expect an indemnity of ten sequins for each hour of delay until I had horses supplied to me. As soon as he had been made acquainted with the contents of this he gave orders to bring out two restive horses. I saw at once that his intention was to have me upset along the road, and perhaps thrown into the river. But I calmly told the postillian that at the very moment my chaise was upset I would blow his brains out with a pistol-shot. This threat frightened the man. He took his horses back to the stables and declared to his master that he would not drive me. At that time I arrived who called for six carriage-horses and two saddle-ones. I warned the postmaster that no one should leave the place before me, and that if he opposed my will there would be a sanguinary contest. In order to prove that I was in earnest I took out my pistols. The fellow began to swear, but everyone saying that he was in the wrong he disappeared. Five minutes afterwards whom should I see arriving in a beautiful burlin drawn by six horses, but crotcha with his wife, a lady's maid, and two lackeys in grand livery. He alighted. We embraced one another, and I told him, assuming an air of sadness, that he could not leave before me. I explained how the case stood. He said I was right, scolded loudly as if he had been a great lord, and made everybody tremble. The postmaster had disappeared. His wife came and ordered the postillians to return to my wants. During that time crotcha said to me that I was quite right in going back to Padua, where the public rumour had spread the report of me having left the city in consequence of an order from the police. He informed me that the Podesta had likewise expelled Monsieur de Gondouin, a colonel in the service of the Duke of Modena, because he held a ferro-bank at his house. I promised him to pay him a visit in Venice in the ensuing week. Crotcha, who had dropped from the sky to assist me in a moment of great distress, had won ten thousand sequins in four evenings. I had received five thousand for my share, and lost no time in paying my debts and in redeeming all the articles which I had been compelled to pledge. That scamp brought me back the smiles of fortune, and from that moment I got rid of the ill luck which had seemed to fasten on me. I reached Padua in safety, and the postilian who very likely out of fear had driven me in good style, was well pleased with my liberality. It was the best way of making peace with the tribe. My arrival caused great joy to my three friends, whom my sudden departure had alarmed, with the exception of Monsieur de Bragedin, in whose hands I had placed my cash-box the day before. His two friends had given credence to the general report of me to leave Padua. They forgot that I was a citizen of Venice, and that the Podesta could not pass such a sentence upon me without exposing himself to legal proceedings. I was tired, but instead of going to bed I dressed myself in my best attire in order to go to the opera without a mask. I told my friends that it was necessary for me to show myself, so as to give the lie to all that had been reported about me by slandering me. I shall be delighted if all those reports are false, but you have no one to blame but yourself, for your hurried departure gave sufficient cause for all sorts of surmises. And for slander? That may be, but people want to know everything, and they invent when they cannot guess the truth. And evil-minded fools lose no time in repeating those inventions everywhere. But there can be no doubt that you are an alumnae likewise. The greatest of all, do you think that a good shot can miss a man when he is firing in his very face unless he does it purposely? It seems difficult, but at all events it is certain that the horse is dead and you must pay for it. No, sir, not even if the horse belonged to you, for the postillion preceded me. You know a great many things. Do you happen to know the posting regulations? Besides, I was in a great hurry and I had promised a pretty woman to breakfast with her, and such engagements, as you are well aware, cannot be broken. Master De La Hay looked angry at the rather caustic irony with which I had sprinkled the dialogue, but he was still more vexed when taking some gold out of my pocket I returned to him the sum he had lent me in Vienna. A man never argues well except when his purse is well filled. Then his spirits are pitched in a high position to be stupefied by some passion raging in his soul. Monsieur de Bregadin thought I was quite right to show myself at the opera without a mask. The moment I made my appearance in the pit everybody seemed quite astonished and I was overwhelmed with compliments, sincere or not. After the first ballet I went to the card room and in four deals I won five hundred sequence. Starving and almost dead for want of sleep I returned to my friends to boast of my victory. My friend Bavois was there and he seized the opportunity to borrow from me fifty sequence which he never returned. True, I never asked him for them. My thoughts being constantly absorbed in my dear CC I spent the whole of the next day in having my likeness painted in miniature by a skillful peed Montese who had come for the fair of Padua and who in aftertimes made a great deal of likeness. When he had completed my portrait he painted for me a beautiful St. Catherine of the same size and a clever Venetian jeweler made the ring, the bezel of which showed only the st. Virgin, but a blue spot hardly visible on the white enamel which surrounded it corresponded with a secret spring which brought out my portrait and the change was obtained by pressing on the blue spot with the point of a pin. When we were rising from the dinner table a letter was handed to me. It was with great surprise that I recognized the writing of P.C. He asked me to pay him a visit at the Star Hotel where he would give me some interesting information. Thinking that he might have something to say concerning his sister I went to him at once. I found him with Madame C. and after congratulating him upon his release from prison I asked him for the news he had to return to Venice. I am certain, he said, that my sister is in a convent and I shall be able to tell you the name of it when I return to Venice. You will oblige me, I answered, pretending not to know anything. But his news had only been a pretext to make me come to him and his eagerness to communicate it had a very different object in view than the gratification of my curiosity. I have sold, he said to me, fifteen thousand florins and the man with whom I have made the bargain took me out of prison by giving security for me and advanced me six thousand florins in four letters of exchange. He showed me the letters of exchange endorsed by a name which I did not know but which he said was a very good one and he continued, I intend to buy six thousand florins worth of silk goods from the looms of the Tenza and to give in payment to the these letters of exchange. I am certain of selling those goods rapidly with a profit of ten percent. Come with us to the Tenza. I will give you some of my goods to the amount of two hundred sequins and thus you will find yourself covered for the guarantee which you have been kind enough to give to the jeweler for the ring. We shall complete the transaction within twenty-four hours. I did not feel much inclination for the trip, but I allowed myself to be blinded by the wish to cover the amount which I had guaranteed and which I had no doubt I would be called upon to pay some day or other. If I do not go with him, I said to myself, he will sell the goods at a loss of twenty-five percent and I shall get nothing. I promised to accompany him. He showed me several letters of recommendation for the best houses in the Tenza and our departure was fixed for early the next hotel by daybreak. A carriage and four was ready. The hotelkeeper came up with his bill and P.C. begged me to pay it. The bill amounted to five sequins, four of which had been advanced in cash by the landlord to pay the driver who had brought them from Fusina. I saw that it was a put-up thing, yet I paid with pretty good grace for I guessed that the scoundrel had left Venice without a penny. We were in Padua in three hours and we put up at the Capello where P.C. ordered a good dinner before leaving me with the lady to call upon the manufacturers. When the beauty found herself alone with me she began by addressing friendly reproaches to me. I have loved you, she said, for eighteen years. The first time that I saw you we were in Padua and we were then only nine years old. I certainly had no recollection of an Aquarian friend of Monsieur Grimani who had placed me as a border with the accursed Sclavonian woman. I could not help smiling for I recollected that her mother had loved me. Shop Boys soon began to make their appearance bringing pieces of goods and the face of Madame C. brightened up. In less than two hours the room was filled with them and P.C. came back with two merchants whom he had invited to dinner. Madame allured them by her pretty manners. The wine and exquisite wines were drunk in profusion. In the afternoon fresh goods were brought in. P.C. made a list of them with the prices, but he wanted more and the merchants promised to send them the next day, although it was Sunday. Towards the evening several counts arrived, for in Vicenza every nobleman is a count. P.C. had left his letters of recommendation at their houses. We had a Count Velo, a Count Trento, all very amiable companions. They invited us to accompany them to the casino where Madame C. shone by her charms and her coquettish manners. After we had spent two hours in that place P.C. invited all his new friends to supper and it was a scene of gaiety and profusion. The whole affair annoyed me greatly and therefore I was not amiable. The consequence was that no one spoke to me. I rose from my seat and went to bed, leaving the joyous company still round the festive board. In the morning I came downstairs, had my breakfast, and looked about me. The room was so full of goods that I did not see how P.C. could possibly pay for all with his six thousand florins. He told me, however, that his business would be completed on the morrow and that we were invited to a ball where all the nobility would be present. The merchants with whom he had dealt came to dine with us and the dinner was remarkable for its extreme profusion. We went to the ball, but I soon got very weary of it for everybody was speaking to Madame C. and to P.C., who never uttered a word with any meaning, but whenever I opened my lips people would pretend not to hear me. I invited a lady to dance a minuet. She accepted, but she looked constantly to the right or to the left and seemed to consider me as a mere sewing machine. A quadril was formed, but the thing was contrived in such a manner as to leave me out of it, and the very lady who had refused me as a partner danced with another gentleman. Had I been in good spirits I should certainly have resented such conduct, but I preferred to leave the ballroom. I went to bed, unable to understand why the nobility of the tensa treated me in such a way. Perhaps they neglected me because I was not named in the letters of introduction given to P.C., but I thought that they might have known the laws of common politeness. I bore the evil patiently, however, as we were to leave the city the next day. On Monday the worthy pair being tired they slept until noon and after dinner P.C. went out to pay for the goods. We were to go away early on the Tuesday and I instinctively longed for that moment. The counts whom P.C. had invited were delighted his mistress and they came to supper, but I avoided meeting them. On the Tuesday morning I was duly informed that breakfast was ready, but as I did not answer the summons quickly enough the servant came up again and told me that my wife requested me to make haste. Scarcely had the word wife escaped his lips than I visited the cheek of the poor fellow with a tremendous smack, and in my rage kicked him downstairs, the bottom of which he reached four springs, to the imminent risk of his neck. Maddened with rage I entered the breakfast room and addressing myself to P.C. I asked him who was the scoundrel who had announced me in the hotel as the husband of Madame C. He answered that he did not know, but at the same moment the landlord came into the room with a big knife in his hand and asked me why I had kicked his servant down the stairs. I quickly drew a pistol and threatening him with it I demanded partively from him the name of the person who had represented me as the husband of that woman. Captain P.C. answered the landlord, gave the names, profession, et cetera, of your party. At this I seized the impudent villain by the throat and pinning him against the wall with a strong hand I would have broken his head with the butt of my pistol if the landlord had not prevented me. Madame had pretended to swoon for those women can always command tears of fainting fits and the cowardly P.C. kept on saying, it is not true, it is not true. The landlord ran out to get the hotel register and he angrily thrust it under the nose of the coward daring him to deny his having dictated Captain P.C. with Monsieur Madame Casanova. The scoundrel answered that his words had certainly not been heard rightly and the incensed landlord slapped the book in his face with such force that he sent him lying almost stunned against the wall. When I saw that the wretched paltrune was receiving such degrading treatment without remembering that he had a sword hanging by his side I left the room and asked the landlord to order me a carriage to take me to Padua. Beside myself with rage blushing for very shame seeing but too late the fault I had committed by accepting the society of a scoundrel I went up to my room and hurriedly packed my carpet-bag. I was just going out when Madame C. presented herself before me. Begone, Madame, I said to her, or in my rage I might forget the respect due to your sex. She threw herself crying bitterly on a chair and treated me to forgive her assuring me that she was innocent and that she was not present when the nave had given the names. The landlady coming in at that moment vouched for the truth of her assertion. I began to abate and as I passed near the window I saw the carriage I had ordered waiting for me with a pair of good horses. I called for the landlord in order to pay whatever my share of the expense might come to, but he told me that as I had ordered nothing myself I had nothing to pay just at that juncture Count Velo came in. I dare say, Count, I said, that you believe this woman to be my wife. That is a fact known to everybody in the city. Damn it, and you have believed such a thing knowing that I occupy this room alone and seeing me leave the ballroom and the supper table yesterday alone leaving her with you all. Some husbands are blessed with such easy dispositions. I do not think I look like one of that species and you are not a judge of men of honor. Let us go out and I undertake to prove it to you. The Count rushed down the stairs and out of the hotel. The miserable sea was choking and I could not help pitting her. For a woman has in her tears a weapon which through my life I have never known to resist. I considered that if I left the hotel without paying anything people might laugh at my anger and suppose that I had a share in the swindle. I requested the landlord to bring me the account intending to pay half of it. He went for it, but another scene awaited me. Madame C, bathed in tears, fell on her knees and told me that if I abandoned her she was lost, for she had no money and nothing to leave a security for her hotel-bill. What, Madame, have you not letters of exchange to the amount of six thousand florins or the goods bought with them? The goods are no longer here. They have all been taken away because the letters of exchange which you saw and which we considered as good as cash only made the merchants laugh. Who could have supposed it? The scoundrel, he knew it well enough and that is why he was so anxious to bring me here. Well, it is right that I should pay the penalty of my own folly. The bill brought by the landlord amounted to forty sequins, a very high figure for three days, but a large portion of that sum was cash advanced by the landlord. I immediately felt that my honour demanded that I should pay the bill in full and I paid without any hesitation, taking care to get a receipt given in the presence of two witnesses. I then made a present of two sequins to the nephew of the landlord to console him for the thrashing he had received and I refused the same sum to the wretched sea who had sent the landlady to beg it for her. Thus ended that unpleasant adventure which taught me a lesson and a lesson which I ought not to have required. Two or three weeks later I heard given those two miserable beings some money to enable them to leave the city. As far as I was concerned I would not have anything to do with them. A month afterwards P.C. was again arrested for debt, the man who had been security for him having become a bankrupt. He had the audacity to write a long letter to me in treating me to go and see him, but I did not answer him. I was quite as inflexible towards Madame C. whom I always refused to see. She was reduced to great poverty. I returned to Pagua where I stomped only long enough to take my ring and to dine with Monsieur de Bragadan who went back to Venice a few days afterwards. The messenger from the convent brought me a letter very early in the morning. I devoured its contents. It was very loving but gave no news. In my answer I gave my dear C.C. the particulars of the infamous trick played upon me by her villainous brother and mentioned the ring with the secret of which I had acquainted her. According to the information I had received from C.C. I placed myself one morning so as to see her mother enter the church into which I followed her. Kneeling close to her I told her that I wished to speak with her and she followed me to the cloister. I began by speaking a few consoling words, then I told her that I would remain faithful to her daughter and I asked her whether she visited her. I intend, she said, to go and kiss my dear child next Sunday and I shall of course speak of you with her, for I know well enough that she will be delighted to have news of you, but to my great regret I am not at liberty to tell you where she is. I do not wish you to tell me, my good mother, but allow me to send her this ring by you. It is the picture of her patroness and I wish you to entreat her to wear it always on her finger. I look at the image during her daily prayers, for without that protection she can never become my wife. Tell her that on my side I address every day a credo to St. James. Delighted with the piety of my feelings and with the prospect of recommending this new devotion to her daughter, the good woman promised to fulfill my commission. I left her, but not before I had placed in her hand ten sequins which I begged her to force upon her servants to supply herself with the trifles she might require. She accepted, but at the same time she assured me that her father had taken care to provide her with all necessaries. The letter which I received from C.C. on the following Wednesday was the expression of the most tender affection and the most lively gratitude. She said that the moment she was alone nothing could be more rapid than the point of the pin which made St. Catherine cut a somersault and handed to her eager eyes the beloved features of the being who was the whole world to her. I am constantly kissing you, she added, even when some of the nuns are looking at me, for whenever they come near me I have only to let the top part of the ring fall back and my dear patroness takes care to conceal everything. All the nuns are highly pleased with my devotion and with the confidence I have in the protection of my blessed patroness, whom they think very much like me in the face. It was nothing but a beautiful face created by the fancy of the painter, but my dear little wife was so lovely that beauty was sure to be like her. She said likewise that the nun who taught her friends had offered her fifty sequins for the ring on account of the likeness between her and the portrait of the saint, but not out of veneration for her patroness whom she turned into ridicule as she read her life. She thanked me for the ten sequins I had sent her because her mother, and them to her in the presence of several of the sisters, she was thus unable to spend a little money without raising the suspicions of those curious and inquisitive nuns. She liked to offer trifling presents to the other boarders, and the money allowed her to gratify that innocent taste. My mother, added she, praised your piety very highly. She is delighted with your feelings of devotion. Never mention again, I beg, the name of my unworthy brother. For five or six weeks her letters were full of the blessed saint Catherine who caused her to tremble with fear every time she found herself compelled to trust the ring to the mystic curiosity of the elderly nuns who, in order to see the likeness better through their spectacles, brought it close to their eyes and rubbed the enamel. I am in constant fear, C.C. wrote, of their pressing the invisible blue spot by chance. What would become of me if my patroness, jumping up, discovered to their eyes of face very divine it is true, but which is not at all like that of a saint? Tell me, what could I do in such a case? One month after the second arrest of P.C., the jeweler who had taken my security for the ring called on me for payment of the bill. I made an arrangement with him, and on condition of my giving him twenty sequins and leaving him every right over the debtor, he exonerated me. From his prison the impudent P.C. harassed me with his cowardly entreaties for alms and assistance. Croce was in Venice and engrossed a great share of the general attention. He kept a fine house, an excellent table, and a farrow bank with which he emptied the pockets of his dupes. For seeing what would happen sooner or later I had abstained from visiting him at his house, but we were friendly whenever we met. His wife, having been delivered from his house, approached to ask me to stand as Godfather, a favour which I thought I could grant, but after the ceremony and the supper which was the consequence of it I never entered the house of my former partner, and I acted rightly. I wish I had always been as prudent in my conduct.