MEMOIRS OF JACQUES CASANOVA de SEINGALT 1725-1798

VENETIAN YEARS, Volume 1d--RETURN TO VENICE

THE RARE UNABRIDGED LONDON EDITION OF 1894 TRANSLATED BY ARTHUR MACHEN TOWHICH HAS BEEN ADDED THE CHAPTERS DISCOVERED BY ARTHUR SYMONS. 

RETURN TO VENICE

CHAPTER XVI

A Fearful Misfortune Befalls Me--Love Cools Down--Leave Corfu and Returnto Venice--Give Up the Army and Become a Fiddler

The wound was rapidly healing up, and I saw near at hand the moment whenMadame F---- would leave her bed, and resume her usual avocations. 

The governor of the galeasses having issued orders for a general reviewat Gouyn, M. F----, left for that place in his galley, telling me to joinhim there early on the following day with the felucca. I took supperalone with Madame F----, and I told her how unhappy it made me to remainone day away from her. 

"Let us make up to-night for to-morrow's disappointment, " she said, "andlet us spend it together in conversation. Here are the keys; when youknow that my maid has left me, come to me through my husband's room. "

I did not fail to follow her instructions to the letter, and we foundourselves alone with five hours before us. It was the month of June, andthe heat was intense. She had gone to bed; I folded her in my arms, shepressed me to her bosom, but, condemning herself to the most crueltorture, she thought I had no right to complain, if I was subjected tothe same privation which she imposed upon herself. My remonstrances, myprayers, my entreaties were of no avail. 

"Love, " she said, "must be kept in check with a tight hand, and we canlaugh at him, since, in spite of the tyranny which we force him to obey, we succeed all the same in gratifying our desires. "

After the first ecstacy, our eyes and lips unclosed together, and alittle apart from each other we take delight in seeing the mutualsatisfaction beaming on our features. 

Our desires revive; she casts a look upon my state of innocence entirelyexposed to her sight. She seems vexed at my want of excitement, and, throwing off everything which makes the heat unpleasant and interfereswith our pleasure, she bounds upon me. It is more than amorous fury, itis desperate lust. I share her frenzy, I hug her with a sort of delirium, I enjoy a felicity which is on the point of carrying me to the regions ofbliss. . . . But, at the very moment of completing the offering, she failsme, moves off, slips away, and comes back to work off my excitement witha hand which strikes me as cold as ice. 

"Ah, thou cruel, beloved woman! Thou art burning with the fire of love, and thou deprivest thyself of the only remedy which could bring calm tothy senses! Thy lovely hand is more humane than thou art, but thou hasnot enjoyed the felicity that thy hand has given me. My hand must owenothing to thine. Come, darling light of my heart, come! Love doubles myexistence in the hope that I will die again, but only in that charmingretreat from which you have ejected me in the very moment of my greatestenjoyment. "

While I was speaking thus, her very soul was breathing forth the mosttender sighs of happiness, and as she pressed me tightly in her arms Ifelt that she was weltering in an ocean of bliss. 

Silence lasted rather a long time, but that unnatural felicity wasimperfect, and increased my excitement. 

"How canst thou complain, " she said tenderly, "when it is to that veryimperfection of our enjoyment that we are indebted for its continuance? Iloved thee a few minutes since, now I love thee a thousand times more, and perhaps I should love thee less if thou hadst carried my enjoyment toits highest limit. "

"Oh! how much art thou mistaken, lovely one! How great is thy error! Thouart feeding upon sophisms, and thou leavest reality aside; I mean naturewhich alone can give real felicity. Desires constantly renewed and neverfully satisfied are more terrible than the torments of hell. "

"But are not these desires happiness when they are always accompanied byhope?"

"No, if that hope is always disappointed. It becomes hell itself, becausethere is no hope, and hope must die when it is killed by constantdeception. "

"Dearest, if hope does not exist in hell, desires cannot be found thereeither; for to imagine desires without hopes would be more than madness. "

"Well, answer me. If you desire to be mine entirely, and if you feel thehope of it, which, according to your way of reasoning, is a naturalconsequence, why do you always raise an impediment to your own hope?Cease, dearest, cease to deceive yourself by absurd sophisms. Let us beas happy as it is in nature to be, and be quite certain that the realityof happiness will increase our love, and that love will find a new lifein our very enjoyment. "

"What I see proves the contrary; you are alive with excitement now, butif your desires had been entirely satisfied, you would be dead, benumbed, motionless. I know it by experience: if you had breathed the full ecstacyof enjoyment, as you desired, you would have found a weak ardour only atlong intervals. "

"Ah! charming creature, your experience is but very small; do not trustto it. I see that you have never known love. That which you call love'sgrave is the sanctuary in which it receives life, the abode which makesit immortal. Give way to my prayers, my lovely friend, and then you shallknow the difference between Love and Hymen. You shall see that, if Hymenlikes to die in order to get rid of life, Love on the contrary expiresonly to spring up again into existence, and hastens to revive, so as tosavour new enjoyment. Let me undeceive you, and believe me when I saythat the full gratification of desires can only increase a hundredfoldthe mutual ardour of two beings who adore each other. "

"Well, I must believe you; but let us wait. In the meantime let us enjoyall the trifles, all the sweet preliminaries of love. Devour thymistress, dearest, but abandon to me all thy being. If this night is tooshort we must console ourselves to-morrow by making arrangements foranother one. "

"And if our intercourse should be discovered?"

"Do we make a mystery of it? Everybody can see that we love each other, and those who think that we do not enjoy the happiness of lovers areprecisely the only persons we have to fear. We must only be careful toguard against being surprised in the very act of proving our love. Heavenand nature must protect our affection, for there is no crime when twohearts are blended in true love. Since I have been conscious of my ownexistence, Love has always seemed to me the god of my being, for everytime I saw a man I was delighted; I thought that I was looking uponone-half of myself, because I felt I was made for him and he for me. Ilonged to be married. It was that uncertain longing of the heart whichoccupies exclusively a young girl of fifteen. I had no conception oflove, but I fancied that it naturally accompanied marriage. You cantherefore imagine my surprise when my husband, in the very act of makinga woman of me, gave me a great deal of pain without giving me theslightest idea of pleasure! My imagination in the convent was much betterthan the reality I had been condemned to by my husband! The result hasnaturally been that we have become very good friends, but a veryindifferent husband and wife, without any desires for each other. He hasevery reason to be pleased with me, for I always shew myself docile tohis wishes, but enjoyment not being in those cases seasoned by love, hemust find it without flavour, and he seldom comes to me for it. 

"When I found out that you were in love with me, I felt delighted, andgave you every opportunity of becoming every day more deeply enamoured ofme, thinking myself certain of never loving you myself. As soon as I feltthat love had likewise attacked my heart, I ill-treated you to punish youfor having made my heart sensible. Your patience and constancy haveastonished me, and have caused me to be guilty, for after the first kissI gave you I had no longer any control over myself. I was indeedastounded when I saw the havoc made by one single kiss, and I felt thatmy happiness was wrapped up in yours. That discovery flattered anddelighted me, and I have found out, particularly to-night, that I cannotbe happy unless you are so yourself. "

"That is, my beloved, the most refined of all sentiments experienced bylove, but it is impossible for you to render me completely happy withoutfollowing in everything the laws and the wishes of nature. "

The night was spent in tender discussions and in exquisitevoluptuousness, and it was not without some grief that at day-break Itore myself from her arms to go to Gouyn. She wept for joy when she sawthat I left her without having lost a particle of my vigour, for she didnot imagine such a thing possible. 

After that night, so rich in delights, ten or twelve days passed withoutgiving us any opportunity of quenching even a small particle of theamorous thirst which devoured us, and it was then that a fearfulmisfortune befell me. 

One evening after supper, M. D---- R---- having retired, M. F---- used noceremony, and, although I was present, told his wife that he intended topay her a visit after writing two letters which he had to dispatch earlythe next morning. The moment he had left the room we looked at eachother, and with one accord fell into each other's arms. A torrent ofdelights rushed through our souls without restraint, without reserve, butwhen the first ardour had been appeased, without giving me time to thinkor to enjoy the most complete, the most delicious victory, she drew back, repulsed me, and threw herself, panting, distracted, upon a chair nearher bed. Rooted to the spot, astonished, almost mad, I tremblingly lookedat her, trying to understand what had caused such an extraordinaryaction. She turned round towards me and said, her eyes flashing with thefire of love, "My darling, we were on the brink of the precipice. "

"The precipice! Ah! cruel woman, you have killed me, I feel myself dying, and perhaps you will never see me again. "

I left her in a state of frenzy, and rushed out, towards the esplanade, to cool myself, for I was choking. Any man who has not experienced thecruelty of an action like that of Madame F----, and especially in thesituation I found myself in at that moment, mentally and bodily, canhardly realize what I suffered, and, although I have felt that suffering, I could not give an idea of it. 

I was in that fearful state, when I heard my name called from a window, and unfortunately I condescended to answer. I went near the window, and Isaw, thanks to the moonlight, the famous Melulla standing on her balcony. 

"What are you doing there at this time of night?" I enquired. 

"I am enjoying the cool evening breeze. Come up for a little while. "

This Melulla, of fatal memory, was a courtezan from Zamte, of rarebeauty, who for the last four months had been the delight and the rage ofall the young men in Corfu. Those who had known her agreed in extollingher charms: she was the talk of all the city. I had seen her often, but, although she was very beautiful, I was very far from thinking her aslovely as Madame F----, putting my affection for the latter on one side. I recollect seeing in Dresden, in the year 1790, a very handsome womanwho was the image of Melulla. 

I went upstairs mechanically, and she took me to a voluptuous boudoir;she complained of my being the only one who had never paid her a visit, when I was the man she would have preferred to all others, and I had theinfamy to give way. . . . I became the most criminal of men. 

It was neither desire, nor imagination, nor the merit of the woman whichcaused me to yield, for Melulla was in no way worthy of me; no, it wasweakness, indolence, and the state of bodily and mental irritation inwhich I then found myself: it was a sort of spite, because the angel whomI adored had displeased me by a caprice, which, had I not been unworthyof her, would only have caused me to be still more attached to her. 

Melulla, highly pleased with her success, refused the gold I wanted togive her, and allowed me to go after I had spent two hours with her. 

When I recovered my composure, I had but one feeling-hatred for myselfand for the contemptible creature who had allured me to be guilty of sovile an insult to the loveliest of her sex. I went home the prey tofearful remorse, and went to bed, but sleep never closed my eyesthroughout that cruel night. 

In the morning, worn out with fatigue and sorrow, I got up, and as soonas I was dressed I went to M. F----, who had sent for me to give me someorders. After I had returned, and had given him an account of my mission, I called upon Madame F----, and finding her at her toilet I wished hergood morning, observing that her lovely face was breathing thecheerfulness and the calm of happiness; but, suddenly, her eyes meetingmine, I saw her countenance change, and an expression of sadness replaceher looks of satisfaction. She cast her eyes down as if she was deep inthought, raised them again as if to read my very soul, and breaking ourpainful silence, as soon as she had dismissed her maid, she said to me, with an accent full of tenderness and of solemnity, "Dear one, let there be no concealment either on my part or on yours. Ifelt deeply grieved when I saw you leave me last night, and a littleconsideration made me understand all the evil which might accrue to youin consequence of what I had done. With a nature like yours, such scenesmight cause very dangerous disorders, and I have resolved not to do againanything by halves. I thought that you went out to breathe the fresh air, and I hoped it would do you good. I placed myself at my window, where Iremained more than an hour without seeing alight in your room. Sorry forwhat I had done, loving you more than ever, I was compelled, when myhusband came to my room, to go to bed with the sad conviction that youhad not come home. This morning, M. F. Sent an officer to tell you thathe wanted to see you, and I heard the messenger inform him that you werenot yet up, and that you had come home very late. I felt my heart swellwith sorrow. I am not jealous, dearest, for I know that you cannot loveanyone but me; I only felt afraid of some misfortune. At last, thismorning, when I heard you coming, I was happy, because I was ready toskew my repentance, but I looked at you, and you seemed a different man. Now, I am still looking at you, and, in spite of myself, my soul readsupon your countenance that you are guilty, that you have outraged mylove. Tell me at once, dearest, if I am mistaken; if you have deceivedme, say so openly. Do not be unfaithful to love and to truth. Knowingthat I was the cause of it, I should never forgive my self, but there isan excuse for you in my heart, in my whole being. "

More than once, in the course of my life, I have found myself under thepainful necessity of telling falsehoods to the woman I loved; but in thiscase, after so true, so touching an appeal, how could I be otherwise thansincere? I felt myself sufficiently debased by my crime, and I could notdegrade myself still more by falsehood. I was so far from being disposedto such a line of conduct that I could not speak, and I burst out crying. 

"What, my darling! you are weeping! Your tears make me miserable. Youought not to have shed any with me but tears of happiness and love. Quick, my beloved, tell me whether you have made me wretched. Tell mewhat fearful revenge you have taken on me, who would rather die thanoffend you. If I have caused you any sorrow, it has been in the innocenceof a loving and devoted heart. "

"My own darling angel, I never thought of revenge, for my heart, whichcan never cease to adore you, could never conceive such a dreadful idea. It is against my own heart that my cowardly weakness has allured me tothe commission of a crime which, for the remainder of my life, makes meunworthy of you. "

"Have you, then, given yourself to some wretched woman?"

"Yes, I have spent two hours in the vilest debauchery, and my soul waspresent only to be the witness of my sadness, of my remorse, of myunworthiness. "

"Sadness and remorse! Oh, my poor friend! I believe it. But it is myfault; I alone ought to suffer; it is I who must beg you to forgive me. "

Her tears made mine flow again. 

"Divine soul, " I said, "the reproaches you are addressing to yourselfincrease twofold the gravity of my crime. You would never have beenguilty of any wrong against me if I had been really worthy of your love. "

I felt deeply the truth of my words. 

We spent the remainder of the day apparently quiet and composed, concealing our sadness in the depths of our hearts. She was curious toknow all the circumstances of my miserable adventure, and, accepting itas an expiation, I related them to her. Full of kindness, she assured methat we were bound to ascribe that accident to fate, and that the samething might have happened to the best of men. She added that I was moreto be pitied than condemned, and that she did not love me less. We bothwere certain that we would seize the first favourable opportunity, she ofobtaining her pardon, I of atoning for my crime, by giving each other newand complete proofs of our mutual ardour. But Heaven in its justice hadordered differently, and I was cruelly punished for my disgustingdebauchery. 

On the third day, as I got up in the morning, an awful pricking announcedthe horrid state into which the wretched Melulla had thrown me. I wasthunderstruck! And when I came to think of the misery which I might havecaused if, during the last three days, I had obtained some new favourfrom my lovely mistress, I was on the point of going mad. What would havebeen her feelings if I had made her unhappy for the remainder of herlife! Would anyone, then, knowing the whole case, have condemned me if Ihad destroyed my own life in order to deliver myself from everlastingremorse? No, for the man who kills himself from sheer despair, thusperforming upon himself the execution of the sentence he would havedeserved at the hands of justice cannot be blamed either by a virtuousphilosopher or by a tolerant Christian. But of one thing I am quitecertain: if such a misfortune had happened, I should have committedsuicide. 

Overwhelmed with grief by the discovery I had just made, but thinkingthat I should get rid of the inconvenience as I had done three timesbefore, I prepared myself for a strict diet, which would restore myhealth in six weeks without anyone having any suspicion of my illness, but I soon found out that I had not seen the end of my troubles; Melullahad communicated to my system all the poisons which corrupt the source oflife. I was acquainted with an elderly doctor of great experience inthose matters; I consulted him, and he promised to set me to rights intwo months; he proved as good as his word. At the beginning of SeptemberI found myself in good health, and it was about that time that I returnedto Venice. 

The first thing I resolved on, as soon as I discovered the state I wasin, was to confess everything to Madame F----. I did not wish to wait forthe time when a compulsory confession would have made her blush for herweakness, and given her cause to think of the fearful consequences whichmight have been the result of her passion for me. Her affection was toodear to me to run the risk of losing it through a want of confidence inher. Knowing her heart, her candour, and the generosity which hadprompted her to say that I was more to be pitied than blamed, I thoughtmyself bound to prove by my sincerity that I deserved her esteem. 

I told her candidly my position and the state I had been thrown in, whenI thought of the dreadful consequences it might have had for her. I sawher shudder and tremble, and she turned pale with fear when I added thatI would have avenged her by killing myself. 

"Villainous, infamous Melulla!" she exclaimed. 

And I repeated those words, but turning them against myself when Irealized all I had sacrificed through the most disgusting weakness. 

Everyone in Corfu knew of my visit to the wretched Melulla, and everyoneseemed surprised to see the appearance of health on my countenance; formany were the victims that she had treated like me. 

My illness was not my only sorrow; I had others which, although of adifferent nature, were not less serious. It was written in the book offate that I should return to Venice a simple ensign as when I left: thegeneral did not keep his word, and the bastard son of a nobleman waspromoted to the lieutenancy instead of myself. From that moment themilitary profession, the one most subject to arbitrary despotism, inspired me with disgust, and I determined to give it up. But I hadanother still more important motive for sorrow in the fickleness offortune which had completely turned against me. I remarked that, from thetime of my degradation with Melulla, every kind of misfortune befell me. The greatest of all--that which I felt most, but which I had the goodsense to try and consider a favour--was that a week before the departureof the army M. D---- R---- took me again for his adjutant, and M. F---- hadto engage another in my place. On the occasion of that change Madame Ftold me, with an appearance of regret, that in Venice we could not, formany reasons, continue our intimacy. I begged her to spare me thereasons, as I foresaw that they would only throw humiliation upon me. Ibegan to discover that the goddess I had worshipped was, after all, apoor human being like all other women, and to think that I should havebeen very foolish to give up my life for her. I probed in one day thereal worth of her heart, for she told me, I cannot recollect in referenceto what, that I excited her pity. I saw clearly that she no longer lovedme; pity is a debasing feeling which cannot find a home in a heart fullof love, for that dreary sentiment is too near a relative of contempt. Since that time I never found myself alone with Madame F----. I loved herstill; I could easily have made her blush, but I did not do it. 

As soon as we reached Venice she became attached to M. F---- R----, whomshe loved until death took him from her. She was unhappy enough to loseher sight twenty years after. I believe she is still alive. 

During the last two months of my stay in Corfu, I learned the most bitterand important lessons. In after years I often derived useful hints fromthe experience I acquired at that time. 

Before my adventure with the worthless Melulla, I enjoyed good health, Iwas rich, lucky at play, liked by everybody, beloved by the most lovelywoman of Corfu. When I spoke, everybody would listen and admire my wit;my words were taken for oracles, and everyone coincided with me ineverything. After my fatal meeting with the courtezan I rapidly lost myhealth, my money, my credit; cheerfulness, consideration, wit, everything, even the faculty of eloquence vanished with fortune. I wouldtalk, but people knew that I was unfortunate, and I no longer interestedor convinced my hearers. The influence I had over Madame F---- faded awaylittle by little, and, almost without her knowing it, the lovely womanbecame completely indifferent to me. 

I left Corfu without money, although I had sold or pledged everything Ihad of any value. Twice I had reached Corfu rich and happy, twice I leftit poor and miserable. But this time I had contracted debts which I havenever paid, not through want of will but through carelessness. 

Rich and in good health, everyone received me with open arms; poor andlooking sick, no one shewed me any consideration. With a full purse andthe tone of a conqueror, I was thought witty, amusing; with an emptypurse and a modest air, all I said appeared dull and insipid. If I hadbecome rich again, how soon I would have been again accounted the eighthwonder of the world! Oh, men! oh, fortune! Everyone avoided me as if theill luck which crushed me down was infectious. 

We left Corfu towards the end of September, with five galleys, twogaleasses, and several smaller vessels, under the command of M. Renier. We sailed along the shores of the Adriatic, towards the north of thegulf, where there are a great many harbours, and we put in one of themevery night. I saw Madame F---- every evening; she always came with herhusband to take supper on board our galeass. We had a fortunate voyage, and cast anchor in the harbour of Venice on the 14th of October, 1745, and after having performed quarantine on board our ships, we landed onthe 25th of November. Two months afterwards, the galeasses were set asidealtogether. The use of these vessels could be traced very far back inancient times; their maintenance was very expensive, and they wereuseless. A galeass had the frame of a frigate with the rowing apparatusof the galley, and when there was no wind, five hundred slaves had torow. 

Before simple good sense managed to prevail and to enforce thesuppression of these useless carcasses, there were long discussions inthe senate, and those who opposed the measure took their principal groundof opposition in the necessity of respecting and conserving all theinstitutions of olden times. That is the disease of persons who can neveridentify themselves with the successive improvements born of reason andexperience; worthy persons who ought to be sent to China, or to thedominions of the Grand Lama, where they would certainly be more at homethan in Europe. 

That ground of opposition to all improvements, however absurd it may be, is a very powerful one in a republic, which must tremble at the mere ideaof novelty either in important or in trifling things. Superstition haslikewise a great part to play in these conservative views. 

There is one thing that the Republic of Venice will never alter: I meanthe galleys, because the Venetians truly require such vessels to ply, inall weathers and in spite of the frequent calms, in a narrow sea, andbecause they would not know what to do with the men sentenced to hardlabour. 

I have observed a singular thing in Corfu, where there are often as manyas three thousand galley slaves; it is that the men who row on thegalleys, in consequence of a sentence passed upon them for some crime, are held in a kind of opprobrium, whilst those who are there voluntarilyare, to some extent, respected. I have always thought it ought to be thereverse, because misfortune, whatever it may be, ought to inspire somesort of respect; but the vile fellow who condemns himself voluntarily andas a trade to the position of a slave seems to me contemptible in thehighest degree. The convicts of the Republic, however, enjoy manyprivileges, and are, in every way, better treated than the soldiers. Itvery often occurs that soldiers desert and give themselves up to a'sopracomito' to become galley slaves. In those cases, the captain wholoses a soldier has nothing to do but to submit patiently, for he wouldclaim the man in vain. The reason of it is that the Republic has alwaysbelieved galley slaves more necessary than soldiers. The Venetians mayperhaps now (I am writing these lines in the year 1797) begin to realizetheir mistake. 

A galley slave, for instance, has the privilege of stealing withimpunity. It is considered that stealing is the least crime they can beguilty of, and that they ought to be forgiven for it. 

"Keep on your guard, " says the master of the galley slave; "and if youcatch him in the act of stealing, thrash him, but be careful not tocripple him; otherwise you must pay me the one hundred ducats the man hascost me. "

A court of justice could not have a galley slave taken from a galley, without paying the master the amount he has disbursed for the man. 

As soon as I had landed in Venice, I called upon Madame Orio, but I foundthe house empty. A neighbour told me that she had married the ProcuratorRosa, and had removed to his house. I went immediately to M. Rosa and waswell received. Madame Orio informed me that Nanette had become CountessR. , and was living in Guastalla with her husband. 

Twenty-four years afterwards, I met her eldest son, then a distinguishedofficer in the service of the Infante of Parma. 

As for Marton, the grace of Heaven had touched her, and she had become anun in the convent at Muran. Two years afterwards, I received from her aletter full of unction, in which she adjured me, in the name of OurSaviour and of the Holy Virgin, never to present myself before her eyes. She added that she was bound by Christian charity to forgive me for thecrime I had committed in seducing her, and she felt certain of the rewardof the elect, and she assured me that she would ever pray earnestly formy conversion. 

I never saw her again, but she saw me in 1754, as I will mention when wereach that year. 

I found Madame Manzoni still the same. She had predicted that I would notremain in the military profession, and when I told her that I had made upmy mind to give it up, because I could not be reconciled to the injusticeI had experienced, she burst out laughing. She enquired about theprofession I intended to follow after giving up the army, and I answeredthat I wished to become an advocate. She laughed again, saying that itwas too late. Yet I was only twenty years old. 

When I called upon M. Grimani I had a friendly welcome from him, but, having enquired after my brother Francois, he told me that he had had himconfined in Fort Saint Andre, the same to which I had been sent beforethe arrival of the Bishop of Martorano. 

"He works for the major there, " he said; "he copies Simonetti'sbattle-pieces, and the major pays him for them; in that manner he earnshis living, and is becoming a good painter. "

"But he is not a prisoner?"

"Well, very much like it, for he cannot leave the fort. The major, whosename is Spiridion, is a friend of Razetta, who could not refuse him thepleasure of taking care of your brother. "

I felt it a dreadful curse that the fatal Razetta should be the tormentorof all my family, but I concealed my anger. 

"Is my sister, " I enquired, "still with him?"

"No, she has gone to your mother in Dresden. "

This was good news. 

I took a cordial leave of the Abbe Grimani, and I proceeded to Fort SaintAndre. I found my brother hard at work, neither pleased nor displeasedwith his position, and enjoying good health. After embracing himaffectionately, I enquired what crime he had committed to be thus aprisoner. 

"Ask the major, " he said, "for I have not the faintest idea. "

The major came in just then, so I gave him the military salute, and askedby what authority he kept my brother under arrest. 

"I am not accountable to you for my actions. "

"That remains to be seen. "

I then told my brother to take his hat, and to come and dine with me. Themajor laughed, and said that he had no objection provided the sentinelallowed him to pass. 

I saw that I should only waste my time in discussion, and I left the fortfully bent on obtaining justice. 

The next day I went to the war office, where I had the pleasure ofmeeting my dear Major Pelodoro, who was then commander of the Fortress ofChiozza. I informed him of the complaint I wanted to prefer before thesecretary of war respecting my brother's arrest, and of the resolution Ihad taken to leave the army. He promised me that, as soon as the consentof the secretary for war could be obtained, he would find a purchaser formy commission at the same price I had paid for it. 

I had not long to wait. The war secretary came to the office, andeverything was settled in half an hour. He promised his consent to thesale of my commission as soon as he ascertained the abilities of thepurchaser, and Major Spiridion happening to make his appearance in theoffice while I was still there, the secretary ordered him rather angrily, to set my brother at liberty immediately, and cautioned him not to beguilty again of such reprehensible and arbitrary acts. 

I went at once for my brother, and we lived together in furnishedlodgings. 

A few days afterwards, having received my discharge and one hundredsequins, I threw off my uniform, and found myself once more my ownmaster. 

I had to earn my living in one way or another, and I decided for theprofession of gamester. But Dame Fortune was not of the same opinion, forshe refused to smile upon me from the very first step I took in thecareer, and in less than a week I did not possess a groat. What was tobecome of me? One must live, and I turned fiddler. Doctor Gozzi hadtaught me well enough to enable me to scrape on the violin in theorchestra of a theatre, and having mentioned my wishes to M. Grimani heprocured me an engagement at his own theatre of Saint Samuel, where Iearned a crown a day, and supported myself while I awaited better things. 

Fully aware of my real position, I never shewed myself in the fashionablecircles which I used to frequent before my fortune had sunk so low. Iknew that I was considered as a worthless fellow, but I did not care. People despised me, as a matter of course; but I found comfort in theconsciousness that I was worthy of contempt. I felt humiliated by theposition to which I was reduced after having played so brilliant a partin society; but as I kept the secret to myself I was not degraded, evenif I felt some shame. I had not exchanged my last word with Dame Fortune, and was still in hope of reckoning with her some day, because I wasyoung, and youth is dear to Fortune. 

CHAPTER XVII

I Turn Out A Worthless Fellow--My Good Fortune--I Become A Rich Nobleman

With an education which ought to have ensured me an honourable standingin the world, with some intelligence, wit, good literary and scientificknowledge, and endowed with those accidental physical qualities which aresuch a good passport into society, I found myself, at the age of twenty, the mean follower of a sublime art, in which, if great talent is rightlyadmired, mediocrity is as rightly despised. I was compelled by poverty tobecome a member of a musical band, in which I could expect neither esteemnor consideration, and I was well aware that I should be thelaughing-stock of the persons who had known me as a doctor in divinity, as an ecclesiastic, and as an officer in the army, and had welcomed me inthe highest society. 

I knew all that, for I was not blind to my position; but contempt, theonly thing to which I could not have remained indifferent, never sheweditself anywhere under a form tangible enough for me to have no doubt ofmy being despised, and I set it at defiance, because I was satisfied thatcontempt is due only to cowardly, mean actions, and I was conscious thatI had never been guilty of any. As to public esteem, which I had everbeen anxious to secure, my ambition was slumbering, and satisfied withbeing my own master I enjoyed my independence without puzzling my headabout the future. I felt that in my first profession, as I was notblessed with the vocation necessary to it, I should have succeeded onlyby dint of hypocrisy, and I should have been despicable in my ownestimation, even if I had seen the purple mantle on my shoulders, for thegreatest dignities cannot silence a man's own conscience. If, on theother hand, I had continued to seek fortune in a military career, whichis surrounded by a halo of glory, but is otherwise the worst ofprofessions for the constant self-abnegation, for the complete surrenderof one's will which passive obedience demands, I should have required apatience to which I could not lay any claim, as every kind of injusticewas revolting to me, and as I could not bear to feel myself dependent. Besides, I was of opinion that a man's profession, whatever it might be, ought to supply him with enough money to satisfy all his wants; and thevery poor pay of an officer would never have been sufficient to cover myexpenses, because my education had given me greater wants than those ofofficers in general. By scraping my violin I earned enough to keep myselfwithout requiring anybody's assistance, and I have always thought thatthe man who can support himself is happy. I grant that my profession wasnot a brilliant one, but I did not mind it, and, calling prejudices allthe feelings which rose in my breast against myself, I was not long insharing all the habits of my degraded comrades. When the play was over, Iwent with them to the drinking-booth, which we often left intoxicated tospend the night in houses of ill-fame. When we happened to find thoseplaces already tenanted by other men, we forced them by violence to quitthe premises, and defrauded the miserable victims of prostitution of themean salary the law allows them, after compelling them to yield to ourbrutality. Our scandalous proceedings often exposed us to the greatestdanger. 

We would very often spend the whole night rambling about the city, inventing and carrying into execution the most impertinent, practicaljokes. One of our favourite pleasures was to unmoor the patricians'gondolas, and to let them float at random along the canals, enjoying byanticipation all the curses that gondoliers would not fail to indulge in. We would rouse up hurriedly, in the middle of the night, an honestmidwife, telling her to hasten to Madame So-and-so, who, not being evenpregnant, was sure to tell her she was a fool when she called at thehouse. We did the same with physicians, whom we often sent half dressedto some nobleman who was enjoying excellent health. The priests fared nobetter; we would send them to carry the last sacraments to married menwho were peacefully slumbering near their wives, and not thinking ofextreme unction. 

We were in the habit of cutting the wires of the bells in every house, and if we chanced to find a gate open we would go up the stairs in thedark, and frighten the sleeping inmates by telling them very loudly thatthe house door was not closed, after which we would go down, making asmuch noise as we could, and leave the house with the gate wide open. 

During a very dark night we formed a plot to overturn the large marbletable of St. Angelo's Square, on which it was said that in the days ofthe League of Cambray the commissaries of the Republic were in the habitof paying the bounty to the recruits who engaged to fight under thestandard of St. Mark--a circumstance which secured for the table a sortof public veneration. 

Whenever we could contrive to get into a church tower we thought it greatfun to frighten all the parish by ringing the alarm bell, as if some firehad broken out; but that was not all, we always cut the bell ropes, sothat in the morning the churchwardens had no means of summoning thefaithful to early mass. Sometimes we would cross the canal, each of us ina different gondola, and take to our heels without paying as soon as welanded on the opposite side, in order to make the gondoliers run afterus. 

The city was alive with complaints, and we laughed at the useless searchmade by the police to find out those who disturbed the peace of theinhabitants. We took good care to be careful, for if we had beendiscovered we stood a very fair chance of being sent to practice rowingat the expense of the Council of Ten. 

We were seven, and sometimes eight, because, being much attached to mybrother Francois, I gave him a share now and then in our nocturnalorgies. But at last fear put a stop to our criminal jokes, which in thosedays I used to call only the frolics of young men. This is the amusingadventure which closed our exploits. 

In every one of the seventy-two parishes of the city of Venice, there isa large public-house called 'magazzino'. It remains open all night, andwine is retailed there at a cheaper price than in all the other drinkinghouses. People can likewise eat in the 'magazzino', but they must obtainwhat they want from the pork butcher near by, who has the exclusive saleof eatables, and likewise keeps his shop open throughout the night. Thepork butcher is usually a very poor cook, but as he is cheap, poor peopleare willingly satisfied with him, and these resorts are considered veryuseful to the lower class. The nobility, the merchants, even workmen ingood circumstances, are never seen in the 'magazzino', for cleanliness isnot exactly worshipped in such places. Yet there are a few private roomswhich contain a table surrounded with benches, in which a respectablefamily or a few friends can enjoy themselves in a decent way. 

It was during the Carnival of 1745, after midnight; we were, all theeight of us, rambling about together with our masks on, in quest of somenew sort of mischief to amuse us, and we went into the magazzino of theparish of the Holy Cross to get something to drink. We found the publicroom empty, but in one of the private chambers we discovered three menquietly conversing with a young and pretty woman, and enjoying theirwine. 

Our chief, a noble Venetian belonging to the Balbi family, said to us, "It would be a good joke to carry off those three blockheads, and to keepthe pretty woman in our possession. " He immediately explained his plan, and under cover of our masks we entered their room, Balbi at the head ofus. Our sudden appearance rather surprised the good people, but you mayfancy their astonishment when they heard Balbi say to them: "Underpenalty of death, and by order of the Council of Ten, I command you tofollow us immediately, without making the slightest noise; as to you, mygood woman, you need not be frightened, you will be escorted to yourhouse. " When he had finished his speech, two of us got hold of the womanto take her where our chief had arranged beforehand, and the othersseized the three poor fellows, who were trembling all over, and had notthe slightest idea of opposing any resistance. 

The waiter of the magazzino came to be paid, and our chief gave him whatwas due, enjoining silence under penalty of death. We took our threeprisoners to a large boat. Balbi went to the stern, ordered the boatmanto stand at the bow, and told him that he need not enquire where we weregoing, that he would steer himself whichever way he thought fit. Not oneof us knew where Balbi wanted to take the three poor devils. 

He sails all along the canal, gets out of it, takes several turnings, andin a quarter of an hour, we reach Saint George where Balbi lands ourprisoners, who are delighted to find themselves at liberty. After this, the boatman is ordered to take us to Saint Genevieve, where we land, after paying for the boat. 

We proceed at once to Palombo Square, where my brother and another of ourband were waiting for us with our lovely prisoner, who was crying. 

"Do not weep, my beauty, " says Balbi to her, "we will not hurt you. Weintend only to take some refreshment at the Rialto, and then we will takeyou home in safety. "

"Where is my husband?"

"Never fear; you shall see him again to-morrow. "

Comforted by that promise, and as gentle as a lamb, she follows us to the"Two Swords. " We ordered a good fire in a private room, and, everythingwe wanted to eat and to drink having been brought in, we send the waiteraway, and remain alone. We take off our masks, and the sight of eightyoung, healthy faces seems to please the beauty we had so unceremoniouslycarried off. We soon manage to reconcile her to her fate by the gallantryof our proceedings; encouraged by a good supper and by the stimulus ofwine, prepared by our compliments and by a few kisses, she realizes whatis in store for her, and does not seem to have any unconquerableobjection. Our chief, as a matter of right, claims the privilege ofopening the ball; and by dint of sweet words he overcomes the verynatural repugnance she feels at consummating the sacrifice in so numerouscompany. She, doubtless, thinks the offering agreeable, for, when Ipresent myself as the priest appointed to sacrifice a second time to thegod of love, she receives me almost with gratitude, and she cannotconceal her joy when she finds out that she is destined to make us allhappy. My brother Francois alone exempted himself from paying thetribute, saying that he was ill, the only excuse which could render hisrefusal valid, for we had established as a law that every member of oursociety was bound to do whatever was done by the others. 

After that fine exploit, we put on our masks, and, the bill being paid, escorted the happy victim to Saint Job, where she lived, and did notleave her till we had seen her safe in her house, and the street doorclosed. 

My readers may imagine whether we felt inclined to laugh when thecharming creature bade us good night, thanking us all with perfect goodfaith!

Two days afterwards, our nocturnal orgy began to be talked of. The youngwoman's husband was a weaver by trade, and so were his two friends. Theyjoined together to address a complaint to the Council of Ten. Thecomplaint was candidly written and contained nothing but the truth, butthe criminal portion of the truth was veiled by a circumstance which musthave brought a smile on the grave countenances of the judges, and highlyamused the public at large: the complaint setting forth that the eightmasked men had not rendered themselves guilty of any act disagreeable tothe wife. It went on to say that the two men who had carried her off hadtaken her to such a place, where they had, an hour later, been met by theother six, and that they had all repaired to the "Two Swords, " where theyhad spent an hour in drinking. The said lady having been handsomelyentertained by the eight masked men, had been escorted to her house, where she had been politely requested to excuse the joke perpetrated uponher husband. The three plaintiffs had not been able to leave the islandof Saint George until day-break, and the husband, on reaching his house, had found his wife quietly asleep in her bed. She had informed him of allthat had happened; she complained of nothing but of the great fright shehad experienced on account of her husband, and on that count sheentreated justice and the punishment of the guilty parties. 

That complaint was comic throughout, for the three rogues shewedthemselves very brave in writing, stating that they would certainly nothave given way so easily if the dread authority of the council had notbeen put forth by the leader of the band. The document produced threedifferent results; in the first place, it amused the town; in the second, all the idlers of Venice went to Saint Job to hear the account of theadventure from the lips of the heroine herself, and she got many presentsfrom her numerous visitors; in the third place, the Council of Tenoffered a reward of five hundred ducats to any person giving suchinformation as would lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of thepractical joke, even if the informer belonged to the band, provided hewas not the leader. 

The offer of that reward would have made us tremble if our leader, precisely the one who alone had no interest in turning informer, had notbeen a patrician. The rank of Balbi quieted my anxiety at once, because Iknew that, even supposing one of us were vile enough to betray our secretfor the sake of the reward, the tribunal would have done nothing in ordernot to implicate a patrician. There was no cowardly traitor amongst us, although we were all poor; but fear had its effect, and our nocturnalpranks were not renewed. 

Three or four months afterwards the chevalier Nicolas Iron, then one ofthe inquisitors, astonished me greatly by telling me the whole story, giving the names of all the actors. He did not tell me whether any one ofthe band had betrayed the secret, and I did not care to know; but I couldclearly see the characteristic spirit of the aristocracy, for which the'solo mihi' is the supreme law. 

Towards the middle of April of the year 1746 M. Girolamo Cornaro, theeldest son of the family Cornaro de la Reine, married a daughter of thehouse of Soranzo de St. Pol, and I had the honour of being present at thewedding--as a fiddler. I played the violin in one of the numerous bandsengaged for the balls which were given for three consecutive days in theSoranzo Palace. 

On the third day, towards the end of the dancing, an hour beforeday-break, feeling tired, I left the orchestra abruptly; and as I wasgoing down the stairs I observed a senator, wearing his red robes, on thepoint of getting into a gondola. In taking his handkerchief out of hispocket he let a letter drop on the ground. I picked it up, and coming upto him just as he was going down the steps I handed it to him. Hereceived it with many thanks, and enquired where I lived. I told him, andhe insisted upon my coming with him in the gondola saying that he wouldleave me at my house. I accepted gratefully, and sat down near him. A fewminutes afterwards he asked me to rub his left arm, which, he said, wasso benumbed that he could not feel it. I rubbed it with all my strength, but he told me in a sort of indistinct whisper that the numbness wasspreading all along the left side, and that he was dying. 

I was greatly frightened; I opened the curtain, took the lantern, andfound him almost insensible, and the mouth drawn on one side. Iunderstood that he was seized with an apoplectic stroke, and called outto the gondoliers to land me at once, in order to procure a surgeon tobleed the patient. 

I jumped out of the gondola, and found myself on the very spot wherethree years before I had taught Razetta such a forcible lesson; Ienquired for a surgeon at the first coffee-house, and ran to the housethat was pointed out to me. I knocked as hard as I could; the door was atlast opened, and I made the surgeon follow me in his dressing-gown as faras the gondola, which was waiting; he bled the senator while I wastearing my shirt to make the compress and the bandage. 

The operation being performed, I ordered the gondoliers to row as fast aspossible, and we soon reached St. Marina; the servants were roused up, and taking the sick man out of the gondola we carried him to his bedalmost dead. 

Taking everything upon myself, I ordered a servant to hurry out for aphysician, who came in a short time, and ordered the patient to be bledagain, thus approving the first bleeding prescribed by me. Thinking I hada right to watch the sick man, I settled myself near his bed to give himevery care he required. 

An hour later, two noblemen, friends of the senator, came in, one a fewminutes after the other. They were in despair; they had enquired aboutthe accident from the gondoliers, and having been told that I knew morethan they did, they loaded me with questions which I answered. They didnot know who I was, and did not like to ask me; whilst I thought itbetter to preserve a modest silence. 

The patient did not move; his breathing alone shewed that he was stillalive; fomentations were constantly applied, and the priest who had beensent for, and was of very little use under such circumstances, seemed tobe there only to see him die. All visitors were sent away by my advice, and the two noblemen and myself were the only persons in the sick man'sroom. At noon we partook silently of some dinner which was served in thesick room. 

In the evening one of the two friends told me that if I had any businessto attend to I could go, because they would both pass the night on amattress near the patient. 

"And I, sir, " I said, "will remain near his bed in this arm-chair, for ifI went away the patient would die, and he will live as long as I am nearhim. "

This sententious answer struck them with astonishment, as I expected itwould, and they looked at each other in great surprise. 

We had supper, and in the little conversation we had I gathered theinformation that the senator, their friend, was M. De Bragadin, the onlybrother of the procurator of that name. He was celebrated in Venice notonly for his eloquence and his great talents as a statesman, but also forthe gallantries of his youth. He had been very extravagant with women, and more than one of them had committed many follies for him. He hadgambled and lost a great deal, and his brother was his most bitter enemy, because he was infatuated with the idea that he had tried to poison him. He had accused him of that crime before the Council of Ten, which, afteran investigation of eight months, had brought in a verdict of not guilty:but that just sentence, although given unanimously by that high tribunal, had not had the effect of destroying his brother's prejudices againsthim. 

M. De Bragadin, who was perfectly innocent of such a crime and oppressedby an unjust brother who deprived him of half of his income, spent hisdays like an amiable philosopher, surrounded by his friends, amongst whomwere the two noblemen who were then watching him; one belonged to theDandolo family, the other was a Barbaro, and both were excellent men. M. De Bragadin was handsome, learned, cheerful, and most kindly disposed; hewas then about fifty years old. 

The physician who attended him was named Terro; he thought, by somepeculiar train of reasoning, that he could cure him by applying amercurial ointment to the chest, to which no one raised any objection. The rapid effect of the remedy delighted the two friends, but itfrightened me, for in less than twenty-four hours the patient waslabouring under great excitement of the brain. The physician said that hehad expected that effect, but that on the following day the remedy wouldact less on the brain, and diffuse its beneficial action through thewhole of the system, which required to be invigorated by a properequilibrium in the circulation of the fluids. 

At midnight the patient was in a state of high fever, and in a fearfulstate of irritation. I examined him closely, and found him hardly able tobreathe. I roused up his two friends; and declared that in my opinion thepatient would soon die unless the fatal ointment was at once removed. Andwithout waiting for their answer, I bared his chest, took off theplaster, washed the skin carefully with lukewarm water, and in less thanthree minutes he breathed freely and fell into a quiet sleep. Delightedwith such a fortunate result, we lay down again. 

The physician came very early in the morning, and was much pleased to seehis patient so much better, but when M. Dandolo informed him of what hadbeen done, he was angry, said it was enough to kill his patient, andasked who had been so audacious as to destroy the effect of hisprescription. M. De Bragadin, speaking for the first time, said to him--

"Doctor, the person who has delivered me from your mercury, which waskilling me, is a more skilful physician than you;" and, saying thesewords, he pointed to me. 

It would be hard to say who was the more astonished: the doctor, when hesaw an unknown young man, whom he must have taken for an impostor, declared more learned than himself; or I, when I saw myself transformedinto a physician, at a moment's notice. I kept silent, looking verymodest, but hardly able to control my mirth, whilst the doctor wasstaring at me with a mixture of astonishment and of spite, evidentlythinking me some bold quack who had tried to supplant him. At last, turning towards M. De Bragadin, he told him coldly that he would leavehim in my hands; he was taken at his word, he went away, and behold! Ihad become the physician of one of the most illustrious members of theVenetian Senate! I must confess that I was very glad of it, and I told mypatient that a proper diet was all he needed, and that nature, assistedby the approaching fine season, would do the rest. 

The dismissed physician related the affair through the town, and, as M. De Bragadin was rapidly improving, one of his relations, who came to seehim, told him that everybody was astonished at his having chosen for hisphysician a fiddler from the theatre; but the senator put a stop to hisremarks by answering that a fiddler could know more than all the doctorsin Venice, and that he owed his life to me. 

The worthy nobleman considered me as his oracle, and his two friendslistened to me with the deepest attention. Their infatuation encouragingme, I spoke like a learned physician, I dogmatized, I quoted authors whomI had never read. 

M. De Bragadin, who had the weakness to believe in the occult sciences, told me one day that, for a young man of my age, he thought my learningtoo extensive, and that he was certain I was the possessor of somesupernatural endowment. He entreated me to tell him the truth. 

What extraordinary things will sometimes occur from mere chance, or fromthe force of circumstances! Unwilling to hurt his vanity by telling himthat he was mistaken, I took the wild resolution of informing him, in thepresence of his two friends, that I possessed a certain numeral calculuswhich gave answers (also in numbers), to any questions I liked to put. 

M. De Bragadin said that it was Solomon's key, vulgarly called cabalisticscience, and he asked me from whom I learnt it. 

"From an old hermit, " I answered, "who lives on the Carpegna Mountain, and whose acquaintance I made quite by chance when I was a prisoner inthe Spanish army. "

"The hermit, " remarked the senator, "has without informing you of it, linked an invisible spirit to the calculus he has taught you, for simplenumbers can not have the power of reason. You possess a real treasure, and you may derive great advantages from it. "

"I do not know, " I said, "in what way I could make my science useful, because the answers given by the numerical figures are often so obscurethat I have felt discouraged, and I very seldom tried to make any use ofmy calculus. Yet, it is very true that, if I had not formed my pyramid, Inever should have had the happiness of knowing your excellency. "

"How so?"

"On the second day, during the festivities at the Soranzo Palace, Ienquired of my oracle whether I would meet at the ball anyone whom Ishould not care to see. The answer I obtained was this: 'Leave theball-room precisely at four o'clock. ' I obeyed implicitly, and met yourexcellency. "

The three friends were astounded. M. Dandolo asked me whether I wouldanswer a question he would ask, the interpretation of which would belongonly to him, as he was the only person acquainted with the subject of thequestion. 

I declared myself quite willing, for it was necessary to brazen it out, after having ventured as far as I had done. He wrote the question, andgave it to me; I read it, I could not understand either the subject orthe meaning of the words, but it did not matter, I had to give an answer. If the question was so obscure that I could not make out the sense of it, it was natural that I should not understand the answer. I thereforeanswered, in ordinary figures, four lines of which he alone could be theinterpreter, not caring much, at least in appearance, how they would beunderstood. M. Dandolo read them twice over, seemed astonished, said thatit was all very plain to him; it was Divine, it was unique, it was a giftfrom Heaven, the numbers being only the vehicle, but the answer emanatingevidently from an immortal spirit. 

M. Dandolo was so well pleased that his two friends very naturally wantedalso to make an experiment. They asked questions on all sorts ofsubjects, and my answers, perfectly unintelligible to myself, were allheld as Divine by them. I congratulated them on their success, andcongratulated myself in their presence upon being the possessor of athing to which I had until then attached no importance whatever, butwhich I promised to cultivate carefully, knowing that I could thus be ofsome service to their excellencies. 

They all asked me how long I would require to teach them the rules of mysublime calculus. "Not very long, " I answered, "and I will teach you asyou wish, although the hermit assured me that I would die suddenly withinthree days if I communicated my science to anyone, but I have no faithwhatever in that prediction. " M. De Bragadin who believed in it more thanI did, told me in a serious tone that I was bound to have faith in it, and from that day they never asked me again to teach them. They verylikely thought that, if they could attach me to them, it would answer thepurpose as well as if they possessed the science themselves. Thus Ibecame the hierophant of those three worthy and talented men, who, inspite of their literary accomplishments, were not wise, since they wereinfatuated with occult and fabulous sciences, and believed in theexistence of phenomena impossible in the moral as well as in the physicalorder of things. They believed that through me they possessed thephilosopher's stone, the universal panacea, the intercourse with all theelementary, heavenly, and infernal spirits; they had no doubt whateverthat, thanks to my sublime science, they could find out the secrets ofevery government in Europe. 

After they had assured themselves of the reality of my cabalistic scienceby questions respecting the past, they decided to turn it to some use byconsulting it upon the present and upon the future. I had no difficultyin skewing myself a good guesser, because I always gave answers with adouble meaning, one of the meanings being carefully arranged by me, so asnot to be understood until after the event; in that manner, my cabalisticscience, like the oracle of Delphi, could never be found in fault. I sawhow easy it must have been for the ancient heathen priests to impose uponignorant, and therefore credulous mankind. I saw how easy it will alwaysbe for impostors to find dupes, and I realized, even better than theRoman orator, why two augurs could never look at each other withoutlaughing; it was because they had both an equal interest in givingimportance to the deceit they perpetrated, and from which they derivedsuch immense profits. But what I could not, and probably never shall, understand, was the reason for which the Fathers, who were not so simpleor so ignorant as our Evangelists, did not feel able to deny the divinityof oracles, and, in order to get out of the difficulty, ascribed them tothe devil. They never would have entertained such a strange idea if theyhad been acquainted with cabalistic science. My three worthy friends werelike the holy Fathers; they had intelligence and wit, but they weresuperstitious, and no philosophers. But, although believing fully in myoracles, they were too kind-hearted to think them the work of the devil, and it suited their natural goodness better to believe my answersinspired by some heavenly spirit. They were not only good Christians andfaithful to the Church, but even real devotees and full of scruples. Theywere not married, and, after having renounced all commerce with women, they had become the enemies of the female sex; perhaps a strong proof ofthe weakness of their minds. They imagined that chastity was thecondition 'sine qua non' exacted by the spirits from those who wished tohave intimate communication or intercourse with them: they fancied thatspirits excluded women, and 'vice versa'. 

With all these oddities, the three friends were truly intelligent andeven witty, and, at the beginning of my acquaintance with them, I couldnot reconcile these antagonistic points. But a prejudiced mind cannotreason well, and the faculty of reasoning is the most important of all. I often laughed when I heard them talk on religious matters; they wouldridicule those whose intellectual faculties were so limited that theycould not understand the mysteries of religion. The incarnation of theWord, they would say, was a trifle for God, and therefore easy tounderstand, and the resurrection was so comprehensible that it did notappear to them wonderful, because, as God cannot die, Jesus Christwas naturally certain to rise again. As for the Eucharist, transubstantiation, the real presence, it was all no mystery to them, butpalpable evidence, and yet they were not Jesuits. They were in the habitof going to confession every week, without feeling the slightest troubleabout their confessors, whose ignorance they kindly regretted. Theythought themselves bound to confess only what was a sin in their ownopinion, and in that, at least, they reasoned with good sense. 

With those three extraordinary characters, worthy of esteem and respectfor their moral qualities, their honesty, their reputation, and theirage, as well as for their noble birth, I spent my days in a very pleasantmanner: although, in their thirst for knowledge, they often kept me hardat work for ten hours running, all four of us being locked up together ina room, and unapproachable to everybody, even to friends or relatives. 

I completed the conquest of their friendship by relating to them thewhole of my life, only with some proper reserve, so as not to lead theminto any capital sins. I confess candidly that I deceived them, as thePapa Deldimopulo used to deceive the Greeks who applied to him for theoracles of the Virgin. I certainly did not act towards them with a truesense of honesty, but if the reader to whom I confess myself isacquainted with the world and with the spirit of society, I entreat himto think before judging me, and perhaps I may meet with some indulgenceat his hands. 

I might be told that if I had wished to follow the rules of pure moralityI ought either to have declined intimate intercourse with them or to haveundeceived them. I cannot deny these premises, but I will answer that Iwas only twenty years of age, I was intelligent, talented, and had justbeen a poor fiddler. I should have lost my time in trying to cure them oftheir weakness; I should not have succeeded, for they would have laughedin my face, deplored my ignorance, and the result of it all would havebeen my dismissal. Besides, I had no mission, no right, to constitutemyself an apostle, and if I had heroically resolved on leaving them assoon as I knew them to be foolish visionaries, I should have shewn myselfa misanthrope, the enemy of those worthy men for whom I could procureinnocent pleasures, and my own enemy at the same time; because, as ayoung man, I liked to live well, to enjoy all the pleasures natural toyouth and to a good constitution. 

By acting in that manner I should have failed in common politeness, Ishould perhaps have caused or allowed M. De Bragadin's death, and Ishould have exposed those three honest men to becoming the victims of thefirst bold cheat who, ministering to their monomania, might have wontheir favour, and would have ruined them by inducing them to undertakethe chemical operations of the Great Work. There is also anotherconsideration, dear reader, and as I love you I will tell you what it is. An invincible self-love would have prevented me from declaring myselfunworthy of their friendship either by my ignorance or by my pride; and Ishould have been guilty of great rudeness if I had ceased to visit them. 

I took, at least it seems to me so, the best, the most natural, and thenoblest decision, if we consider the disposition of their mind, when Idecided upon the plan of conduct which insured me the necessaries of lifeand of those necessaries who could be a better judge than your veryhumble servant?

Through the friendship of those three men, I was certain of obtainingconsideration and influence in my own country. Besides, I found it veryflattering to my vanity to become the subject of the speculativechattering of empty fools who, having nothing else to do, are alwaystrying to find out the cause of every moral phenomenon they meet with, which their narrow intellect cannot understand. 

People racked their brain in Venice to find out how my intimacy withthree men of that high character could possibly exist; they were wrappedup in heavenly aspirations, I was a world's devotee; they were verystrict in their morals, I was thirsty of all pleasures! At the beginningof summer, M. De Bragadin was once, more able to take his seat in thesenate, and, the day before he went out for the first time, he spoke tome thus:

"Whoever you may be, I am indebted to you for my life. Your firstprotectors wanted to make you a priest, a doctor, an advocate, a soldier, and ended by making a fiddler of you; those persons did not know you. Godhad evidently instructed your guardian angel to bring you to me. I knowyou and appreciate you. If you will be my son, you have only toacknowledge me for your father, and, for the future, until my death, Iwill treat you as my own child. Your apartment is ready, you may sendyour clothes: you shall have a servant, a gondola at your orders, my owntable, and ten sequins a month. It is the sum I used to receive from myfather when I was your age. You need not think of the future; think onlyof enjoying yourself, and take me as your adviser in everything that mayhappen to you, in everything you may wish to undertake, and you may becertain of always finding me your friend. "

I threw myself at his feet to assure him of my gratitude, and embracedhim calling him my father. He folded me in his arms, called me his dearson; I promised to love and to obey him; his two friends, who lived inthe same palace, embraced me affectionately, and we swore eternalfraternity. 

Such is the history of my metamorphosis, and of the lucky stroke which, taking me from the vile profession of a fiddler, raised me to the rank ofa grandee. 

CHAPTER XVIII

I lead a dissolute life--Zawoiski--Rinaldi--L'Abbadie--the youngcountess--the Capuchin friar Z. Steffani--Ancilla--La Ramor--I take agondola at St. Job to go to Mestra. 

Fortune, which had taken pleasure in giving me a specimen of its despoticcaprice, and had insured my happiness through means which sages woulddisavow, had not the power to make me adopt a system of moderation andprudence which alone could establish my future welfare on a firm basis. 

My ardent nature, my irresistible love of pleasure, my unconquerableindependence, would not allow me to submit to the reserve which my newposition in life demanded from me. I began to lead a life of completefreedom, caring for nothing but what ministered to my tastes, and Ithought that, as long as I respected the laws, I could trample allprejudices under my feet. I fancied that I could live free andindependent in a country ruled entirely by an aristocratic government, but this was not the case, and would not have been so even if fortune hadraised me to a seat in that same government, for the Republic of Venice, considering that its primary duty is to preserve its own integrity, findsitself the slave of its own policy, and is bound to sacrifice everythingto self-preservation, before which the laws themselves cease to beinviolable. 

But let us abandon the discussion of a principle now too trite, forhumankind, at least in Europe, is satisfied that unlimited liberty isnowhere consistent with a properly-regulated state of society. I havetouched lightly on the matter, only to give to my readers some idea of myconduct in my own country, where I began to tread a path which was tolead me to a state prison as inscrutable as it was unconstitutional. 

With enough money, endowed by nature with a pleasing and commandingphysical appearance, a confirmed gambler, a true spendthrift, a greattalker, very far from modest, intrepid, always running after prettywomen, supplanting my rivals, and acknowledging no good company but thatwhich ministered to my enjoyment, I was certain to be disliked; but, everready to expose myself to any danger, and to take the responsibility ofall my actions, I thought I had a right to do anything I pleased, for Ialways broke down abruptly every obstacle I found in my way. 

Such conduct could not but be disagreeable to the three worthy men whoseoracle I had become, but they did not like to complain. The excellent M. De Bragadin would only tell me that I was giving him a repetition of thefoolish life he had himself led at my age, but that I must prepare to paythe penalty of my follies, and to feel the punishment when I should reachhis time of life. Without wanting in the respect I owed him, I would turnhis terrible forebodings into jest, and continue my course ofextravagance. However, I must mention here the first proof he gave me ofhis true wisdom. 

At the house of Madame Avogadro, a woman full of wit in spite of hersixty years, I had made the acquaintance of a young Polish noblemancalled Zawoiski. He was expecting money from Poland, but in the mean timethe Venetian ladies did not let him want for any, being all very much inlove with his handsome face and his Polish manners. We soon became goodfriends, my purse was his, but, twenty years later, he assisted me to afar greater extent in Munich. Zawoiski was honest, he had only a smalldose of intelligence, but it was enough for his happiness. He died inTrieste five or six years ago, the ambassador of the Elector of Treves. Iwill speak of him in another part of these Memoirs. 

This amiable young man, who was a favourite with everybody and wasthought a free-thinker because he frequented the society of AngeloQuerini and Lunardo Venier, presented me one day, as we were out walking, to an unknown countess who took my fancy very strongly. We called on herin the evening, and, after introducing me to her husband, Count Rinaldi, she invited us to remain and have supper. 

The count made a faro bank in the course of the evening, I punted withhis wife as a partner, and won some fifty ducats. 

Very much pleased with my new acquaintance, I called alone on thecountess the next morning. The count, apologizing for his wife who wasnot up yet, took me to her room. She received me with graceful ease, and, her husband having left us alone, she had the art to let me hope forevery favour, yet without committing herself; when I took leave of her, she invited me to supper for the evening. After supper I played, still inpartnership with her, won again, and went away very much in love. I didnot fail to pay her another visit the next morning, but when I presentedmyself at the house I was told that she had gone out. 

I called again in the evening, and, after she had excused herself for nothaving been at home in the morning, the faro bank began, and I lost allmy money, still having the countess for my partner. After supper, andwhen the other guests had retired, I remained with Zawoiski, CountRinaldi having offered to give us our revenge. As I had no more money, Iplayed upon trust, and the count threw down the cards after I had lostfive hundred sequins. I went away in great sorrow. I was bound in honourto pay the next morning, and I did not possess a groat. Love increased mydespair, for I saw myself on the point of losing the esteem of a woman bywhom I was smitten, and the anxiety I felt did not escape M. De Bragadinwhen we met in the morning. He kindly encouraged me to confess mytroubles to him. I was conscious that it was my only chance, and candidlyrelated the whole affair, and I ended by saying that I should not survivemy disgrace. He consoled me by promising that my debt would be cancelledin the course of the day, if I would swear never to play again upontrust. I took an oath to that effect, and kissing his hand, I went outfor a walk, relieved from a great load. I had no doubt that my excellentfather would give me five hundred sequins during the day, and I enjoyedmy anticipation the honour I would derive, in the opinion of the lovelycountess, by my exactitude and prompt discharge of my debt. I felt thatit gave new strength to my hopes, and that feeling prevented me fromregretting my heavy loss, but grateful for the great generosity of mybenefactor I was fully determined on keeping my promise. 

I dined with the three friends, and the matter was not even alluded to;but, as we were rising from the table, a servant brought M. De Bragadin aletter and a parcel. 

He read the letter, asked me to follow him into his study, and the momentwe were alone, he said;

"Here is a parcel for you. "

I opened it, and found some forty sequins. Seeing my surprise, M. DeBragadin laughed merrily and handed me the letter, the contents of whichran thus:

"M. De Casanova may be sure that our playing last night was only a joke:he owes me nothing. My wife begs to send him half of the gold which hehas lost in cash. "COUNT RINALDI. "

I looked at M. De Bragadin, perfectly amazed, and he burst out laughing. I guessed the truth, thanked him, and embracing him tenderly I promisedto be wiser for the future. The mist I had before my eyes was dispelled, I felt that my love was defunct, and I remained rather ashamed, when Irealized that I had been the dupe of the wife as well as of the husband. 

"This evening, " said my clever physician, "you can have a gay supper withthe charming countess. "

"This evening, my dear, respected benefactor, I will have supper withyou. You have given me a masterly lesson. "

"The next time you lose money upon trust, you had better not pay it. "

"But I should be dishonoured. "

"Never mind. The sooner you dishonour yourself, the more you will save, for you will always be compelled to accept your dishonour whenever youfind yourself utterly unable to pay your losses. It is therefore moreprudent not to wait until then. "

"It is much better still to avoid that fatal impossibility by neverplaying otherwise than with money in hand. "

"No doubt of it, for then you will save both your honour and your purse. But, as you are fond of games of chance, I advise you never to punt. Makethe bank, and the advantage must be on your side. "

"Yes, but only a slight advantage. "

"As slight as you please, but it will be on your side, and when the gameis over you will find yourself a winner and not a loser. The punter isexcited, the banker is calm. The last says, 'I bet you do not guess, 'while the first says, 'I bet I can guess. ' Which is the fool, and whichis the wise man? The question is easily answered. I adjure you to beprudent, but if you should punt and win, recollect that you are only anidiot if at the end you lose. "

"Why an idiot? Fortune is very fickle. "

"It must necessarily be so; it is a natural consequence. Leave offplaying, believe me, the very moment you see luck turning, even if youshould, at that moment, win but one groat. "

I had read Plato, and I was astonished at finding a man who could reasonlike Socrates. 

The next day, Zawoiski called on me very early to tell me that I had beenexpected to supper, and that Count Rinaldi had praised my promptness inpaying my debts of honour. I did not think it necessary to undeceive him, but I did not go again to Count Rinaldi's, whom I saw sixteen yearsafterwards in Milan. As to Zawoiski, I did not tell him the story till Imet him in Carlsbad, old and deaf, forty years later. 

Three or four months later, M. De Bragadin taught me another of hismasterly lessons. I had become acquainted, through Zawoiski, with aFrenchman called L'Abbadie, who was then soliciting from the VenetianGovernment the appointment of inspector of the armies of the Republic. The senate appointed, and I presented him to my protector, who promisedhim his vote; but the circumstance I am going to relate prevented himfrom fulfilling his promise. 

I was in need of one hundred sequins to discharge a few debts, and Ibegged M. De Bragadin to give them to me. 

"Why, my dear son, do you not ask M. De l'Abbadie to render you thatservice?"

"I should not dare to do so, dear father. "

"Try him; I am certain that he will be glad to lend you that sum. "

"I doubt it, but I will try. "

I called upon L'Abbadie on the following day, and after a short exchangeof compliments I told him the service I expected from his friendship. Heexcused himself in a very polite manner, drowning his refusal in that seaof commonplaces which people are sure to repeat when they cannot or willnot oblige a friend. Zawoiski came in as he was still apologizing, and Ileft them together. I hurried at once to M. De Bragadin, and told him mywant of success. He merely remarked that the Frenchman was deficient inintelligence. 

It just happened that it was the very day on which the appointment of theinspectorship was to be brought before the senate. I went out to attendto my business (I ought to say to my pleasure), and as I did not returnhome till after midnight I went to bed without seeing my father. In themorning I said in his presence that I intended to call upon L'Abbadie tocongratulate him upon his appointment. 

"You may spare yourself that trouble; the senate has rejected hisnomination. "

"How so? Three days ago L'Abbadie felt sure of his success. "

"He was right then, for he would have been appointed if I had not made upmy mind to speak against him. I have proved to the senate that a rightpolicy forbade the government to trust such an important post to aforeigner. "

"I am much surprised, for your excellency was not of that opinion the daybefore yesterday. "

"Very true, but then I did not know M. De l'Abbadie. I found out onlyyesterday that the man was not sufficiently intelligent to fill theposition he was soliciting. Is he likely to possess a sane judgment whenhe refuses to lend you one hundred sequins? That refusal has cost him animportant appointment and an income of three thousand crowns, which wouldnow be his. "

When I was taking my walk on the same day I met Zawoiski with L'Abbadie, and did not try to avoid them. L'Abbadie was furious, and he had somereason to be so. 

"If you had told me, " he said angrily, "that the one hundred sequins wereintended as a gag to stop M. De Bragadin's mouth, I would have contrivedto procure them for you. "

"If you had had an inspector's brains you would have easily guessed it. "

The Frenchman's resentment proved very useful to me, because he relatedthe circumstance to everybody. The result was that from that time thosewho wanted the patronage of the senator applied to me. Comment isneedless; this sort of thing has long been in existence, and will longremain so, because very often, to obtain the highest of favours, all thatis necessary is to obtain the good-will of a minister's favourite or evenof his valet. My debts were soon paid. 

It was about that time that my brother Jean came to Venice withGuarienti, a converted Jew, a great judge of paintings, who wastravelling at the expense of His Majesty the King of Poland, and Electorof Saxony. It was the converted Jew who had purchased for His Majesty thegallery of the Duke of Modena for one hundred thousand sequins. Guarientiand my brother left Venice for Rome, where Jean remained in the studio ofthe celebrated painter Raphael Mengs, whom we shall meet again hereafter. 

Now, as a faithful historian, I must give my readers the story of acertain adventure in which were involved the honour and happiness of oneof the most charming women in Italy, who would have been unhappy if I hadnot been a thoughtless fellow. 

In the early part of October, 1746, the theatres being opened, I waswalking about with my mask on when I perceived a woman, whose head waswell enveloped in the hood of her mantle, getting out of the Ferrarabarge which had just arrived. Seeing her alone, and observing heruncertain walk, I felt myself drawn towards her as if an unseen hand hadguided me. 

I come up to her, and offer my services if I can be of any use to her. She answers timidly that she only wants to make some enquiries. 

"We are not here in the right place for conversation, " I say to her; "butif you would be kind enough to come with me to a cafe, you would be ableto speak and to explain your wishes. "

She hesitates, I insist, and she gives way. The tavern was close at hand;we go in, and are alone in a private room. I take off my mask, and out ofpoliteness she must put down the hood of her mantle. A large muslinhead-dress conceals half of her face, but her eyes, her nose, and herpretty mouth are enough to let me see on her features beauty, nobleness, sorrow, and that candour which gives youth such an undefinable charm. Ineed not say that, with such a good letter of introduction, the unknownat once captivated my warmest interest. After wiping away a few tearswhich are flowing, in spite of all her efforts, she tells me that shebelongs to a noble family, that she has run away from her father's house, alone, trusting in God, to meet a Venetian nobleman who had seduced herand then deceived her, thus sealing her everlasting misery. 

"You have then some hope of recalling him to the path of duty? I supposehe has promised you marriage?"

"He has engaged his faith to me in writing. The only favour I claim fromyour kindness is to take me to his house, to leave me there, and to keepmy secret. "

"You may trust, madam, to the feelings of a man of honour. I am worthy ofyour trust. Have entire confidence in me, for I already take a deepinterest in all your concerns. Tell me his name. "

"Alas! sir, I give way to fate. "

With these words, she takes out of her bosom a paper which she gives me;I recognize the handwriting of Zanetto Steffani. It was a promise ofmarriage by which he engaged his word of honour to marry within a week, in Venice, the young countess A---- S----. When I have read the paper, Ireturn it to her, saying that I knew the writer quite well, that he wasconnected with the chancellor's office, known as a great libertine, anddeeply in debt, but that he would be rich after his mother's death. 

"For God's sake take me to his house. "

"I will do anything you wish; but have entire confidence in me, and begood enough to hear me. I advise you not to go to his house. He hasalready done you great injury, and, even supposing that you should happento find him at home, he might be capable of receiving you badly; if heshould not be at home, it is most likely that his mother would notexactly welcome you, if you should tell her who you are and what is yourerrand. Trust to me, and be quite certain that God has sent me on yourway to assist you. I promise you that to-morrow at the latest you shallknow whether Steffani is in Venice, what he intends to do with you, andwhat we may compel him to do. Until then my advice is not to let him knowyour arrival in Venice. "

"Good God! where shall I go to-night?"

"To a respectable house, of course. "

"I will go to yours, if you are married. "

"I am a bachelor. "

I knew an honest widow who resided in a lane, and who had two furnishedrooms. I persuade the young countess to follow me, and we take a gondola. As we are gliding along, she tells me that, one month before, Steffanihad stopped in her neighbourhood for necessary repairs to histravelling-carriage, and that, on the same day he had made heracquaintance at a house where she had gone with her mother for thepurpose of offering their congratulations to a newly-married lady. 

"I was unfortunate enough, " she continued, "to inspire him with love, andhe postponed his departure. He remained one month in C----, never goingout but in the evening, and spending every night under my windowsconversing with me. He swore a thousand times that he adored me, that hisintentions were honourable. I entreated him to present himself to myparents to ask me in marriage, but he always excused himself by allegingsome reason, good or bad, assuring me that he could not be happy unless Ishewed him entire confidence. He would beg of me to make up my mind torun away with him, unknown to everybody, promising that my honour shouldnot suffer from such a step, because, three days after my departure, everybody should receive notice of my being his wife, and he assured methat he would bring me back on a visit to my native place shortly afterour marriage. Alas, sir! what shall I say now? Love blinded me; I fellinto the abyss; I believed him; I agreed to everything. He gave me thepaper which you have read, and the following night I allowed him to comeinto my room through the window under which he was in the habit ofconversing with me. 

"I consented to be guilty of a crime which I believed would be atoned forwithin three days, and he left me, promising that the next night he wouldbe again under my window, ready to receive me in his arms. Could Ipossibly entertain any doubt after the fearful crime I had committed forhim? I prepared a small parcel, and waited for his coming, but in vain. Oh! what a cruel long night it was! In the morning I heard that themonster had gone away with his servant one hour after sealing my shame. You may imagine my despair! I adopted the only plan that despair couldsuggest, and that, of course, was not the right one. One hour beforemidnight I left my father's roof, alone, thus completing my dishonour, but resolved on death, if the man who has cruelly robbed me of my mostprecious treasure, and whom a natural instinct told me I could find here, does not restore me the honour which he alone can give me back. I walkedall night and nearly the whole day, without taking any food, until I gotinto the barge, which brought me here in twenty-four hours. I travelledin the boat with five men and two women, but no one saw my face or heardmy voice, I kept constantly sitting down in a corner, holding my headdown, half asleep, and with this prayer-book in my hands. I was leftalone, no one spoke to me, and I thanked God for it. When I landed on thewharf, you did not give me time to think how I could find out thedwelling of my perfidious seducer, but you may imagine the impressionproduced upon me by the sudden apparition of a masked man who, abruptly, and as if placed there purposely by Providence, offered me his services;it seemed to me that you had guessed my distress, and, far fromexperiencing any repugnance, I felt that I was acting rightly in trustingmyself in your hands, in spite of all prudence which, perhaps, ought tohave made me turn a deaf ear to your words, and refuse the invitation toenter alone with you the house to which you took me. 

"You know all now, sir; but I entreat you not to judge me too severely; Ihave been virtuous all through my life; one month ago I had nevercommitted a fault which could call a blush upon my face, and the bittertears which I shed every day will, I hope, wash out my crime in the eyesof God. I have been carefully brought up, but love and the want ofexperience have thrown me into the abyss. I am in your hands, and I feelcertain that I shall have no cause to repent it. "

I needed all she had just told' me to confirm me in the interest which Ihad felt in her from the first moment. I told her unsparingly thatSteffani had seduced and abandoned her of malice aforethought, and thatshe ought to think of him only to be revenged of his perfidy. My wordsmade her shudder, and she buried her beautiful face in her hands. 

We reached the widow's house. I established her in a pretty, comfortableroom, and ordered some supper for her, desiring the good landlady to skewher every attention and to let her want for nothing. I then took anaffectionate leave of her, promising to see her early in the morning. 

On leaving this interesting but hapless girl, I proceeded to the house ofSteffani. I heard from one of his mother's gondoliers that he hadreturned to Venice three days before, but that, twenty-four hours afterhis return, he had gone away again without any servant, and nobody knewhis whereabouts, not even his mother. The same evening, happening to beseated next to an abbe from Bologna at the theatre, I asked him severalquestions respecting the family of my unfortunate protegee. 

The abbe being intimately acquainted with them, I gathered from him allthe information I required, and, amongst other things, I heard that theyoung countess had a brother, then an officer in the papal service. 

Very early the next morning I called upon her. She was still asleep. Thewidow told me that she had made a pretty good supper, but withoutspeaking a single word, and that she had locked herself up in her roomimmediately afterwards. As soon as she had opened her door, I entered herroom, and, cutting short her apologies for having kept me waiting, Iinformed her of all I had heard. 

Her features bore the stamp of deep sorrow, but she looked calmer, andher complexion was no longer pale. She thought it unlikely that Steffaniwould have left for any other place but for C----. Admitting thepossibility that she might be right, I immediately offered to go toC---- myself, and to return without loss of time to fetch her, in caseSteffani should be there. Without giving her time to answer I told herall the particulars I had learned concerning her honourable family, whichcaused her real satisfaction. 

"I have no objection, " she said, "to your going to C----, and I thank youfor the generosity of your offer, but I beg you will postpone yourjourney. I still hope that Steffani will return, and then I can take adecision. "

"I think you are quite right, " I said. "Will you allow me to have somebreakfast with you?"

"Do you suppose I could refuse you?"

"I should be very sorry to disturb you in any way. How did you use toamuse yourself at home?"

"I am very fond of books and music; my harpsichord was my delight. "

I left her after breakfast, and in the evening I came back with a basketfull of good books and music, and I sent her an excellent harpsichord. Mykindness confused her, but I surprised her much more when I took out ofmy pocket three pairs of slippers. She blushed, and thanked me with greatfeeling. She had walked a long distance, her shoes were evidently wornout, her feet sore, and she appreciated the delicacy of my present. As Ihad no improper design with regard to her, I enjoyed her gratitude, andfelt pleased at the idea she evidently entertained of my kind attentions. I had no other purpose in view but to restore calm to her mind, and toobliterate the bad opinion which the unworthy Steffani had given her ofmen in general. I never thought of inspiring her with love for me, and Ihad not the slightest idea that I could fall in love with her. She wasunhappy, and her unhappiness--a sacred thing in my eyes--called all themore for my most honourable sympathy, because, without knowing me, shehad given me her entire confidence. Situated as she was, I could notsuppose her heart susceptible of harbouring a new affection, and I wouldhave despised myself if I had tried to seduce her by any means in mypower. 

I remained with her only a quarter of an hour, being unwilling that mypresence should trouble her at such a moment, as she seemed to be at aloss how to thank me and to express all her gratitude. 

I was thus engaged in a rather delicate adventure, the end of which Icould not possibly foresee, but my warmth for my protegee did not cooldown, and having no difficulty in procuring the means to keep her I hadno wish to see the last scene of the romance. That singular meeting, which gave me the useful opportunity of finding myself endowed withgenerous dispositions, stronger even than my love for pleasure, flatteredmy self-love more than I could express. I was then trying a greatexperiment, and conscious that I wanted sadly to study myself, I gave upall my energies to acquire the great science of the 'xxxxxxxxxxxx'. 

On the third day, in the midst of expressions of gratitude which I couldnot succeed in stopping she told me that she could not conceive why Ishewed her so much sympathy, because I ought to have formed but a pooropinion of her in consequence of the readiness with which she hadfollowed me into the cafe. She smiled when I answered that I could notunderstand how I had succeeded in giving her so great a confidence in myvirtue, when I appeared before her with a mask on my face, in a costumewhich did not indicate a very virtuous character. 

"It was easy for me, madam, " I continued, "to guess that you were abeauty in distress, when I observed your youth, the nobleness of yourcountenance, and, more than all, your candour. The stamp of truth was sowell affixed to the first words you uttered that I could not have theshadow of a doubt left in me as to your being the unhappy victim of themost natural of all feelings, and as to your having abandoned your homethrough a sentiment of honour. Your fault was that of a warm heartseduced by love, over which reason could have no sway, and yourflight--the action of a soul crying for reparation or for revenge-fullyjustifies you. Your cowardly seducer must pay with his life the penaltydue to his crime, and he ought never to receive, by marrying you, anunjust reward, for he is not worthy of possessing you after degradinghimself by the vilest conduct. "

"Everything you say is true. My brother, I hope, will avenge me. "

"You are greatly mistaken if you imagine that Steffani will fight yourbrother; Steffani is a coward who will never expose himself to anhonourable death. "

As I was speaking, she put her hand in her pocket and drew forth, after afew moments' consideration, a stiletto six inches long, which she placedon the table. 

"What is this?" I exclaimed. 

"It is a weapon upon which I reckoned until now to use against myself incase I should not succeed in obtaining reparation for the crime I havecommitted. But you have opened my eyes. Take away, I entreat you, thisstiletto, which henceforth is useless to me. I trust in your friendship, and I have an inward certainty that I shall be indebted to you for myhonour as well as for my life. "

I was struck by the words she had just uttered, and I felt that thosewords, as well as her looks, had found their way to my heart, besidesenlisting my generous sympathy. I took the stiletto, and left her with somuch agitation that I had to acknowledge the weakness of my heroism, which I was very near turning into ridicule; yet I had the wonderfulstrength to perform, at least by halves, the character of a Cato untilthe seventh day. 

I must explain how a certain suspicion of the young lady arose in mymind. That doubt was heavy on my heart, for, if it had proved true, Ishould have been a dupe, and the idea was humiliating. She had told methat she was a musician; I had immediately sent her a harpsichord, and, yet, although the instrument had been at her disposal for three days, shehad not opened it once, for the widow had told me so. It seemed to methat the best way to thank me for my attentive kindness would have beento give me a specimen of her musical talent. Had she deceived me? If so, she would lose my esteem. But, unwilling to form a hasty judgment, I kepton my guard, with a firm determination to make good use of the firstopportunity that might present itself to clear up my doubts. 

I called upon her the next day after dinner, which was not my usual time, having resolved on creating the opportunity myself. I caught her seatedbefore a toilet-glass, while the widow dressed the most beautiful auburnhair I had ever seen. I tendered my apologies for my sudden appearance atan unusual hour; she excused herself for not having completed her toilet, and the widow went on with her work. It was the first time I had seen thewhole of her face, her neck, and half of her arms, which the gracesthemselves had moulded. I remained in silent contemplation. I praised, quite by chance, the perfume of the pomatum, and the widow took theopportunity of telling her that she had spent in combs, powder, andpomatum the three livres she had received from her. I recollected thenthat she had told me the first day that she had left C---- with tenpaoli. 

I blushed for very shame, for I ought to have thought of that. 

As soon as the widow had dressed her hair, she left the room to preparesome coffee for us. I took up a ring which had been laid by her on thetoilet-table, and I saw that it contained a portrait exactly like her; Iwas amused at the singular fancy she had had of having her likeness takenin a man's costume, with black hair. "You are mistaken, " she said, "it isa portrait of my brother. He is two years older than I, and is an officerin the papal army. "

I begged her permission to put the ring on her finger; she consented, andwhen I tried, out of mere gallantry, to kiss her hand, she drew it back, blushing. I feared she might be offended, and I assured her of myrespect. 

"Ah, sir!" she answered, "in the situation in which I am placed, I mustthink of defending myself against my own self much more than againstyou. "

The compliment struck me as so fine, and so complimentary to me, that Ithought it better not to take it up, but she could easily read in my eyesthat she would never find me ungrateful for whatever feelings she mightentertain in my favour. Yet I felt my love taking such proportions that Idid not know how to keep it a mystery any longer. 

Soon after that, as she was again thanking me for the books--I had givenher, saying that I had guessed her taste exactly, because she did notlike novels, she added, "I owe you an apology for not having sung to youyet, knowing that you are fond of music. " These words made me breathefreely; without waiting for any answer, she sat down before theinstrument and played several pieces with a facility, with a precision, with an expression of which no words could convey any idea. I was inecstacy. I entreated her to sing; after some little ceremony, she tookone of the music books I had given her, and she sang at sight in a mannerwhich fairly ravished me. I begged that she would allow me to kiss herhand, and she did not say yes, but when I took it and pressed my lips onit, she did not oppose any resistance; I had the courage to smother myardent desires, and the kiss I imprinted on her lovely hand was a mixtureof tenderness, respect, and admiration. 

I took leave of her, smitten, full of love, and almost determined ondeclaring my passion. Reserve becomes silliness when we know that ouraffection is returned by the woman we love, but as yet I was not quitesure. 

The disappearance of Steffani was the talk of Venice, but I did notinform the charming countess of that circumstance. It was generallysupposed that his mother had refused to pay his debts, and that he hadrun away to avoid his creditors. It was very possible. But, whether hereturned or not, I could not make up my mind to lose the precioustreasure I had in my hands. Yet I did not see in what manner, in whatquality, I could enjoy that treasure, and I found myself in a regularmaze. Sometimes I had an idea of consulting my kind father, but I wouldsoon abandon it with fear, for I had made a trial of his empirictreatment in the Rinaldi affair, and still more in the case of l'Abbadie. His remedies frightened me to that extent that I would rather remain illthan be cured by their means. 

One morning I was foolish enough to enquire from the widow whether thelady had asked her who I was. What an egregious blunder! I saw it whenthe good woman, instead of answering me, said, "Does she not know who you are?"

"Answer me, and do not ask questions, " I said, in order to hide myconfusion. 

The worthy woman was right; through my stupidity she would now feelcurious; the tittle-tattle of the neighbourhood would of course take upthe affair and discuss it; and all through my thoughtlessness! It was anunpardonable blunder. One ought never to be more careful than inaddressing questions to half-educated persons. During the fortnight thatshe had passed under my protection, the countess had shewn me nocuriosity whatever to know anything about me, but it did not prove thatshe was not curious on the subject. If I had been wise, I should havetold her the very first day who I was, but I made up for my mistake thatevening better than anybody else could have done it, and, after havingtold her all about myself, I entreated her forgiveness for not havingdone so sooner. Thanking me for my confidence, she confessed how curiousshe had been to know me better, and she assured me that she would neverhave been imprudent enough to ask any questions about me from herlandlady. Women have a more delicate, a surer tact than men, and her lastwords were a home-thrust for me. 

Our conversation having turned to the extraordinary absence of Steffani, she said that her father must necessarily believe her to be hiding withhim somewhere. "He must have found out, " she added, "that I was in thehabit of conversing with him every night from my window, and he must haveheard of my having embarked for Venice on board the Ferrara barge. I feelcertain that my father is now in Venice, making secretly every effort todiscover me. When he visits this city he always puts up at Boncousin;will you ascertain whether he is there?"

She never pronounced Steffani's name without disgust and hatred, and shesaid she would bury herself in a convent, far away from her native place, where no one could be acquainted with her shameful history. 

I intended to make some enquiries the next day, but it was not necessaryfor me to do so, for in the evening, at supper-time, M. Barbaro said tous, "A nobleman, a subject of the Pope, has been recommended to me, andwishes me to assist him with my influence in a rather delicate andintricate matter. One of our citizens has, it appears, carried off hisdaughter, and has been hiding somewhere with her for the last fortnight, but nobody knows where. The affair ought to be brought before the Councilof Ten, but the mother of the ravisher claims to be a relative of mine, and I do not intend to interfere. "

I pretended to take no interest in M. Barbaro's words, and early the nextmorning I went to the young countess to tell her the interesting news. She was still asleep; but, being in a hurry, I sent the widow to say thatI wanted to see her only for two minutes in order to communicatesomething of great importance. She received me, covering herself up tothe chin with the bed-clothes. 

As soon as I had informed her of all I knew, she entreated me to enlistM. Barbaro as a mediator between herself and her father, assuring me thatshe would rather die than become the wife of the monster who haddishonoured her. I undertook to do it, and she gave me the promise ofmarriage used by the deceiver to seduce her, so that it could be shewn toher father. 

In order to obtain M. Barbaro's mediation in favour of the youngcountess, it would have been necessary to tell him that she was under myprotection, and I felt it would injure my protegee. I took nodetermination at first, and most likely one of the reasons for myhesitation was that I saw myself on the point of losing her, which wasparticularly repugnant to my feelings. 

After dinner Count A---- S---- was announced as wishing to see M. Barbaro. He came in with his son, the living portrait of his sister. M. Barbarotook them to his study to talk the matter over, and within an hour theyhad taken leave. As soon as they had gone, the excellent M. Barbaro askedme, as I had expected, to consult my heavenly spirit, and to ascertainwhether he would be right in interfering in favour of Count A---S---. Hewrote the question himself, and I gave the following answer with theutmost coolness:

"You ought to interfere, but only to advise the father to forgive hisdaughter and to give up all idea of compelling her to marry her ravisher, for Steffani has been sentenced to death by the will of God. "

The answer seemed wonderful to the three friends, and I was myselfsurprised at my boldness, but I had a foreboding that Steffani was tomeet his death at the hands of somebody; love might have given birth tothat presentiment. M. De Bragadin, who believed my oracle infallible, observed that it had never given such a clear answer, and that Steffaniwas certainly dead. He said to M. De Barbaro, "You had better invite the count and his son to dinner hereto-morrow. Youmust act slowly and prudently; it would be necessary to know where thedaughter is before you endeavour to make the father forgive her. "

M. Barbaro very nearly made me drop my serious countenance by telling methat if I would try my oracle I could let them know at once where thegirl was. I answered that I would certainly ask my spirit on the morrow, thus gaining time in order to ascertain before hand the disposition ofthe father and of his son. But I could not help laughing, for I hadplaced myself under the necessity of sending Steffani to the next world, if the reputation of my oracle was to be maintained. 

I spent the evening with the young countess, who entertained no doubteither of her father's indulgence or of the entire confidence she couldrepose in me. 

What delight the charming girl experienced when she heard that I woulddine the next day with her father and brother, and that I would tell herevery word that would be said about her! But what happiness it was for meto see her convinced that she was right in loving me, and that, withoutme, she would certainly have been lost in a town where the policy of thegovernment tolerates debauchery as a solitary species of individualfreedom. We congratulated each other upon our fortuitous meeting and uponthe conformity in our tastes, which we thought truly wonderful. We weregreatly pleased that her easy acceptance of my invitation, or mypromptness in persuading her to follow and to trust me, could not beascribed to the mutual attraction of our features, for I was masked, andher hood was then as good as a mask. We entertained no doubt thateverything had been arranged by Heaven to get us acquainted, and to fireus both, even unknown to ourselves, with love for each other. 

"Confess, " I said to her, in a moment of enthusiasm, and as I wascovering her hand with kisses, "confess that if you found me to be inlove with you you would fear me. "

"Alas! my only fear is to lose you. "

That confession, the truth of which was made evident by her voice and byher looks, proved the electric spark which ignited the latent fire. Folding her rapidly in my arms, pressing my mouth on her lips, reading inher beautiful eyes neither a proud indignation nor the cold compliancewhich might have been the result of a fear of losing me, I gave wayentirely to the sweet inclination of love, and swimming already in a seaof delights I felt my enjoyment increased a hundredfold when I saw, onthe countenance of the beloved creature who shared it, the expression ofhappiness, of love, of modesty, and of sensibility, which enhances thecharm of the greatest triumph. 

She had scarcely recovered her composure when she cast her eyes down andsighed deeply. Thinking that I knew the cause of it, I threw myself on myknees before her, and speaking to her words of the warmest affection Ibegged, I entreated her, to forgive me. 

"What offence have I to forgive you for, dear friend? You have notrightly interpreted my thoughts. Your love caused me to think of myhappiness, and in that moment a cruel recollection drew that sigh fromme. Pray rise from your knees. "

Midnight had struck already; I told her that her good fame made itnecessary for me to go away; I put my mask on and left the house. I wasso surprised, so amazed at having obtained a felicity of which I did notthink myself worthy, that my departure must have appeared rather abruptto her. I could not sleep. I passed one of those disturbed nights duringwhich the imagination of an amorous young man is unceasingly runningafter the shadows of reality. I had tasted, but not savoured, that happyreality, and all my being was longing for her who alone could make myenjoyment complete. In that nocturnal drama love and imagination were thetwo principal actors; hope, in the background, performed only a dumbpart. People may say what they please on that subject but hope is in factnothing but a deceitful flatterer accepted by reason only because it isoften in need of palliatives. Happy are those men who, to enjoy life tothe fullest extent, require neither hope nor foresight. 

In the morning, recollecting the sentence of death which I had passed onSteffani, I felt somewhat embarrassed about it. I wished I could haverecalled it, as well for the honour of my oracle, which was seriouslyimplicated by it, as for the sake of Steffani himself, whom I did nothate half so much since I was indebted to him for the treasure in mypossession. 

The count and his son came to dinner. The father was simple, artless, andunceremonious. It was easy to read on his countenance the grief he feltat the unpleasant adventure of his daughter, and his anxiety to settlethe affair honourably, but no anger could be traced on his features or inhis manners. The son, as handsome as the god of love, had wit and greatnobility of manner. His easy, unaffected carriage pleased me, and wishingto win his friendship I shewed him every attention. 

After the dessert, M. Barbaro contrived to persuade the count that wewere four persons with but one head and one heart, and the worthynobleman spoke to us without any reserve. He praised his daughter veryhighly. He assured us that Steffani had never entered his house, andtherefore he could not conceive by what spell, speaking to his daughteronly at night and from the street under the window, he had succeeded inseducing her to such an extent as to make her leave her home alone, onfoot, two days after he had left himself in his post-chaise. 

"Then, " observed M. Barbaro, "it is impossible to be certain that heactually seduced her, or to prove that she went off with him. "

"Very true, sir, but although it cannot be proved, there is no doubt ofit, and now that no one knows where Steffani is, he can be nowhere butwith her. I only want him to marry her. "

"It strikes me that it would be better not to insist upon a compulsorymarriage which would seal your daughter's misery, for Steffani is, inevery respect, one of the most worthless young men we have amongst ourgovernment clerks. "

"Were I in your place, " said M. De Bragadin, "I would let my daughter'srepentance disarm my anger, and I would forgive her. "

"Where is she? I am ready to fold her in my arms, but how can I believein her repentance when it is evident that she is still with him. "

"Is it quite certain that in leaving C---- she proceeded to this city?"

"I have it from the master of the barge himself, and she landed withintwenty yards of the Roman gate. An individual wearing a mask was waitingfor her, joined her at once, and they both disappeared without leavingany trace of their whereabouts. "

"Very likely it was Steffani waiting there for her. "

"No, for he is short, and the man with the mask was tall. Besides, I haveheard that Steffani had left Venice two days before the arrival of mydaughter. The man must have been some friend of Steffani, and he hastaken her to him. "

"But, my dear count, all this is mere supposition. "

"There are four persons who have seen the man with the mask, and pretendto know him, only they do not agree. Here is a list of four names, and Iwill accuse these four persons before the Council of Ten, if Steffanishould deny having my daughter in his possession. "

The list, which he handed to M. Barbaro, gave not only the names of thefour accused persons, but likewise those of their accusers. The lastname, which M. Barbaro read, was mine. When I heard it, I shrugged myshoulders in a manner which caused the three friends to laugh heartily. 

M. De Bragadin, seeing the surprise of the count at such uncalled-formirth, said to him, "This is Casanova my son, and I give you my word of honour that, if yourdaughter is in his hands, she is perfectly safe, although he may not lookexactly the sort of man to whom young girls should be trusted. "

The surprise, the amazement, and the perplexity of the count and his sonwere an amusing picture. The loving father begged me to excuse him, withtears in his eyes, telling me to place myself in his position. My onlyanswer was to embrace him most affectionately. 

The man who had recognized me was a noted pimp whom I had thrashed sometime before for having deceived me. If I had not been there just in timeto take care of the young countess, she would not have escaped him, andhe would have ruined her for ever by taking her to some house ofill-fame. 

The result of the meeting was that the count agreed to postpone hisapplication to the Council of Ten until Steffani's place of refuge shouldbe discovered. 

"I have not seen Steffani for six months, sir, " I said to the count, "butI promise you to kill him in a duel as soon as he returns. "

"You shall not do it, " answered the young count, very coolly, "unless hekills me first. "

"Gentlemen, " exclaimed M. De Bragadin, "I can assure you that you willneither of you fight a duel with him, for Steffani is dead. "

"Dead!" said the count. 

"We must not, " observed the prudent Barbaro, "take that word in itsliteral sense, but the wretched man is dead to all honour andself-respect. "

After that truly dramatic scene, during which I could guess that thedenouement of the play was near at hand, I went to my charming countess, taking care to change my gondola three times--a necessary precaution tobaffle spies. 

I gave my anxious mistress an exact account of all the conversation. Shewas very impatient for my coming, and wept tears of joy when I repeatedher father's words of forgiveness; but when I told her that nobody knewof Steffani having entered her chamber, she fell on her knees and thankedGod. I then repeated her brother's words, imitating his coolness: "Youshall not kill him, unless he kills me first. " She kissed me tenderly, calling me her guardian angel, her saviour, and weeping in my arms. Ipromised to bring her brother on the following day, or the day after thatat the latest. We had our supper, but we did not talk of Steffani, or ofrevenge, and after that pleasant meal we devoted two hours to the worshipof the god of love. 

I left her at midnight, promising to return early in the morning--myreason for not remaining all night with her was that the landlady might, if necessary, swear without scruple that I had never spent a night withthe young girl. It proved a very lucky inspiration of mine, for, when Iarrived home, I found the three friends waiting impatiently for me inorder to impart to me wonderful news which M. De Bragadin had heard atthe sitting of the senate. 

"Steffani, " said M. De Bragadin to me, "is dead, as our angel Paralisrevealed it to us; he is dead to the world, for he has become a Capuchinfriar. The senate, as a matter of course, has been informed of it. Wealone are aware that it is a punishment which God has visited upon him. Let us worship the Author of all things, and the heavenly hierarchy whichrenders us worthy of knowing what remains a mystery to all men. Now wemust achieve our undertaking, and console the poor father. We mustenquire from Paralis where the girl is. She cannot now be with Steffani. Of course, God has not condemned her to become a Capuchin nun. "

"I need not consult my angel, dearest father, for it is by his expressorders that I have been compelled until now to make a mystery of therefuge found by the young countess. "

I related the whole story, except what they had no business to know, for, in the opinion of the worthy men, who had paid heavy tribute to Love, allintrigues were fearful crimes. M. Dandolo and M. Barbaro expressed theirsurprise when they heard that the young girl had been under my protectionfor a fortnight, but M. De Bragadin said that he was not astonished, thatit was according to cabalistic science, and that he knew it. 

"We must only, " he added, "keep up the mystery of his daughter's place ofrefuge for the count, until we know for a certainty that he will forgiveher, and that he will take her with him to C----, or to any other placewhere he may wish to live hereafter. "

"He cannot refuse to forgive her, " I said, "when he finds that theamiable girl would never have left C---- if her seducer had not given herthis promise of marriage in his own handwriting. She walked as far as thebarge, and she landed at the very moment I was passing the Roman gate. Aninspiration from above told me to accost her and to invite her to followme. She obeyed, as if she was fulfilling the decree of Heaven, I took herto a refuge impossible to discover, and placed her under the care of aGod-fearing woman. "

My three friends listened to me so attentively that they looked likethree statues. I advised them to invite the count to dinner for the dayafter next, because I needed some time to consult 'Paralis de modotenendi'. I then told M. Barbaro to let the count know in what sense hewas to understand Steffani's death. He undertook to do it, and we retiredto rest. 

I slept only four or five hours, and, dressing myself quickly, hurried tomy beloved mistress. I told the widow not to serve the coffee until wecalled for it, because we wanted to remain quiet and undisturbed for somehours, having several important letters to write. 

I found the lovely countess in bed, but awake, and her eyes beaming withhappiness and contentment. For a fortnight I had only seen her sad, melancholy, and thoughtful. Her pleased countenance, which I naturallyascribed to my influence, filled me with joy. We commenced as all happylovers always do, and we were both unsparing of the mutual proofs of ourlove, tenderness, and gratitude. 

After our delightful amorous sport, I told her the news, but love had socompletely taken possession of her pure and sensitive soul, that what hadbeen important was now only an accessory. But the news of her seducerhaving turned a Capuchin friar filled her with amazement, and, passingvery sensible remarks on the extraordinary event, she pitied Steffani. When we can feel pity, we love no longer, but a feeling of pitysucceeding love is the characteristic only of a great and generous mind. She was much pleased with me for having informed my three friends of herbeing under my protection, and she left to my care all the necessaryarrangements for obtaining a reconciliation with her father. 

Now and then we recollected that the time of our separation was near athand, our grief was bitter, but we contrived to forget it in the ecstacyof our amorous enjoyment. 

"Ah! why can we not belong for ever to each other?" the charming girlwould exclaim. "It is not my acquaintance with Steffani, it is your losswhich will seal my eternal misery. "

But it was necessary to bring our delightful interview to a close, forthe hours were flying with fearful rapidity. I left her happy, her eyeswet with tears of intense felicity. 

At the dinner-table M. Barbaro told me that he had paid a visit to hisrelative, Steffani's mother, and that she had not appeared sorry at thedecision taken by her son, although he was her only child. 

"He had the choice, " she said, "between killing himself and turningfriar, and he took the wiser course. "

The woman spoke like a good Christian, and she professed to be one; butshe spoke like an unfeeling mother, and she was truly one, for she waswealthy, and if she had not been cruelly avaricious her son would nothave been reduced to the fearful alternative of committing suicide or ofbecoming a Capuchin friar. 

The last and most serious motive which caused the despair of Steffani, who is still alive, remained a mystery for everybody. My Memoirs willraise the veil when no one will care anything about it. 

The count and his son were, of course, greatly surprised, and the eventmade them still more desirous of discovering the young lady. In order toobtain a clue to her place of refuge, the count had resolved on summoningbefore the Council of Ten all the parties, accused and accusing, whosenames he had on his list, with the exception of myself. His determinationmade it necessary for us to inform him that his daughter was in my hands, and M. De Bragadin undertook to let him know the truth. 

We were all invited to supper by the count, and we went to his hostelry, with the exception of M. De Bragadin, who had declined the invitation. Iwas thus prevented from seeing my divinity that evening, but early thenext morning I made up for lost time, and as it had been decided that herfather would on that very day be informed of her being under my care, weremained together until noon. We had no hope of contriving anothermeeting, for I had promised to bring her brother in the afternoon. 

The count and his son dined with us, and after dinner M. De Bragadinsaid, "I have joyful news for you, count; your beloved daughter has beenfound!"

What an agreeable surprise for the father and son! M. De Bragadin handedthem the promise of marriage written by Steffani, and said, "This, gentlemen, evidently brought your lovely young lady to the vergeof madness when she found that he had gone from C---- without her. Sheleft your house alone on foot, and as she landed in Venice Providencethrew her in the way of this young man, who induced her to follow him, and has placed her under the care of an honest woman, whom she has notleft since, whom she will leave only to fall in your arms as soon as sheis certain of your forgiveness for the folly she has committed. "

"Oh! let her have no doubt of my forgiving her, " exclaimed the father, inthe ecstacy of joy, and turning to me, "Dear sir, I beg of you not todelay the fortunate moment on which the whole happiness of my lifedepends. "

I embraced him warmly, saying that his daughter would be restored to himon the following day, and that I would let his son see her that veryafternoon, so as to give him an opportunity of preparing her by degreesfor that happy reconciliation. M. Barbaro desired to accompany us, andthe young man, approving all my arrangements, embraced me, swearingeverlasting friendship and gratitude. 

We went out all three together, and a gondola carried us in a few minutesto the place where I was guarding a treasure more precious than thegolden apples of the Hesperides. But, alas! I was on the point of losingthat treasure, the remembrance of which causes me, even now, a delicioustrembling. 

I preceded my two companions in order to prepare my lovely young friendfor the visit, and when I told her that, according to my arrangements, her father would not see her till on the following day:

"Ah!" she exclaimed with the accent of true happiness, "then we can spenda few more hours together! Go, dearest, go and bring my brother. "

I returned with my companions, but how can I paint that truly dramaticsituation? Oh! how inferior art must ever be to nature! The fraternallove, the delight beaming upon those two beautiful faces, with a slightshade of confusion on that of the sister, the pure joy shining in themidst of their tender caresses, the most eloquent exclamations followedby a still more eloquent silence, their loving looks which seem likeflashes of lightning in the midst of a dew of tears, a thought ofpoliteness which brings blushes on her countenance, when she recollectsthat she has forgotten her duty towards a nobleman whom she sees for thefirst time, and finally there was my part, not a speaking one, but yetthe most important of all. The whole formed a living picture to which themost skilful painter could not have rendered full justice. 

We sat down at last, the young countess between her brother and M. Barbaro, on the sofa, I, opposite to her, on a low foot-stool. 

"To whom, dear sister, are we indebted for the happiness of having foundyou again?"

"To my guardian angel, " she answered, giving me her hand, "to thisgenerous man who was waiting for me, as if Heaven had sent him with thespecial mission of watching over your sister; it is he who has saved me, who has prevented me from falling into the gulf which yawned under myfeet, who has rescued me from the shame threatening me, of which I hadthen no conception; it is to him I am indebted for all, to him who, asyou see, kisses my hand now for the first time. "

And she pressed her handkerchief to her beautiful eyes to dry her tears, but ours were flowing at the same time. 

Such is true virtue, which never loses its nobleness, even when modestycompels it to utter some innocent falsehood. But the charming girl had noidea of being guilty of an untruth. It was a pure, virtuous soul whichwas then speaking through her lips, and she allowed it to speak. Hervirtue seemed to whisper to her that, in spite of her errors, it hadnever deserted her. A young girl who gives way to a real feeling of lovecannot be guilty of a crime, or be exposed to remorse. 

Towards the end of our friendly visit, she said that she longed to throwherself at her father's feet, but that she wished to see him only in theevening, so as not to give any opportunity to the gossips of the place, and it was agreed that the meeting, which was to be the last scene of thedrama, should take place the next day towards the evening. 

We returned to the count's hostelry for supper, and the excellent man, fully persuaded that he was indebted to me for his honour as well as forhis daughter's, looked at me with admiration, and spoke to me withgratitude. Yet he was not sorry to have ascertained himself, and before Ihad said so, that I had been the first man who had spoken to her afterlanding. Before parting in the evening, M. Barbaro invited them to dinnerfor the next day. 

I went to my charming mistress very early the following morning, and, although there was some danger in protracting our interview, we did notgive it a thought, or, if we did, it only caused us to make good use ofthe short time that we could still devote to love. 

After having enjoyed, until our strength was almost expiring, the mostdelightful, the most intense voluptuousness in which mutual ardour canenfold two young, vigorous, and passionate lovers, the young countessdressed herself, and, kissing her slippers, said she would never partwith them as long as she lived. I asked her to give me a lock of herhair, which she did at once. I meant to have it made into a chain likethe one woven with the hair of Madame F----, which I still wore round myneck. 

Towards dusk, the count and his son, M. Dandolo, M. Barbaro, and myself, proceeded together to the abode of the young countess. The moment she sawher father, she threw herself on her knees before him, but the count, bursting into tears, took her in his arms, covered her with kisses, andbreathed over her words of forgiveness, of love and blessing. What ascene for a man of sensibility! An hour later we escorted the family tothe inn, and, after wishing them a pleasant journey, I went back with mytwo friends to M. De Bragadin, to whom I gave a faithful account of whathad taken place. 

We thought that they had left Venice, but the next morning they called atthe place in a peotta with six rowers. The count said that they could notleave the city without seeing us once more; without thanking us again, and me particularly, for all we had done for them. M. De Bragadin, whohad not seen the young countess before, was struck by her extraordinarylikeness to her brother. 

They partook of some refreshments, and embarked in their peotta, whichwas to carry them, in twenty-four hours, to Ponte di Lago Oscuro, on theRiver Po, near the frontiers of the papal states. It was only with myeyes that I could express to the lovely girl all the feelings whichfilled my heart, but she understood the language, and I had no difficultyin interpreting the meaning of her looks. 

Never did an introduction occur in better season than that of the countto M. Barbaro. It saved the honour of a respectable family; and it savedme from the unpleasant consequences of an interrogatory in the presenceof the Council of Ten, during which I should have been convicted ofhaving taken the young girl with me, and compelled to say what I had donewith her. 

A few days afterwards we all proceeded to Padua to remain in that cityuntil the end of autumn. I was grieved not to find Doctor Gozzi in Padua;he had been appointed to a benefice in the country, and he was livingthere with Bettina; she had not been able to remain with the scoundrelwho had married her only for the sake of her small dowry, and had treatedher very ill. 

I did not like the quiet life of Padua, and to avoid dying from ennui Ifell in love with a celebrated Venetian courtesan. Her name was Ancilla;sometime after, the well-known dancer, Campioni, married her and took herto London, where she caused the death of a very worthy Englishman. Ishall have to mention her again in four years; now I have only to speakof a certain circumstance which brought my love adventure with her to aclose after three or four weeks. 

Count Medini, a young, thoughtless fellow like myself, and withinclinations of much the same cast, had introduced me to Ancilla. Thecount was a confirmed gambler and a thorough enemy of fortune. There wasa good deal of gambling going on at Ancilla's, whose favourite lover hewas, and the fellow had presented me to his mistress only to give her theopportunity of making a dupe of me at the card-table. 

And, to tell the truth, I was a dupe at first; not thinking of any foulplay, I accepted ill luck without complaining; but one day I caught themcheating. I took a pistol out of my pocket, and, aiming at Medini'sbreast, I threatened to kill him on the spot unless he refunded at onceall the gold they had won from me. Ancilla fainted away, and the count, after refunding the money, challenged me to follow him out and measureswords. I placed my pistols on the table, and we went out. Reaching aconvenient spot, we fought by the bright light of the moon, and I wasfortunate enough to give him a gash across the shoulder. He could notmove his arm, and he had to cry for mercy. 

After that meeting, I went to bed and slept quietly, but in the morning Irelated the whole affair to my father, and he advised me to leave Paduaimmediately, which I did. 

Count Medini remained my enemy through all his life. I shall haveoccasion to speak of him again when I reach Naples. 

The remainder of the year 1746 passed off quietly, without any events ofimportance. Fortune was now favourable to me and now adverse. 

Towards the end of January, 1747, I received a letter from the youngcountess A---- S----, who had married the Marquis of----. She entreated menot to appear to know her, if by chance I visited the town in which sheresided, for she had the happiness of having linked her destiny to thatof a man who had won her heart after he had obtained her hand. 

I had already heard from her brother that, after their return to C----, her mother had taken her to the city from which her letter was written, and there, in the house of a relative with whom she was residing, she hadmade the acquaintance of the man who had taken upon himself the charge ofher future welfare and happiness. I saw her one year afterwards, and ifit had not been for her letter, I should certainly have solicited anintroduction to her husband. Yet, peace of mind has greater charms eventhan love; but, when love is in the way, we do not think so. 

For a fortnight I was the lover of a young Venetian girl, very handsome, whom her father, a certain Ramon, exposed to public admiration as adancer at the theatre. I might have remained longer her captive, ifmarriage had not forcibly broken my chains. Her protectress, MadameCecilia Valmarano, found her a very proper husband in the person of aFrench dancer, called Binet, who had assumed the name of Binetti, andthus his young wife had not to become a French woman; she soon won greatfame in more ways than one. She was strangely privileged; time with itsheavy hand seemed to have no power over her. She always appeared young, even in the eyes of the best judges of faded, bygone female beauty. Men, as a general rule, do not ask for anything more, and they are right innot racking their brain for the sake of being convinced that they are thedupes of external appearance. The last lover that the wonderful Binettikilled by excess of amorous enjoyment was a certain Mosciuski, a Pole, whom fate brought to Venice seven or eight years ago; she had thenreached her sixty-third year!

My life in Venice would have been pleasant and happy, if I could haveabstained from punting at basset. The ridotti were only open to noblemenwho had to appear without masks, in their patrician robes, and wearingthe immense wig which had become indispensable since the beginning of thecentury. I would play, and I was wrong, for I had neither prudence enoughto leave off when fortune was adverse, nor sufficient control over myselfto stop when I had won. I was then gambling through a feeling of avarice. I was extravagant by taste, and I always regretted the money I had spent, unless it had been won at the gaming-table, for it was only in that casethat the money had, in my opinion, cost me nothing. 

At the end of January, finding myself under the necessity of procuringtwo hundred sequins, Madame Manzoni contrived to obtain for me fromanother woman the loan of a diamond ring worth five hundred. I made up mymind to go to Treviso, fifteen miles distant from Venice, to pawn thering at the Mont-de-piete, which there lends money upon valuables at therate of five per cent. That useful establishment does not exist inVenice, where the Jews have always managed to keep the monopoly in theirhands. 

I got up early one morning, and walked to the end of the canale regio, intending to engage a gondola to take me as far as Mestra, where I couldtake post horses, reach Treviso in less than two hours, pledge my diamondring, and return to Venice the same evening. 

As I passed along St. Job's Quay, I saw in a two-oared gondola a countrygirl beautifully dressed. I stopped to look at her; the gondoliers, supposing that I wanted an opportunity of reaching Mestra at a cheaprate, rowed back to the shore. 

Observing the lovely face of the young girl, I do not hesitate, but jumpinto the gondola, and pay double fare, on condition that no morepassengers are taken. An elderly priest was seated near the young girl, he rises to let me take his place, but I politely insist upon his keepingit. 

CHAPTER XIX

I Fall in Love with Christine, and Find a Husband Worthy ofHer--Christine's Wedding

"Those gondoliers, " said the elderly priest, ad dressing me in order tobegin the conversation, "are very fortunate. They took us up at theRialto for thirty soldi, on condition that they would be allowed toembark other passengers, and here is one already; they will certainlyfind more. "

"When I am in a gondola, reverend sir, there is no room left for any morepassengers. "

So saying, I give forty more soldi to the gondoliers, who, highly pleasedwith my generosity, thank me and call me excellency. The good priest, accepting that title as truly belonging to me, entreats my pardon for nothaving addressed me as such. 

"I am not a Venetian nobleman, reverend sir, and I have no right to thetitle of Excellenza. "

"Ah!" says the young lady, "I am very glad of it. "

"Why so, signora?"

"Because when I find myself near a nobleman I am afraid. But I supposethat you are an illustrissimo. "

"Not even that, signora; I am only an advocate's clerk. "

"So much the better, for I like to be in the company of persons who donot think themselves above me. My father was a farmer, brother of myuncle here, rector of P----, where I was born and bred. As I am an onlydaughter I inherited my father's property after his death, and I shalllikewise be heiress to my mother, who has been ill a long time and cannotlive much longer, which causes me a great deal of sorrow; but it is thedoctor who says it. Now, to return to my subject, I do not suppose thatthere is much difference between an advocate's clerk and the daughter ofa rich farmer. I only say so for the sake of saying something, for I knowvery well that, in travelling, one must accept all sorts of companions:is it not so, uncle?"

"Yes, my dear Christine, and as a proof you see that this gentleman hasaccepted our company without knowing who or what we are. "

"But do you think I would have come if I had not been attracted by thebeauty of your lovely niece?"

At these words the good people burst out laughing. As I did not thinkthat there was anything very comic in what I had said, I judged that mytravelling companions were rather simple, and I was not sorry to findthem so. 

"Why do you laugh so heartily, beautiful 'demigella'? Is it to shew meyour fine teeth? I confess that I have never seen such a splendid set inVenice. "

"Oh! it is not for that, sir, although everyone in Venice has paid me thesame compliment. I can assure you that in P---- all the 'girls have teethas fine as mine. Is it not a fact, uncle?"

"Yes, my dear niece. "

"I was laughing, sir, at a thing which I will never tell you. "

"Oh! tell me, I entreat you. "

"Oh! certainly not, never. "

"I will tell you myself, " says the curate. 

"You will not, " she exclaims, knitting her beautiful eyebrows. "If you doI will go away. "

"I defy you to do it, my dear. Do you know what she said, sir, when shesaw you on the wharf? 'Here is a very handsome young man who is lookingat me, and would not be sorry to be with us. ' And when she saw that thegondoliers were putting back for you to embark she was delighted. "

While the uncle was speaking to me, the indignant niece was slapping himon the shoulder. 

"Why are you angry, lovely Christine, at my hearing that you liked myappearance, when I am so glad to let you know how truly charming I thinkyou?"

"You are glad for a moment. Oh! I know the Venetians thoroughly now. Theyhave all told me that they were charmed with me, and not one of those Iwould have liked ever made a declaration to me. "

"What sort of declaration did you want?"

"There's only one sort for me, sir; the declaration leading to a goodmarriage in church, in the sight of all men. Yet we remained a fortnightin Venice; did we not, uncle?"

"This girl, " said the uncle, "is a good match, for she possesses threethousand crowns. She has always said that she would marry only aVenetian, and I have accompanied her to Venice to give her an opportunityof being known. A worthy woman gave us hospitality for a fortnight, andhas presented my niece in several houses where she made the acquaintanceof marriageable young men, but those who pleased her would not hear ofmarriage, and those who would have been glad to marry her did not takeher fancy. "

"But do you imagine, reverend sir, that marriages can be made likeomelets? A fortnight in Venice, that is nothing; you ought to live thereat least six months. Now, for instance, I think your niece sweetlypretty, and I should consider myself fortunate if the wife whom Godintends for me were like her, but, even if she offered me now a dowry offifty thousand crowns on condition that our wedding takes placeimmediately, I would refuse her. A prudent young man wants to know thecharacter of a girl before he marries her, for it is neither money norbeauty which can ensure happiness in married life. "

"What do you mean by character?" asked Christine; "is it a beautifulhand-writing?"

"No, my dear. I mean the qualities of the mind and the heart. I shallmost likely get married sometime, and I have been looking for a wife forthe last three years, but I am still looking in vain. I have knownseveral young girls almost as lovely as you are, and all with a goodmarriage portion, but after an acquaintance of two or three months Ifound out that they could not make me happy. "

"In what were they deficient?"

"Well, I will tell you, because you are not acquainted with them, andthere can be no indiscretion on my part. One whom I certainly would havemarried, for I loved her dearly, was extremely vain. She would haveruined me in fashionable clothes and by her love for luxuries. Fancy! shewas in the habit of paying one sequin every month to the hair-dresser, and as much at least for pomatum and perfumes. "

"She was a giddy, foolish girl. Now, I spend only ten soldi in one yearon wax which I mix with goat's grease, and there I have an excellentpomatum. "

"Another, whom I would have married two years ago, laboured under adisease which would have made me unhappy; as soon as I knew of it, Iceased my visits. "

"What disease was it?"

"A disease which would have prevented her from being a mother, and, if Iget married, I wish to have children. "

"All that is in God's hands, but I know that my health is excellent. Isit not, uncle?"

"Another was too devout, and that does not suit me. She was soover-scrupulous that she was in the habit of going to her confessor twicea week, and every time her confession lasted at least one hour. I want mywife to be a good Christian, but not bigoted. "

"She must have been a great sinner, or else she was very foolish. Iconfess only once a month, and get through everything in two minutes. Isit not true, uncle? and if you were to ask me any questions, uncle, Ishould not know what more to say. "

"One young lady thought herself more learned than I, although she would, every minute, utter some absurdity. Another was always low-spirited, andmy wife must be cheerful. "

"Hark to that, uncle! You and my mother are always chiding me for mycheerfulness. "

"Another, whom I did not court long, was always afraid of being alonewith me, and if I gave her a kiss she would run and tell her mother. "

"How silly she must have been! I have never yet listened to a lover, forwe have only rude peasants in P----, but I know very well that there aresome things which I would not tell my mother. "

"One had a rank breath; another painted her face, and, indeed, almostevery young girl is guilty of that fault. I am afraid marriage is out ofthe question for me, because I want, for instance, my wife to have blackeyes, and in our days almost every woman colours them by art; but Icannot be deceived, for I am a good judge. "

"Are mine black?"

"You are laughing?"

"I laugh because your eyes certainly appear to be black, but they are notso in reality. Never mind, you are very charming in spite of that. "

"Now, that is amusing. You pretend to be a good judge, yet you say thatmy eyes are dyed black. My eyes, sir, whether beautiful or ugly, are nowthe same as God made them. Is it not so, uncle?"

"I never had any doubt of it, my dear niece. "

"And you do not believe me, sir?"

"No, they are too beautiful for me to believe them natural. "

"Oh, dear me! I cannot bear it. "

"Excuse me, my lovely damigella, I am afraid I have been too sincere. "

After that quarrel we remained silent. The good curate smiled now andthen, but his niece found it very hard to keep down her sorrow. 

At intervals I stole a look at her face, and could see that she was verynear crying. I felt sorry, for she was a charming girl. In her hair, dressed in the fashion of wealthy countrywomen, she had more than onehundred sequins' worth of gold pins and arrows which fastened the plaitsof her long locks as dark as ebony. Heavy gold ear-rings, and a longchain, which was wound twenty times round her snowy neck, made a finecontrast to her complexion, on which the lilies and the roses wereadmirably blended. It was the first time that I had seen a country beautyin such splendid apparel. Six years before, Lucie at Pasean hadcaptivated me, but in a different manner. 

Christine did not utter a single word, she was in despair, for her eyeswere truly of the greatest beauty, and I was cruel enough to attack them. She evidently hated me, and her anger alone kept back her tears. Yet Iwould not undeceive her, for I wanted her to bring matters to a climax. 

When the gondola had entered the long canal of Marghera, I asked theclergyman whether he had a carriage to go to Treviso, through which placehe had to pass to reach P----. 

"I intended to walk, " said the worthy man, "for my parish is poor and Iam the same, but I will try to obtain a place for Christine in somecarriage travelling that way. "

"You would confer a real kindness on me if you would both accept a seatin my chaise; it holds four persons, and there is plenty of room. "

"It is a good fortune which we were far from expecting"

"Not at all, uncle; I will not go with this gentleman. "

"Why not, my dear niece?"

"Because I will not. "

"Such is the way, " I remarked, without looking at her, "that sincerity isgenerally rewarded. "

"Sincerity, sir! nothing of the sort, " she exclaimed, angrily, "it issheer wickedness. There can be no true black eyes now for you in theworld, but, as you like them, I am very glad of it. "

"You are mistaken, lovely Christine, for I have the means of ascertainingthe truth. "

"What means?"

"Only to wash the eyes with a little lukewarm rose-water; or if the ladycries, the artificial colour is certain to be washed off. "

At those words, the scene changed as if by the wand of a conjuror. Theface of the charming girl, which had expressed nothing but indignation, spite and disdain, took an air of contentment and of placidity delightfulto witness. She smiled at her uncle who was much pleased with the changein her countenance, for the offer of the carriage had gone to his heart. 

"Now you had better cry a little, my dear niece, and 'il signore' willrender full justice to your eyes. "

Christine cried in reality, but it was immoderate laughter that made hertears flow. 

That species of natural originality pleased me greatly, and as we weregoing up the steps at the landing-place, I offered her my full apologies;she accepted the carriage. I ordered breakfast, and told a 'vetturino' toget a very handsome chaise ready while we had our meal, but the curatesaid that he must first of all go and say his mass. 

"Very well, reverend sir, we will hear it, and you must say it for myintention. "

I put a silver ducat in his hand. 

"It is what I am in the habit of giving, " I observed. 

My generosity surprised him so much that he wanted to kiss my hand. Weproceeded towards the church, and I offered my arm to the niece who, notknowing whether she ought to accept it or not, said to me, "Do you suppose that I cannot walk alone?"

"I have no such idea, but if I do not give you my arm, people will thinkme wanting in politeness. "

"Well, I will take it. But now that I have your arm, what will peoplethink?"

"Perhaps that we love each other and that we make a very nice couple. "

"And if anyone should inform your mistress that we are in love with eachother, or even that you have given your arm to a young girl?"

"I have no mistress, and I shall have none in future, because I could notfind a girl as pretty as you in all Venice. "

"I am very sorry for you, for we cannot go again to Venice; and even ifwe could, how could we remain there six months? You said that six monthswere necessary to know a girl well. "

"I would willingly defray all your expenses. "

"Indeed? Then say so to my uncle, and he will think it over, for I couldnot go alone. "

"In six months you would know me likewise. "

"Oh! I know-you very well already. "

"Could you accept a man like me?"

"Why not?"

"And will you love me?"

"Yes, very much, when you are my husband. "

I looked at the young girl with astonishment. She seemed to me a princessin the disguise of a peasant girl. Her dress, made of 'gros de Tours' andall embroidered in gold, was very handsome, and cost certainly twice asmuch as the finest dress of a Venetian lady. Her bracelets, matching theneckchain, completed her rich toilet. She had the figure of a nymph, andthe new fashion of wearing a mantle not having yet reached her village, Icould see the most magnificent bosom, although her dress was fastened upto the neck. The end of the richly-embroidered skirt did not go lowerthan the ankles, which allowed me to admire the neatest little foot andthe lower part of an exquisitely moulded leg. Her firm and easy walk, thenatural freedom of all her movements, a charming look which seemed tosay, "I am very glad that you think me pretty, " everything, in short, caused the ardent fire of amorous desires to circulate through my veins. I could not conceive how such a lovely girl could have spent a fortnightin Venice without finding a man to marry or to deceive her. I wasparticularly delighted with her simple, artless way of talking, which inthe city might have been taken for silliness. 

Absorbed in my thoughts, and having resolved in my own mind on renderingbrilliant homage to her charms, I waited impatiently for the end of themass. 

After breakfast I had great difficulty in convincing the curate that myseat in the carriage was the last one, but I found it easier to persuadehim on our arrival in Treviso to remain for dinner and for supper at asmall, unfrequented inn, as I took all the expense upon myself. Heaccepted very willingly when I added that immediately after supper acarriage would be in readiness to convey him to P----, where he wouldarrive in an hour after a peasant journey by moonlight. He had nothing tohurry him on, except his wish to say mass in his own church the nextmorning. 

I ordered a fire and a good dinner, and the idea struck me that thecurate himself might pledge the ring for me, and thus give me theopportunity of a short interview with his niece. I proposed it to him, saying that I could not very well go myself, as I did not wish to beknown. He undertook the commission at once, expressing his pleasure atdoing something to oblige me. 

He left us, and I remained alone with Christine. I spent an hour with herwithout trying to give her even a kiss, although I was dying to do so, but I prepared her heart to burn with the same desires which were alreadyburning in me by those words which so easily inflame the imagination of ayoung 'girl. 

The curate came back and returned me the ring, saying that it could notbe pledged until the day after the morrow, in consequence of the Festivalof the Holy Virgin. He had spoken to the cashier, who had stated that ifI liked the bank would lend double the sum I had asked. 

"My dear sir, " I said, "you would greatly oblige me if you would comeback here from P---- to pledge the ring yourself. Now that it has beenoffered once by you, it might look very strange if it were brought byanother person. Of course I will pay all your expenses. "

"I promise you to come back. "

I hoped he would bring his niece with him. 

I was seated opposite to Christine during the dinner, and discoveredfresh charms in her every minute, but, fearing I might lose herconfidence if I tried to obtain some slight favour, I made up my mind notto go to work too quickly, and to contrive that the curate should takeher again to Venice. I thought that there only I could manage to bringlove into play and to give it the food it requires. 

"Reverend sir, " I said, "let me advise you to take your niece again toVenice. I undertake to defray all expenses, and to find an honest womanwith whom your Christine will be as safe as with her own mother. I wantto know her well in order to make her my wife, and if she comes to Veniceour marriage is certain. "

"Sir, I will bring my niece myself to Venice as soon as you inform methat you have found a worthy woman with whom I can leave her in safety. "

While we were talking I kept looking at Christine, and I could see hersmile with contentment. 

"My dear Christine, " I said, "within a week I shall have arranged theaffair. In the meantime, I will write to you. I hope that you have noobjection to correspond with me. "

"My uncle will write for me, for I have never been taught writing. "

"What, my dear child! you wish to become the wife of a Venetian, and youcannot write. "

"Is it then necessary to know how to write in order to become a wife? Ican read well. "

"That is not enough, and although a girl can be a wife and a motherwithout knowing how to trace one letter, it is generally admitted that ayoung girl ought to be able to write. I wonder you never learned. "

"There is no wonder in that, for not one girl in our village can do it. Ask my uncle. "

"It is perfectly true, but there is not one who thinks of getting marriedin Venice, and as you wish for a Venetian husband you must learn. "

"Certainly, " I said, "and before you come to Venice, for everybody wouldlaugh at you, if you could not write. I see that it makes you sad, mydear, but it cannot be helped. "

"I am sad, because I cannot learn writing in a week. "

"I undertake, " said her uncle, "to teach you in a fortnight, if you willonly practice diligently. You will then know enough to be able to improveby your own exertions. "

"It is a great undertaking, but I accept it; I promise you to work nightand day, and to begin to-morrow. "

After dinner, I advised the priest not to leave that evening, to restduring the night, and I observed that, by going away before day-break, hewould reach P---- in good time, and feel all the better for it. I made thesame proposal to him in the evening, and when he saw that his niece wassleepy, he was easily persuaded to remain. I called for the innkeeper, ordered a carriage for the clergyman, and desired that a fire might belit for me in the next room where I would sleep, but the good priest saidthat it was unnecessary, because there were two large beds in our room, that one would be for me and the other for him and his niece. 

"We need not undress, " he added, "as we mean to leave very early, but youcan take off your clothes, sir, because you are not going with us, andyou will like to remain in bed to-morrow morning. "

"Oh!" remarked Christine, "I must undress myself, otherwise I could notsleep, but I only want a few minutes to get ready in the morning. "

I said nothing, but I was amazed. Christine then, lovely and charmingenough to wreck the chastity of a Xenocrates, would sleep naked with heruncle! True, he was old, devout, and without any of the ideas which mightrender such a position dangerous, yet the priest was a man, he hadevidently felt like all men, and he ought to have known the danger he wasexposing himself to. My carnal-mindedness could not realize such a stateof innocence. But it was truly innocent, so much so that he did itopenly, and did not suppose that anyone could see anything wrong in it. Isaw it all plainly, but I was not accustomed to such things, and feltlost in wonderment. As I advanced in age and in experience, I have seenthe same custom established in many countries amongst honest people whosegood morals were in no way debased by it, but it was amongst good people, and I do not pretend to belong to that worthy class. 

We had had no meat for dinner, and my delicate palate was notover-satisfied. I went down to the kitchen myself, and I told thelandlady that I wanted the best that could be procured in Treviso forsupper, particularly in wines. 

"If you do not mind the expense, sir, trust to me, and I undertake toplease you. I will give you some Gatta wine. "

"All right, but let us have supper early. "

When I returned to our room, I found Christine caressing the cheeks ofher old uncle, who was laughing; the good man was seventy-five years old. 

"Do you know what is the matter?" he said to me; "my niece is caressingme because she wants me to leave her here until my return. She tells methat you were like brother and sister during the hour you have spentalone together this morning, and I believe it, but she does not considerthat she would be a great trouble to you. "

"Not at all, quite the reverse, she will afford me great pleasure, for Ithink her very charming. As to our mutual behaviour, I believe you cantrust us both to do our duty. "

"I have no doubt of it. Well, I will leave her under your care until theday after to-morrow. I will come back early in the morning so as toattend to your business. "

This extraordinary and unexpected arrangement caused the blood to rush tomy head with such violence that my nose bled profusely for a quarter ofan hour. It did not frighten me, because I was used to such accidents, but the good priest was in a great fright, thinking that it was a serioushaemorrhage. 

When I had allayed his anxiety, he left us on some business of his own, saying that he would return at night-fall. I remained alone with thecharming, artless Christine, and lost no time in thanking her for theconfidence she placed in me. 

"I can assure you, " she said, "that I wish you to have a thoroughknowledge of me; you will see that I have none of the faults which havedispleased you so much in the young ladies you have known in Venice, andI promise to learn writing immediately. "

"You are charming and true; but you must be discreet in P----, andconfide to no one that we have entered into an agreement with each other. You must act according to your uncle's instructions, for it is to himthat I intend to write to make all arrangements. "

"You may rely upon my discretion. I will not say anything even to mymother, until you give me permission to do so. "

I passed the afternoon, in denying myself even the slightest libertieswith my lovely companion, but falling every minute deeper in love withher. I told her a few love stories which I veiled sufficiently not toshock her modesty. She felt interested, and I could see that, althoughshe did not always understand, she pretended to do so, in order not toappear ignorant. 

When her uncle returned, I had arranged everything in my mind to make hermy wife, and I resolved on placing her, during her stay in Venice, in thehouse of the same honest widow with whom I had found a lodging for mybeautiful Countess A---- S----. 

We had a delicious supper. I had to teach Christine how to eat oystersand truffles, which she then saw for the first time. Gatta wine is likechampagne, it causes merriment without intoxicating, but it cannot bekept for more than one year. We went to bed before midnight, and it wasbroad daylight when I awoke. The curate had left the room so quietly thatI had not heard him. 

I looked towards the other bed, Christine was asleep. I wished her goodmorning, she opened her eyes, and leaning on her elbow, she smiledsweetly. 

"My uncle has gone. I did not hear him. "

"Dearest Christine, you are as lovely as one of God's angels. I have agreat longing to give you a kiss. "

"If you long for a kiss, my dear friend, come and give me one. "

I jump out of my bed, decency makes her hide her face. It was cold, and Iwas in love. I find myself in her arms by one of those spontaneousmovements which sentiment alone can cause, and we belong to each otherwithout having thought of it, she happy and rather confused, I delighted, yet unable to realize the truth of a victory won without any contest. 

An hour passed in the midst of happiness, during which we forgot thewhole world. Calm followed the stormy gusts of passionate love, and wegazed at each other without speaking. 

Christine was the first to break the silence

"What have we done?" she said, softly and lovingly. 

"We have become husband and wife. "

"What will my uncle say to-morrow?"

"He need not know anything about it until he gives us the nuptialbenediction in his own church. "

"And when will he do so?"

"As soon as we have completed all the arrangements necessary for apublic marriage. "

"How long will that be?"

"About a month. "

"We cannot be married during Lent. "

"I will obtain permission. "

"You are not deceiving me?"

"No, for I adore you. "

"Then, you no longer want to know me better?"

"No; I know you thoroughly now, and I feel certain that you will make mehappy. "

"And will you make me happy, too?"

"I hope so. "

"Let us get up and go to church. Who could have believed that, to get ahusband, it was necessary not to go to Venice, but to come back from thatcity!"

We got up, and, after partaking of some breakfast, we went to hear mass. The morning passed off quickly, but towards dinner-time I thought thatChristine looked different to what she did the day before, and I askedher the reason of that change. 

"It must be, " she said, "the same reason which causes you to bethoughtful. "

"An air of thoughtfulness, my dear, is proper to love when it findsitself in consultation with honour. This affair has become serious, andlove is now compelled to think and consider. We want to be married in thechurch, and we cannot do it before Lent, now that we are in the last daysof carnival; yet we cannot wait until Easter, it would be too long. Wemust therefore obtain a dispensation in order to be married. Have I notreason to be thoughtful?"

Her only answer was to come and kiss me tenderly. I had spoken the truth, yet I had not told her all my reasons for being so pensive. I foundmyself drawn into an engagement which was not disagreeable to me, but Iwished it had not been so very pressing. I could not conceal from myselfthat repentance was beginning to creep into my amorous and well-disposedmind, and I was grieved at it. I felt certain, however, that the charminggirl would never have any cause to reproach me for her misery. 

We had the whole evening before us, and as she had told me that she hadnever gone to a theatre, I resolved on affording her that pleasure. Isent for a Jew from whom I procured everything necessary to disguise her, and we went to the theatre. A man in love enjoys no pleasure but thatwhich he gives to the woman he loves. After the performance was over, Itook her to the Casino, and her astonishment made me laugh when she sawfor the first time a faro bank. I had not money enough to play myself, but I had more than enough to amuse her and to let her play a reasonablegame. I gave her ten sequins, and explained what she had to do. She didnot even know the cards, yet in less than an hour she had won one hundredsequins. I made her leave off playing, and we returned to the inn. Whenwe were in our room, I told her to see how much money she had, and when Iassured her that all that gold belonged to her, she thought it was adream. 

"Oh! what will my uncle say?" she exclaimed. 

We had a light supper, and spent a delightful night, taking good care topart by day-break, so as not to be caught in the same bed by the worthyecclesiastic. He arrived early and found us sleeping soundly in ourrespective beds. He woke me, and I gave him the ring which he went topledge immediately. When he returned two hours later, he saw us dressedand talking quietly near the fire. As soon as he came in, Christinerushed to embrace him, and she shewed him all the gold she had in herpossession. What a pleasant surprise for the good old priest! He did notknow how to express his wonder! He thanked God for what he called amiracle, and he concluded by saying that we were made to insure eachother's happiness. 

The time to part had come. I promised to pay them a visit in the firstdays of Lent, but on condition that on my arrival in P---- I would notfind anyone informed of my name or of my concerns. The curate gave me thecertificate of birth of his niece and the account of her possessions. Assoon as they had gone I took my departure for Venice, full of love forthe charming girl, and determined on keeping my engagement with her. Iknew how easy it would be for me to convince my three friends that mymarriage had been irrevocably written in the great book of fate. 

My return caused the greatest joy to the three excellent men, because, not being accustomed to see me three days absent, M. Dandolo and M. Barbaro were afraid of some accident having befallen me; but M. DeBragadin's faith was stronger, and he allayed their fears, saying to themthat, with Paralis watching over me, I could not be in any danger. 

The very next day I resolved on insuring Christine's happiness withoutmaking her my wife. I had thought of marrying her when I loved her betterthan myself, but after obtaining possession the balance was so much on myside that my self-love proved stronger than my love for Christine. Icould not make up my mind to renounce the advantages, the hopes which Ithought were attached to my happy independence. Yet I was the slave ofsentiment. To abandon the artless, innocent girl seemed to me an awfulcrime of which I could not be guilty, and the mere idea of it made meshudder. I was aware that she was, perhaps, bearing in her womb a livingtoken of our mutual love, and I shivered at the bare possibility that herconfidence in me might be repaid by shame and everlasting misery. 

I bethought myself of finding her a husband in every way better thanmyself; a husband so good that she would not only forgive me for theinsult I should thus be guilty of towards her, but also thank me at theend, and like me all the better for my deceit. 

To find such a husband could not be very difficult, for Christine was notonly blessed with wonderful beauty, and with a well-establishedreputation for virtue, but she was also the possessor of a fortuneamounting to four thousand Venetian ducats. 

Shut up in a room with the three worshippers of my oracle, I consultedParalis upon the affair which I had so much at heart. The answer was:

"Serenus must attend to it. "

Serenus was the cabalistic name of M. De Bragadin, and the excellent manimmediately expressed himself ready to execute all the orders of Paralis. It was my duty to inform him of those orders. 

"You must, " I said to him, "obtain from the Holy Father a dispensationfor a worthy and virtuous girl, so as to give her the privilege ofmarrying during Lent in the church of her village; she is a young countrygirl. Here is her certificate of birth. The husband is not yet known; butit does not matter, Paralis undertakes to find one. "

"Trust to me, " said my father, "I will write at once to our ambassador inRome, and I will contrive to have my letter sent by special express. Youneed not be anxious, leave it all to me, I will make it a business ofstate, and I must obey Paralis all the more readily that I foresee thatthe intended husband is one of us four. Indeed, we must prepare ourselvesto obey. "

I had some trouble in keeping my laughter down, for it was in my power tometamorphose Christine into a grand Venetian lady, the wife of a senator;but that was not my intention. I again consulted the oracle in order toascertain who would be the husband of the young girl, and the answer wasthat M. Dandolo was entrusted with the care of finding one, young, handsome, virtuous, and able to serve the Republic, either at home orabroad. M. Dandolo was to consult me before concluding any arrangements. I gave him courage for his task by informing him that the girl had adowry of four thousand ducats, but I added that his choice was to be madewithin a fortnight. M. De Bragadin, delighted at not being entrusted withthe commission, laughed heartily. 

Those arrangements made me feel at peace with myself. I was certain thatthe husband I wanted would be found, and I only thought of finishing thecarnival gaily, and of contriving to find my purse ready for a case ofemergency. 

Fortune soon rendered me possessor of a thousand sequins. I paid mydebts, and the licence for the marriage having arrived from Rome ten daysafter M. De Bragadin had applied for it, I gave him one hundred ducats, that being the sum it had cost. The dispensation gave Christine the rightof being married in any church in Christendom, she would only have toobtain the seal of the episcopal court of the diocese in which themarriage was to take place, and no publication of banns was required. Wewanted, therefore, but one thing--a trifling one, namely, the husband. M. Dandolo had already proposed three or four to me, but I had refused themfor excellent reasons. At last he offered one who suited me exactly. 

I had to take the diamond ring out of pledge, and not wishing to do itmyself, I wrote to the priest making an appointment in Treviso. I wasnot, of course, surprised when I found that he was accompanied by hislovely niece, who, thinking that I had come to complete all arrangementsfor our marriage, embraced me without ceremony, and I did the same. Ifthe uncle had not been present, I am afraid that those kisses would havecaused all my heroism to vanish. I gave the curate the dispensation, andthe handsome features of Christine shone with joy. She certainly couldnot imagine that I had been working so actively for others, and, as I wasnot yet certain of anything, I did not undeceive her then. I promised tobe in P---- within eight or ten days, when we would complete all necessaryarrangements. After dinner, I gave the curate the ticket for the ring andthe money to take it out of pledge, and we retired to rest. This time, very fortunately, there was but one bed in the room, and I had to takeanother chamber for myself. 

The next morning, I went into Christine's room, and found her in bed. Heruncle had gone out for my diamond ring, and alone with that lovely girl, I found that I had, when necessary, complete control over my passions. Thinking that she was not to be my wife, and that she would belong toanother, I considered it my duty to silence my desires. I kissed her, butnothing more. 

I spent one hour with her, fighting like Saint Anthony against the carnaldesires of my nature. I could see the charming girl full of love and ofwonder at my reserve, and I admired her virtue in the natural modestywhich prevented her from making the first advances. She got out of bedand dressed herself without shewing any disappointment. She would, ofcourse, have felt mortified if she had had the slightest idea that Idespised her, or that I did not value her charms. 

Her uncle returned, gave me the ring, and we had dinner, after which hetreated me to a wonderful exhibition. Christine had learned how to write, and, to give me a proof of her talent, she wrote very fluently and veryprettily in my presence. 

We parted, after my promising to come back again within ten days, and Ireturned to Venice. 

On the second Sunday in Lent, M. Dandolo told me with an air of triumphthat the fortunate husband had been found, and that there was no doubt ofmy approval of the new candidate. He named Charles---- whom I knew bysight--very handsome young man, of irreproachable conduct, and abouttwenty-two years of age. He was clerk to M. Ragionato and god-son ofCount Algarotti, a sister of whom had married M. Dandolo's brother. 

"Charles, " said M. Dandolo to me, "has lost his father and his mother, and I feel satisfied that his godfather will guarantee the dowry broughtby his wife. I have spoken to him, and I believe him disposed to marry anhonest girl whose dowry would enable him to purchase M. Ragionato'soffice. "

"It seems to promise very well, but I cannot decide until I have seenhim. "

"I have invited him to dine with us to-morrow. "

The young man came, and I found him worthy of all M. Dandolo's praise. Webecame friends at once; he had some taste for poetry, I read some of myproductions to him, and having paid him a visit the following day, heshewed me several pieces of his own composition which were well written. He introduced me to his aunt, in whose house he lived with his sister, and I was much pleased with their friendly welcome. Being alone with himin his room, I asked him what he thought of love. 

"I do not care for love, " he answered: "but I should like to get marriedin order to have a house of my own. "

When I returned to the palace, I told M. Dandolo that he might open theaffair with Count Algarotti, and the count mentioned it to Charles, whosaid that he could not give any answer, either one way or the other, until he should have seen the young girl, talked with her, and enquiredabout her reputation. As for Count Algarotti, he was ready to beanswerable for his god-son, that is to guarantee four thousand ducats tothe wife, provided her dowry was worth that amount. Those were only thepreliminaries; the rest belonged to my province. 

Dandolo having informed Charles that the matter was entirely in my hands, he called on me and enquired when I would be kind enough to introduce himto the young person. I named the day, adding that it was necessary todevote a whole day to the visit, as she resided at a distance of twentymiles from Venice, that we would dine with her and return the sameevening. He promised to be ready for me by day-break. I immediately sentan express to the curate to inform him of the day on which I would callwith a friend of mine whom I wished to introduce to his niece. 

On the appointed day, Charles was punctual. I took care to let him knowalong the road that I had made the acquaintance of the young girl and ofher uncle as travelling companions from Venice to Mestra about one monthbefore, and that I would have offered myself as a husband, if I had beenin a position to guarantee the dowry of four thousand ducats. I did notthink it necessary to go any further in my confidences. 

We arrived at the good priest's house two hours before mid-day, and soonafter our arrival, Christine came in with an air of great ease, expressing all her pleasure at seeing me. She only bowed to Charles, enquiring from me whether he was likewise a clerk. 

Charles answered that he was clerk at Ragionato. 

She pretended to understand, in order not to appear ignorant. 

"I want you to look at my writing, " she said to me, "and afterwards wewill go and see my mother. "

Delighted at the praise bestowed upon her writing by Charles, when heheard that she had learned only one month, she invited us to follow her. Charles asked her why she had waited until the age of nineteen to studywriting. 

"Well, sir, what does it matter to you? Besides, I must tell you that Iam seventeen, and not nineteen years of age. "

Charles entreated her to excuse him, smiling at the quickness of heranswer. 

She was dressed like a simple country girl, yet very neatly, and she woreher handsome gold chains round her neck and on her arms. I told her totake my arm and that of Charles, which she did, casting towards me a lookof loving obedience. We went to her mother's house; the good woman wascompelled to keep her bed owing to sciatica. As we entered the room, arespectable-looking man, who was seated near the patient, rose at thesight of Charles, and embraced him affectionately. I heard that he wasthe family physician, and the circumstance pleased me much. 

After we had paid our compliments to the good woman, the doctor enquiredafter Charles's aunt and sister; and alluding to the sister who wassuffering from a secret disease, Charles desired to say a few words tohim in private; they left the room together. Being alone with the motherand Christine, I praised Charles, his excellent conduct, his highcharacter, his business abilities, and extolled the happiness of thewoman who would be his wife. They both confirmed my praises by sayingthat everything I said of him could be read on his features. I had notime to lose, so I told Christine to be on her guard during dinner, asCharles might possibly be the husband whom God had intended for her. 

"For me?"

"Yes, for you. Charles is one of a thousand; you would be much happierwith him than you could be with me; the doctor knows him, and you couldascertain from him everything which I cannot find time to tell you nowabout my friend. "

The reader can imagine all I suffered in making this declaration, and mysurprise when I saw the young girl calm and perfectly composed! Hercomposure dried the tears already gathering in my eyes. After a shortsilence, she asked me whether I was certain that such a handsome youngman would have her. That question gave me an insight into Christine'sheart and feelings, and quieted all my sorrow, for I saw that I had notknown her well. I answered that, beautiful as she was, there was no doubtof her being loved by everybody. 

"It will be at dinner, my dear Christine, that my friend will examine andstudy you; do not fail to shew all the charms and qualities with whichGod has endowed you, but do not let him suspect our intimacy. "

"It is all very strange. Is my uncle informed of this wonderful change?"

"No. "

"If your friend should feel pleased with me, when would he marry me?"

"Within ten days. I will take care of everything, and you will see meagain in the course of the week:"

Charles came back with the doctor, and Christine, leaving her mother'sbedside, took a chair opposite to us. She answered very sensibly all thequestions addressed to her by Charles, often exciting his mirth by herartlessness, but not shewing any silliness. 

Oh! charming simplicity! offspring of wit and of ignorance! thy charm isdelightful, and thou alone hast the privilege of saying anything withoutever giving offence! But how unpleasant thou art when thou art notnatural! and thou art the masterpiece of art when thou art imitated withperfection!

We dined rather late, and I took care not to speak to Christine, not evento look at her, so as not to engross her attention, which she devotedentirely to Charles, and I was delighted to see with what ease andinterest she kept up the conversation. After dinner, and as we weretaking leave, I heard the following words uttered by Charles, which wentto my very heart:

"You are made, lovely Christine, to minister to the happiness of aprince. "

And Christine? This was her answer:

"I should esteem myself fortunate, sir, if you should judge me worthy ofministering to yours. "

These words excited Charles so much that he embraced me!

Christine was simple, but her artlessness did not come from her mind, only from her heart. The simplicity of mind is nothing but silliness, that of the heart is only ignorance and innocence; it is a quality whichsubsists even when the cause has ceased to be. This young girl, almost achild of nature, was simple in her manners, but graceful in a thousandtrifling ways which cannot be described. She was sincere, because she didnot know that to conceal some of our impressions is one of the preceptsof propriety, and as her intentions were pure, she was a stranger to thatfalse shame and mock modesty which cause pretended innocence to blush ata word, or at a movement said or made very often without any wickedpurpose. 

During our journey back to Venice Charles spoke of nothing but of hishappiness. He had decidedly fallen in love. 

"I will call to-morrow morning upon Count Algarotti, " he said to me, "andyou may write to the priest to come with all the necessary documents tomake the contract of marriage which I long to sign. "

His delight and his surprise were intense when I told him that my weddingpresent to Christine was a dispensation from the Pope for her to bemarried in Lent. 

"Then, " he exclaimed, "we must go full speed ahead!"

In the conference which was held the next day between my youngsubstitute, his god-father, and M. Dandolo, it was decided that theparson should be invited to come with his niece. I undertook to carry themessage, and leaving Venice two hours before morning I reachedP---- early. The priest said he would be ready to start immediately aftermass. I then called on Christine, and I treated her to a fatherly andsentimental sermon, every word of which was intended to point out to herthe true road to happiness in the new condition which she was on thepoint of adopting. I told her how she ought to behave towards herhusband, towards his aunt and his sister, in order to captivate theiresteem and their love. The last part of my discourse was pathetic andrather disparaging to myself, for, as I enforced upon her the necessityof being faithful to her husband, I was necessarily led to entreat herpardon for having seduced her. "When you promised to marry me, after wehad both been weak enough to give way to our love, did you intend todeceive me?"

"Certainly not. "

"Then you have not deceived me. On the contrary, I owe you some gratitudefor having thought that, if our union should prove unhappy, it was betterto find another husband for me, and I thank God that you have succeededso well. Tell me, now, what I can answer to your friend in case he shouldask me, during the first night, why I am so different to what a virginought to be?"

"It is not likely that Charles, who is full of reserve and propriety, would ask you such a thing, but if he should, tell him positively thatyou never had a lover, and that you do not suppose yourself to bedifferent to any other girl. "

"Will he believe me?"

"He would deserve your contempt, and entail punishment on himself if hedid not. But dismiss all anxiety; that will not occur. A sensible man, mydear Christine, when he has been rightly brought up, never ventures uponsuch a question, because he is not only certain to displease, but alsosure that he will never know the truth, for if the truth is likely toinjure a woman in the opinion of her husband, she would be very foolish, indeed, to confess it. "

"I understand your meaning perfectly, my dear friend; let us, then, embrace each other for the last time. "

"No, for we are alone and I am very weak. I adore thee as much as ever. "

"Do not cry, dear friend, for, truly speaking, I have no wish for it. "

That simple and candid answer changed my disposition suddenly, and, instead of crying, I began to laugh. Christine dressed herselfsplendidly, and after breakfast we left P----. We reached Venice in fourhours. I lodged them at a good inn, and going to the palace, I told M. Dandolo that our people had arrived, that it would be his province tobring them and Charles together on the following day, and to attend tothe matter altogether, because the honour of the future husband and wife, the respect due to their parents and to propriety, forbade any furtherinterference on my part. 

He understood my reasons, and acted accordingly. He brought Charles tome, I presented both of them to the curate and his niece, and then leftthem to complete their business. 

I heard afterwards from M. Dandolo that they all called upon CountAlgarotti, and at the office of a notary, where the contract of marriagewas signed, and that, after fixing a day for the wedding, Charles hadescorted his intended back to P----. 

On his return, Charles paid me a visit. He told me that Christine had wonby her beauty and pleasing manners the affection of his aunt, of hissister, and of his god-father, and that they had taken upon themselvesall the expense of the wedding. 

"We intend to be married, " he added, "on such a day at P----, and I trustthat you will crown your work of kindness by being present at theceremony. "

I tried to excuse myself, but he insisted with such a feeling ofgratitude, and with so much earnestness, that I was compelled to accept. I listened with real pleasure to the account he gave me of the impressionproduced upon all his family and upon Count Algarotti by the beauty, theartlessness, the rich toilet, and especially by the simple talk of thelovely country girl. 

"I am deeply in love with her, " Charles said to me, "and I feel that itis to you that I shall be indebted for the happiness I am sure to enjoywith my charming wife. She will soon get rid of her country way oftalking in Venice, because here envy and slander will but too easily shewher the absurdity of it. "

His enthusiasm and happiness delighted me, and I congratulated myselfupon my own work. Yet I felt inwardly some jealousy, and I could not helpenvying a lot which I might have kept for myself. 

M. Daridolo and M. Barbaro having been also invited by Charles, I wentwith them to P----. We found the dinner-table laid out in the rector'shouse by the servants of Count Algarotti, who was acting as Charles'sfather, and having taken upon himself all the expense of the wedding, hadsent his cook and his major-domo to P----. 

When I saw Christine, the tears filled my eyes, and I had to leave theroom. She was dressed as a country girl, but looked as lovely as a nymph. Her husband, her uncle, and Count Algarotti had vainly tried to make heradopt the Venetian costume, but she had very wisely refused. 

"As soon as I am your wife, " she had said to Charles, "I will dress asyou please, but here I will not appear before my young companions in anyother costume than the one in which they have always seen me. I shallthus avoid being laughed at, and accused of pride, by the girls amongwhom I have been brought up. "

There was in these words something so noble, so just, and so generous, that Charles thought his sweetheart a supernatural being. He told me thathe had enquired, from the woman with whom Christine had spent afortnight, about the offers of marriage she had refused at that time, andthat he had been much surprised, for two of those offers were excellentones. 

"Christine, " he added, "was evidently destined by Heaven for myhappiness, and to you I am indebted for the precious possession of thattreasure. "

His gratitude pleased me, and I must render myself the justice of sayingthat I entertained no thought of abusing it. I felt happy in thehappiness I had thus given. 

We repaired to the church towards eleven o'clock, and were very muchastonished at the difficulty we experienced in getting in. A large numberof the nobility of Treviso, curious to ascertain whether it was true thatthe marriage ceremony of a country girl would be publicly performedduring Lent when, by waiting only one month, a dispensation would havebeen useless, had come to P----. Everyone wondered at the permissionhaving been obtained from the Pope, everyone imagined that there was someextraordinary reason for it, and was in despair because it was impossibleto guess that reason. In spite of all feelings of envy, every face beamedwith pleasure and satisfaction when the young couple made theirappearance, and no one could deny that they deserved that extraordinarydistinction, that exception to all established rules. 

A certain Countess of Tos, . . . From Treviso, Christine's god-mother, wentup to her after the ceremony, and embraced her most tenderly, complainingthat the happy event had not been communicated to her in Treviso. Christine, in her artless way, answered with as much modesty assweetness, that the countess ought to forgive her if she had failed inher duty towards her, on account of the marriage having been decided onso hastily. She presented her husband, and begged Count Algarotti toatone for her error towards her god-mother by inviting her to join thewedding repast, an invitation which the countess accepted with greatpleasure. That behaviour, which is usually the result of a good educationand a long experience of society, was in the lovely peasant-girl due onlyto a candid and well-balanced mind which shone all the more because itwas all nature and not art. 

As they returned from the church, Charles and Christine knelt down beforethe young wife's mother, who gave them her blessing with tears of joy. 

Dinner was served, and, of course, Christine and her happy spouse tookthe seats of honour. Mine was the last, and I was very glad of it, butalthough everything was delicious, I ate very little, and scarcely openedmy lips. 

Christine was constantly busy, saying pretty things to every one of herguests, and looking at her husband to make sure that he was pleased withher. 

Once or twice she addressed his aunt and sister in such a gracious mannerthat they could not help leaving their places and kissing her tenderly, congratulating Charles upon his good fortune. I was seated not very farfrom Count Algarotti, and I heard him say several times to Christine'sgod-mother that he had never felt so delighted in his life. 

When four o'clock struck, Charles whispered a few words to his lovelywife, she bowed to her god-mother, and everybody rose from the table. After the usual compliments--and in this case they bore the stamp ofsincerity--the bride distributed among all the girls of the village, whowere in the adjoining room, packets full of sugar-plums which had beenprepared before hand, and she took leave of them, kissing them allwithout any pride. Count Algarotti invited all the guests to sleep at ahouse he had in Treviso, and to partake there of the dinner usually giventhe day after the wedding. The uncle alone excused himself, and themother could not come, owing to her disease which prevented her frommoving. The good woman died three months after Christine's marriage. 

Christine therefore left her village to follow her husband, and for theremainder of their lives they lived together in mutual happiness. 

Count Algarotti, Christine's god-mother and my two noble friends, wentaway together. The bride and bridegroom had, of course, a carriage tothemselves, and I kept the aunt and the sister of Charles company inanother. I could not help envying the happy man somewhat, although in myinmost heart I felt pleased with his happiness. 

The sister was not without merit. She was a young widow of twenty-five, and still deserved the homage of men, but I gave the preference to theaunt, who told me that her new niece was a treasure, a jewel which wasworthy of everybody's admiration, but that she would not let her go intosociety until she could speak the Venetian dialect well. 

"Her cheerful spirits, " she added, "her artless simplicity, her naturalwit, are like her beauty, they must be dressed in the Venetian fashion. We are highly pleased with my nephew's choice, and he has incurredeverlasting obligations towards you. I hope that for the future you willconsider our house as your own. "

The invitation was polite, perhaps it was sincere, yet I did not availmyself of it, and they were glad of it. At the end of one year Christinepresented her husband with a living token of their mutual love, and thatcircumstance increased their conjugal felicity. 

We all found comfortable quarters in the count's house in Treviso, where, after partaking of some refreshments, the guests retired to rest. 

The next morning I was with Count Algarotti and my two friends whenCharles came in, handsome, bright, and radiant. While he was answeringwith much wit some jokes of the count, I kept looking at him with someanxiety, but he came up to me and embraced me warmly. I confess that akiss never made me happier. 

People wonder at the devout scoundrels who call upon their saint whenthey think themselves in need of heavenly assistance, or who thank himwhen they imagine that they have obtained some favour from him, butpeople are wrong, for it is a good and right feeling, which preachesagainst Atheism. 

At the invitation of Charles, his aunt and his sister had gone to pay amorning visit to the young wife, and they returned with her. Happinessnever shone on a more lovely face!

M. Algarotti, going towards her, enquired from her affectionately whethershe had had a good night. Her only answer was to rush to her husband'sarms. It was the most artless, and at the same time the most eloquent, answer she could possible give. Then turning her beautiful eyes towardsme, and offering me her hand, she said, "M. Casanova, I am happy, and I love to be indebted to you for myhappiness. "

The tears which were flowing from my eyes, as I kissed her hand, told herbetter than words how truly happy I was myself. 

The dinner passed off delightfully. We then left for Mestra and Venice. We escorted the married couple to their house, and returned home to amuseM. Bragadin with the relation of our expedition. This worthy andparticularly learned man said a thousand things about the marriage, someof great profundity and others of great absurdity. 

I laughed inwardly. I was the only one who had the key to the mystery, and could realize the secret of the comedy.