Volume II Part 9 (1/2)
”I advise you for the future not to hurl atwith Bavois, e are in the presence of my three worthy friends I do not object to listen to you e are alone”
”You are wrong in taking ht, that does not matter Why do you never attack your proselyte? Be careful for the future, or I ht on my side, and only in jest like you, throw at your head some repartee which you have every reason to fear, and thus repay you with interest”
And bowing to him I left his room
A few days afterwards I spent a few hours with my friends and Paralis, and the oracle enjoined theht be recommended or even insinuated by Valentine; that was the cabalistic name of the disciple of Escobar I knew I could rely upon their obedience to that order
De la Haye soon took notice of soe; he became more reserved, and Bavois, whoave me his full approbation He felt convinced, as I was, that De la Haye had been useful to hih weak or selfish reasons, that is, that he would have cared little for his soul if his face had not been handsome, and if he had not known that he would derive i caused his so-called conversion
Finding that the Venetian govern his appointment from day to day, Bavois entered the service of the French ambassador The decision made it necessary for hiadin, but even to give up his intercourse with De la Haye, as the guest of that senator
It is one of the strictest laws of the Republic that the patricians and their fan ambassadors and their suites But the decision taken by Bavois did not preventin his favour, and they succeeded in obtaining employment for him, as will be seen further on
The husband of Christine, whoo to the casino which he was in the habit of frequenting with his aunt and his wife, who had already presented him with a token of their mutual affection I accepted his invitation, and I found Christine as lovely as ever, and speaking the Venetian dialect like her husband I made in that casino the acquaintance of a chemist, who inspired me with the wish to follow a course of chereatly pleasedto keep the cheular hour a servant called to take her ho sort of way, and in the presence of the old lady, but I was surprised not to see her after that for several days, and I expressed irl's cousin, an abbe, ho, had becoain
”An abbe jealous?”
”Why not? He never allows her to go out except on Sundays to attend the first mass at the Church of Santa Maria Mater Do here, because he knew that we never had any visitors, and very likely he has heard through the servant of your being here every evening”
A great enereater friend to irl that, if she would leave her cousin for ive her a house in which she should be the ood society and with every luxury to be found in Venice I added that I would be in the church on the following Sunday to receive her answer
I did not forgether tyrant, she would consider herself happy to escape out of his clutches, but that she could not make up her mind to follow me unless I consented tothat, in case I entertained honest intentions towards her, I had only to speak to her mother, Jeanne Marchetti, who resided in Lusia, a city thirty miles distant from Venice
This letter piqued ined that she had written it in concert with the abbe Thinking that they wanted to dupe e ridiculous, I deteret to the bottoirl's reatly pleased when, after I had shewn her her daughter's letter, I told her that I wished toas she resided with the abbe
”That abbe,” she said, ”is a distant relative He used to live alone in his house in Venice, and two years ago he told me that he was in want of a housekeeper He askedthat, on the day of her ive her all his furniture valued at about one thousand ducats, and the inheritance of a s one hundred ducats a year, which lie possesses here
It see pleased with the offer, I accepted He gave hter ith hiular slave of her, but she chose to go Nevertheless, I need not tell you that irl is without a husband, she is too much exposed to temptation, and the poor mother cannot rest in peace”
”Then cohter out of the abbe's house, and I will make her my wife Unless that is done I cannot marry her, for I should dishonour myself if I received my wife froh only in the fourth degree, and, what is more, he is a priest and says the ood woman Everybody knows that a priest says theenjoyive up all hope of ever seeing her ive her his furniture, and perhaps he will sell his small estate here”
”I undertake to look to that part of the business I promise to take her out of his hands, and to make her come back to you with all the furniture, and to obtain the estate when she is my wife If you knew me better, you would not doubt what I say Come to Venice, and I assure you that you shall return here in four or five days with your daughter”
She read the letter which had been written toa poor , she had not the money necessary to pay the expenses of her journey to Venice, or of her return to Louisa
”In Venice you shall not want for anything,” I said; ”in the mean tio with my sister-in-law?”
”Coo soon so as to reach Chiozza, where we must sleep To-morroe shall dine in Venice, and I undertake to defray all expenses”
We arrived in Venice the next day at ten o'clock, and I took the tomen to Castello, to a house the first floor of which was ened by the abbe I went to dine with my three friends, to whom I said that I had been to Chiozza on important business After dinner, I called upon the lawyer, Marco de Lesse, who told me that if the mother presented a petition to the President of the Council of Ten, she would ihter aith all the furniture in the house, which she could send wherever she pleased I instructed hi that I would con it in his presence