Volume II Part 52 (1/2)
With these words he looked atto recollect a person whoht of I then told him that we had never spoken to one another, and that he had not seen enough of me to recollect my features now
”I had the honour,” I added, ”to dine with your excellency at M de Mocenigo's house, but you talked all the time with Marshal Keith, the Prussian ah to attract your attention As you were on the point of leaving Paris to return to Venice, you went away almost immediately after dinner, and I have never had the honour of seeing you since that time”
”Now I recollect you,” he answered, ”and I re whether you were not the secretary of the eain, for the mysteries which unite us are of a nature likely to establish a lasting inti before they felt thoroughly at ease, and we sat down to supper, of which, of course, I did the honours The ambassador, a fine connoisseur in wines, found hted to hear that I had the the best cellar in Venice
My supper was delicate and abundant, and uests were those of a private individual receiving his sovereign and his mistress I saw that M---- M---- was charmed with the respect hich I treated her, and with my conversation, which evidently interested the a did not prevent the utterance of witty jests, for in that respect M de Bernis was a true Frenchman I have travelled much, I have deeply studied men, individually and in a body, but I have never met with true sociability except in Frenchmen; they alone kno to jest, and it is rare, delicate, refined jesting, which ani our delightful supper as never wanting, and the amiable M---- M---- led the conversation to the roiven her occasion to know me Naturally, she proceeded to speak ofdescription of that young girl that the ambassador listened with as much attention as if he had never seen the object of it But that was his part, for he was not aware that I had been infor-place my silly intervieith C---- C---- He told M---- M---- that he would have been delighted if she had brought her young friend to sup with us
”That would be running too great a risk,” answered the cunning nun, ”but if you approve of it,” she added, looking at me, ”I can make you sup with her at my casino, for we sleep in the same room”
That offer surprised me much, but it was not the moment to shew it, so I replied:
”It is i to the pleasure of your society, yet I confess I should be pleased if you could contrive to do us that great favour:”
”Well, I will think of it”
”But,” observed the ambassador, ”if I aht to apprize the young lady of it”
”It is not necessary, for I rite to her to agree to whatever ged the aence for a girl of fifteen who had no experience of the world
In the course of the evening I related the history of O-Morphi, which greatly amused him He entreated me to let him see her portrait He informed me that she was still an inmate of the 'Parc-aux-cerfs', where she continued to be the delight of Louis XV, to whohly pleased, and I re, faithful to the promise I had made toher that there would be a fourth person at the projected supper, and having given my note to Laura I repaired to Muran, where I found the following letter from M---- M---- :
”I could not sleep soundly, ht Perhaps you did not approve of the 'partie carree' with our young friend, and you may not have objected out of mere politeness Tell me the truth, dearest, for, should you not look forward to thatwith pleasure, I can contrive to undo it without i you in any way; trust me for that If, however, you have no objection to the party, it will take place as agreed Believe me, I love your soul more than your heart--I mean than your person Adieu”
Her fear was very natural, but out of shamefacedness I did not like to retract M---- M---- kneell, and as a skilful tactician she attacked my weak side
Here is my answer:
”I expected your letter, my best beloved, and you cannot doubt it, because, as you know hly, you must be aware that I know you as well Yes, I know your mind, and I knohat idea you must entertain of mine, because I have exposed to you all my weakness and irritability by my sophis raised your suspicions your tenderness for , and be quite certain that for the future my soul will be in unison with yours The supper must take place, it will be a pleasure forit I have shewn rateful than polite C---- C---- is a novice, and I a the world In what school could she learn better than yours? Therefore I reco to shew your care and friendshi+p towards her, and by increasing, if possible, the suoodness I fear that you may entice her to take the veil, and if she did I would never console myself Your friend has quite captivated ”
Thus did I wittingly depriveback, but I was able to realize the full force of the situation I had no difficulty in guessing that the ambassador was in love with C---- C----, and that he had confessed asin a position to object to it, was compelled to shew herself co that could render his passion successful She could certainly not do anything without my consent, and she had evidently considered the affair too delicate to venture upon proposing the party point-blank to ether, so that by bringing the conversation on that subject I should find myself compelled, for the sake of politeness and perhaps of s, to fall into the snare The aues skilfully, had succeeded well, and I had taken the bait as he wished There was nothing left for ood face on the , but also in order not to prove ranted es Nevertheless, the consequence of it all was likely to be sos towards both my mistresses M---- M---- had become conscious of this after she had returned to the convent, and wishi+ng to screen herself fro to me that she would cause the projected supper to be abandoned, in case I should disapprove of it, but she knew very well that I would not accept her offer
Self-love is a stronger passion even than jealousy; it does not allow a man who has some pretension to wit to shew himself jealous, particularly towards a person who is not tainted by that base passion, and has proved it