Volume I Part 78 (1/2)
”We do nothing else We play the game of the Pharaoh (faro), and I hold the bank”
Everybody, understanding the shrewdness of this evasive answer, laughed again, and Juliette herself could not help joining in the general merriment
”But tell me,” said Count Spada, ”does the bank receive much?”
”As for the deposits, they are of so little i”
No one ventured upon translating that sentence for the benefit of the worthy captain The conversation continued in the saraceful wit of the chareneral, and wished him a pleasant journey
”Adieu,” he said, ”I wish you a pleasant journey to Naples, and hope you will enjoy yourself there”
”Well, general, I aed my mind and intend to proceed to Parma, where I wish to see the Infante I also wish to constituteof Italian:”
”Ah, young man! opportunity makes a thief, does it not? Well, if I were in your place, I would do the same”
I also bade farewell to Madaave her a pro to fulfil it
I had felt interested in the young Frenchwo under the bed-clothes: she had taken my fancy the moment she had shewn her features, and still more when I had seen her dressed She completed her conquest at the dinner-table by the display of a hich I greatly adenerally to the daughters of France I did not think it would be very difficult to win her love, and I resolved on trying Putting my self-esteem on one side, I fancied I would suit her arian, a very pleasant e, but who, after all, carried his sixty years on his face, whileon my countenance
It seereat objection, for he see love as a ive way good-naturedly to all the freaks of fortune By beco companion of this ill-matched couple, I should probably succeed ina refusal at their hands, reeable to thele word by themselves
With this idea I asked the captain, as we reached our inn, whether he intended to proceed to Parma by the public coach or otherwise
”As I have no carriage of my own,” he answered, ”we shall have to take the coach”
”I have a very coe, and I offer you the two back seats if you have no objection to ood fortune Be kind enough to propose it to Henriette”
”Will you,you to Parhted, for we could have some conversation, but take care, sir, your task will not be an easy one, you will often find yourself obliged to translate for both of us”
”I shall do so with great pleasure; I ae everything at supper-time; allow me to leave you now as I have some business to settle”
My business was in reference to a carriage, for the one I had boasted of existed only in ination I went to the ood luck would have it, heard that there was a travelling carriage for sale, which no one would buy because it was too expensive Two hundred sequins were asked for it, although it had but two seats and a bracket-stool for a third person It was just what I wanted I called at the place where it would be seen I found a very fine English carriage which could not have cost less than two hundred guineas Its noble proprietor was then at supper, so I sent hie until the next , and I went back to the hotel well pleased with ed with the captain that ould not leave Cesena till after dinner on the following day, and the conversation was alue between Henriette and ht this young creature , yet I could not suppose her to be anything else but an adventurers, and I was astonished at discovering in her those noble and delicate feelings which denote a good education However, as such an idea would not have suited the views I had about her, I rejected it whenever it presented itself to my mind Whenever I tried to e the subject of conversation, or evade my insinuations with a tact and a shrewdness which astonished and delightedshe said bore the irace and wit
Yet she did not elude this question:
”At least tell me, madam, whether the captain is your husband or your father”
”Neither one nor the other,” she answered, with a sh for me, and in reality what more did I want to know? The worthy captain had fallen asleep When he awoke I wished theht, and retired to my room with a heart full of love and a ood turn, and I felt certain of success, for I was young, I enjoyed excellent health, I hadI liked the affair all the better because it must co I called upon Count Dandini, the owner of the carriage, and as I passed a jeweller's shop I bought a pair of gold bracelets in Venetian filigree, each five yards long and of rare fineness I intended them as a present for Javotte