Volume I Part 45 (2/2)
She very likely recollected that she had never been so polite before, and dared not press hts for an instant or two, and said tomy husband lost two hundred sequins upon trust at your faro bank; he believed that aive it to him immediately, as he is bound in honour to pay his losses to-day Unfortunately I have disposed of the ht tell Maroli that I have paid you the a of some value; keep it until the 1st of January, when I will return the two hundred sequins for which I aive you my note of hand”
”I accept the note of hand,I o himself to the bank, or send some one there, to redeem his debt Within ten minutes you shall have the a for an answer, and I returned within a few minutes with the two hundred ducats, which I handed to her, and putting in my pocket her note of hand which she had just written, I bowed to take my leave, but she addressed to me these precious words:
”I believe, sir, that if I had known that you were so well disposed to obligethat service from you”
”Well, madam, for the future be quite certain that there is not a nificant service whenever you will condescend to ask for it in person”
”What you say is very coain under the necessity ofsuch a cruel experi of the shrewdness of her answer She had not told me that I was mistaken, as I had expected she would, for that would have caused her some humiliation: she knew that I ith M D---- R---- when the adjutant had brought her letter, and she could not doubt that I are of the refusal she hadit proved to reat gratification, and I thought her worthy of adoration
I saw clearly that she could have no love for M D---- R-----, and that she was not loved by him, and the discovery made me leap for joy From that moment I felt I was in love with her, and I conceived the hope that sheI did, when I returned to my room, was to cross out with ink every word of her note of hand, except her nauess at the contents, and putting it in an envelope carefully sealed, I deposited it in the hands of a public notary who stated, in the receipt he gave me of the envelope, that he would deliver it only to Madame F-----, whenever she should request its delivery
The sa M F---- came to the bank, paid me, played with cash in hand, and won soreatest surprise was that M D---- R---- continued to be very gracious to Madame F----, and that she remained exactly the same towards him as she used to be before
He did not even enquire what she wanted when she had sent for e her manner towards my master, it was a very different case with me, for whenever she was opposite to me at dinner, she often addressed herself tostories or in remarks, in which I took care to blend instruction itty jests
At that tih while I kept a serious countenance myself I had learnt that accomplishood breeding, who used to say to me,--
”If you wish your audience to cry, you h you e”
In everything I did, in every word I uttered, in the presence of Madame F----, the only aim I had was to please her, but I did not wish her to suppose so, and I never looked at her unless she spoke to me I wanted to force her curiosity, to coiving her any advantage over rees In the reater happiness, I was glad to see that ood conduct, obtained reater than I could have hoped to obtain either through e, or in consequence of any talent I ht have shewn in the profession I had adopted
Towards the middle of November, the soldier who acted as ave notice of it to the captain of his company, and he was carried to the hospital On the fourth day I was told that he would not recover, and that he had received the last sacra I happened to be at his captain's when the priest who had attended him came to announce his death, and to deliver a siven up to his captain only after his death The parcel contained a brass seal engraved with ducal arms, a certificate of baptis in French Captain Caed me to translate the paper, the contents of which were as follows:
”My will is that this paper, which I have written and signed with my own hand, shall be delivered to my captain only after I have breathed my last: until then, my confessor shall not make any use of it, for I entrust it to his hands only under the seal of confession I entreat my captain to have me buried in a vault from which my body can be exhumed in case the duke, my father, should request its exhumation I entreat him likewise to forward s of al certificate of my birth to the French ambassador in Venice, ill send the whole to the duke, , after my dened and sealed these presents: Francois VI Charles Philippe Louis Foucaud, Prince de la Rochefoucault”
The certificate of baptisave the same names, and the title of the father was Francois V The name of thehter; but the foolish captain, who thought my mirth out of place, hurried out to render an account of the affair to the proveditore-generale, and I went to the coffee-house, not doubting for one h at the captain, and that the post-reatly amuse the whole of Corfu
I had known in Rorandson of Charles, whose sister, Gabrielle du Plessis, had been the wife of Francois V, but that dated fro of the last century I had made a copy from the records of the cardinal of the account of certain circumstances which the Abbe de Liancourt wanted to coreat ht at the saular ienerally went) was absurd and without a motive, since it was to be known only after his death, and could not therefore prove of any advantage to hi a fresh pack of cards, the Adjutant Sanzonio came in, and told the important news in the most serious manner He had just come from the office of the proveditore, where Captain Camporese had run in the utmost hurry to deposit in the hands of his excellency the seal and the papers of the deceased prince
His excellency had immediately issued his orders for the burial of the prince in a vault with all the honours due to his exalted rank Another half hour passed, and M Minolto, adjutant of the proveditore-generale, came to inform me that his excellency wanted to see me I passed the cards to Major Maroli, and went to his excellency's house I found him at supper with several ladies, three or four naval commanders, Madame F----, and M D---- R-----
”So, your servant was a prince!” said the old general to me
”Your excellency, I never would have suspected it, and even now that he is dead I do not believe it”
”Why? He is dead, but he was not insane You have seen his ars, his certificate of baptism, as well as what he wrote with his own hand When a man is so near death, he does not fancy practical jokes”
”If your excellency is satisfied of the truth of the story, my duty is to remain silent”