Volume II Part 35 (1/2)
This time our enjoyment seemed to us ht, and, so to speak, we reasoned over it
”Oh, my best beloved!” she said to nant; for in that case e, under the pretext of reat difficulty that I made her understand that the fulfilment of that wish, however much I shared it myself, was not entirely in our power; but that, under the circumstances, it would most probably be fulfilled sooner or later
After working with all our ave several hours to a profound and delightful repose
As soon as ere awake I called for candles and coffee, and we set to work again in the hope of obtaining the mutual harmony of ecstatic enjoyment which was necessary to insure our future happiness It was in thesport that the too early dawn surprised us, and we hurried back to Venice to avoid inquisitive eyes
We renewed our pleasures on the Friday, but, whatever delight I may feel now in the remembrance of those happy moments, I will spare my readers the description of ht not feel interested in such repetitions Ion that day, we fixed for the following Monday, the last day of the carnival, our lastin the Garden of Zuecca Death alone could have hinderedthat appoint our a I saw P---- C----, who confirmed the appointreed upon, and I was there in good time In spite of the impatience of a lover, the first hour of expectation passes rapidly, but the second isYet the third and the fourth passed withoutmy beloved ined the most terrible disasters It seeo out her brother ought to have coht have detained hio and fetch herelse than to miss the the Angelus, C---- C---- came alone, and masked
”I was certain,” she said, ”that you were here, and here I a My brother has not put in an appearance through the whole of this day Let us go quickly to our garden, for I ary too, and love will console us for all we have suffered today”
She had spoken very rapidly, and without givingarden The as very high, it blew al only one rower the danger was great
C---- C----, who had no idea of it, was playing with me to make up for the restraint under which she had been all day; but her er; if he had fallen into the water, nothing could have saved us, and ould have found death on our way to pleasure I told her to keep quiet, but, being anxious not to frighten her, I dared not acquaint her with the danger ere running The gondolier, however, had not the sas, and he called out to us in a stentorian voice that, if we did not keep quiet, ere all lost His threat had the desired effect, and we reached the landing without hed for joy when he saw the money for which he was indebted to the bad weather
We spent six delightful hours in our casino; this tiht which threw a cloud over our felicity was that, the carnival being over, we did not kno to contrive our futureWednesdayI should pay a visit to her brother, and that she would come to his room as usual
We took leave of our worthy hostess, who, entertaining no hope of seeing us again, expressed her sorrow and overwhel, without any accident, as far as the door of her house, and went horeat surprise I had a visit froHe walked, spoke, laughed exactly like hie as that of the Jesuits correct but rather harsh French I thought that excess of i De la Haye that he ought to change his pupil's deportment, because such servile iving him my opinion on that subject, Bavois made his appearance, and when he had spent an hour in the co man he was entirely of the same mind Calvi died two or three years later De la Haye, as bent upon for pupils, became, two or threeChevalier de Morosini, the nephew of the nobleman to whom Bavois was indebted for his rapid fortune, as then the Commissioner of the Republic to settle its boundaries with the Austrian Government represented by Count Christiani
I was in love beyond all measure, and I would not postpone an application on which er After dinner, and as soon as everybody had retired, I begged M de Bragadin and his two friends to grant me an audience of two hours in the room in which ere always inaccessible There, without any preamble, I told them that I was in love with C---- C----, and deter her off if they could not contrive to obtain her from her father for adin, ”is how to give uarantee a dowry of ten thousand ducats which the young lady would bring ave them the necessary instructions, they were ready to fulfil the all the pyraadin hi lady; the oracle explaining the reason of that choice by stating that it uarantee the doith his own fortune The father ofthen at his country-house, I told my friends that they would have due notice of his return, and that they were to be all three together when M de Bragadin de lady's hand
Well pleased hat I had done, I called on P---- C---- the nextAn old woman, who opened the door for me, told me that he was not at home, but that his hter, and they both looked very sad, which at once struck n C---- C---- told me that her brother was in prison for debt, and that it would be difficult to get hie surieved she was at not being able to support him in the prison, and she shewed me the letter he had written to her, in which he requested her to deliver an enclosure to his sister I asked C---- C---- whether I could read it; she handed it to ed her to speak to me in his behalf As I returned it to her, I told her to write to hi for him, but I entreated the mother to accept twenty-five sequins, which would enable her to assist hi him one or two at a tihter joined her entreaties to ave them an account of what I had done in order to obtain the hand ofsweetheart Madame C---thanked me, expressed her appreciation of my honourable conduct, but she told me not to entertain any hope, because her husband, as very stubborn in his ideas, had decided that his daughter should hteen He was expected ho leave of them, my mistress contrived to slip in my hand a letter in which she told me that I could safely make use of the key which I had in ht, and that I would find her in her brother's roo all the doubts of herher hand
When I returned hoadin of the expected arrival of the father ofC---- C----, and the kind old man wrote to him immediately in ht call on hiadin not to send his letter until the following day
The reader can very well guess that C---- C---- had not to wait for ained ad, who receivedto fear,” she said to me; ”my father has arrived in excellent health, and everyone in the house is fast asleep”
”Except Love,” I answered, ”which is now inviting us to enjoy ourselves
Love will protect us, dearest, and to-morrow your father will receive a letter from my worthy protector”
At those words C---- C---- shuddered It was a presentiment of the future
She said tobut a child; but his eyes are going to be opened respecting me; he will examine my conduct, and God knoill happen! Noe are happy, evenour visits to Zuecca, for we can see each other every night without restraint But ill my father do when he hears that I have a lover?”
”What can he do? If he refuses me your hand, I will carry you off, and the patriarch would certainly marry us We shall be one another's for life”
”It is my ; but, dearest, I knowless of our pleasures than of our sorroent away proht The whole of thepassed off very heavily for adin informed me that he had sent his letter to the father, who had answered that he would call hiadin's wishes At ave her an account of all that had transpired C---- C---- told reatly puzzled her father, because, as he had never had any intercourse with that nobleine what he wanted with him Uncertainty, a sort of anxious dread, and a confused hope, rendered our enjoyether I had no doubt that M Ch C---- the father of o hoadin, that he would ask his daughter a great many questions, and I feared lest C---- C----, in her trouble and confusion, should betray herself She felt herself that it ht be so, and I could see how painfully anxious she was I was extre how her father would look at the ive her any advice As a matter of course, it was necessary for her to conceal certain circuainst us; yet it was urgent to tell him the truth and to shew herself entirely sube position, and above all, I regretted having made the all-important application, precisely because it was certain to have too decisive a result I longed to get out of the state of indecision in which I was, and I was surprised to seemistress less anxious than I was We parted with heavy hearts, but with the hope that the next night would again bring us together, for the contrary did not seem to us possible