Volume I Part 7 (2/2)
”But where can I find such table companions?” he asked
”It is rather a delicate uests on trial, and after they have been found such as you wish theuests without their being aware of the real cause of your preference, for no respectableat your excellency's table only because he eats twice as much as any other uday He found my practice even better than uest
Thisin life except his own self, fostered an aout He loved a young girl na near hisopposite to his own This young girl, then in her seventeenth year, was pretty, whithe theatrical profession, and by showing herself constantly at theshe had intoxicated the old senator, and was playing with him cruelly
She paid him a daily visit, but always escorted by her e in order to work out her salvation, and who, as a matter of course, had made up her mind to combine the interests of heaven with the works of this world She took her daughter to o to confession every week; but every afternoon she accoe of whohtened me when she refused him a kiss under the plea that she had perfor, and that she could not reconcile herself to the idea of offending the God as still dwelling in her
What a sight for a young man of fifteen like me, whom the old man admitted as the only and silent witness of these erotic scenes! The hter's reserve, and went so far as to lecture the elderly lover, who, in his turn, dared not refute her maxims, which savoured either tooinclination to hurl at her head any object he had at hand Anger would then take the place of lewd desires, and after they had retired he would co with me philosophical considerations
Co hat to say, I ventured one day upon advising a e He struck me with amazement when he answered that she refused toupon herself the hatred of his relatives
”Then e sum of money, or a position”
”She says that she would not, even for a crown, commit a deadly sin”
”In that case, you must either take her by storm, or banish her for ever from your presence”
”I can do neither one nor the other; physical as well as th is deficient in me”
”Kill her, then”
”That will very likely be the case unless I die first”
”Indeed I pity your excellency”
”Do you soht fall in love with her, and I would bepart in many similar conversations, I became an especial favourite with the old noble assemblies which were, as I have stated before, frequented by superannuated women and witty men He told reater i by his advice instead of Aristotle's, which he turned into ridicule He laid down so the necessity ofreceived at such parties He ordered me never to open my lips except to answer direct questions, and particularly enjoined e I could not be allowed to have any opinions
I faithfully followed his precepts, and obeyed his orders so well, that in a few days I had gained his esteem, and become the child of the house, as well as the favourite of all the ladies who visited hi and innocent ecclesiastic, they would ask me to accohters or their nieces were educated; I was at all hours received at their houses without even being announced; I was scolded if a week elapsed withoutupon the ladies, they would run away, but the moment they saw that the intruder was only I, they would return at once, and their confidence was very char to me
Before dinner, M de Malipiero would often inquire fro to me from the welcome I received at the hands of the respectable ladies I had beco care to tell me, before I could have tireatest virtue, and that I would give everybody a bad opinion of eh reputation they all enjoyed In this way he would inculcate in me the wise precept of reserve and discretion
It was at the senator's house that I made the acquaintance of Madame Manzoni, the wife of a notary public, of whom I shall have to speak very often This worthy lady inspired ave me the wisest advice Had I followed it, and profited by it, my life would not have been exposed to so many storms; it is true that in that case,
All these fine acquaintances ah-bred ladies, gave ood looks and by the elegance of rand of vanity On one occasion, taking me apart, the curate told me, with honeyed words, that in the profession to which I had devotedagreeable to God, and not on pleasing the world by my fine appearance He condemned my elaborate curls, and the exquisite perfuot hold of me by the hair, that I would be excommunicated if I continued to take such care of it, and concluded by quoting for my benefit these words from an oecumenical council: 'clericus qui nutrit coman, anathema sit' I answered him with the names of several fashi+onable perfumed abbots, ere not threatened with excoh they wore four tiht sprinkling--who perfumed their hair with a certain aht wo, while mine, a jessamine pomade, called forth the compliment of every circle in which I was received I added that I could not, ret, obey him, and that if I had meant to live in slovenliness, I would have becory that, three or four days afterwards, he contrived to obtain leave fro, before I ake, and, approaching my bed on tiptoe with a sharp pair of scissors, he cut off unmercifully all my front hair, from one ear to the other My brother Francois was in the adjoining roohted at , and was very jealous of h the whole of his life; yet he co of envy with friendshi+p; I never could understand him; but this vice of his, like e
After his great operation, the abbe left my room quietly, but when I woke up shortly afterwards, and realized all the horror of this unheard-of execution, hest pitch
What wild schelass inover the shameful havoc perforrandhter the kind old woman assured me that the priest would never have been allowed to enter my rooed to soothethat he had over-stepped the liht to ade, and I went on dressingin my mind the darkest plots It seee, without having anything to dread fro open at that tio out, and I, went to the advocate Carrare, hom I had become acquainted at the senator's house, to inquire froainst the priest He told me that, but a short ti sheared the moustache of a Sclavonian--a cri of all ive hiainst the abbe, which would ed that he would tell M