Volume III Part 24 (1/2)

d'Afri, begging from them an immediate reply At the end of a week I received an answer in the writing of M de Courteil, acting for M de Boulogne, instructing me to refuse absolutely any such proposal, and to report ain I was again inforh the Dutch were quite of another opinion

In all probability I should have immediately left for Paris, but for a circumstance which astonished nobody but myself in the family of which I had become a member The confidence of M d'O---- increased every day, and as if chance was determined to make me a prophet in spite of myself, neas received of the shi+p which was believed to be lost, and which, on the faith of ht for three hundred thousand florins The vessel was at Madeira The joy of Esther, and still inedthe worthy ood news

”I have insured the vessel from Madeira to theto me, ”you may count from this moment on the tenth part of the profit, which I owe entirely to you”

The readerhe will not iine, unless he knows my character better than I doreh,” said M d'O----, ”to set up for yourself ast us, and you are positively certain touse of your cabala I will be your agent; let us live together, and if you like hter as she likes you, you can call yourself my son as soon as you please”

In Esther's face shone forth joy and happiness, and inbut surprise I was stupid with happiness and the constraint in which I held h I knew it not, there can be no doubt thatwithinto theratitude,that, in spite ofin Holland, return to Paris, and discharge the confidential and responsible duty which the Government had placed in my hands I would then return to A peroration won their approval Esther was quite pleased, and we spent the rest of the day in good spirits Next day M d'O---gave a splendid dinner to several of his friends, who congratulated hieous action was to be explained by his having had secret inforh none of them could see from what source he, and he only, had obtained it

A week after this lucky event he gave me an ultiuaranteed that France should not lose more than nine per cent in the transaction

I i him to be as proeneral, with a letter in which I warned hih if he delayed a single day in sending full powers to M d'Afri to give me the necessary authority to act

I wrote to the sa thee; but that I should all the saht a profitable one, and saying that I had no doubt of obtaining my expenses fro with us, M d'O---- thought it would be a good plan to give a ball All the uished people in Amsterdam were invited to it The ball and supper were of the most splendid description, and Esther, as a blaze of diamonds, danced all the quadrilles with race and beauty

I spent all rew more and more in love, and more unhappy, for ere tormented by abstinence, which irritated while it increased our desires

Esther was an affectionatethan disposition the favours she accorded nificant description She was lavish of nothing but her kisses, but kisses are rather irritating than soothing I used to be nearly ith love She told reed to make me happy she was sure I would not marry her, and that as soon as I made her my wife she would be mine and iven her too ht I had a strong attachht, and said that I was going there to put an end to it that I ht be bound to her alone Alas! I lied when I said so, for Esther was inseparable from her father, a man of forty, and I could not make up my mind to pass the remainder ofthe ultithe exchange of the twenty millions, and another letter from the ambassador was to the saht, as he should not part with the securities before receiving 18,200,000 francs in currentat last drew near, aave me the two thousand pounds I had won so easily, and her father at e to the amount of a hundred thousand florins, with a note of two hundred thousand florins authorizing me to draw upon hi, Esther gave me fifty shi+rts and fifty handkerchiefs of the finest quality

It was not my love for Manon Baletti, but a foolish vanity and a desire to cut a figure in the luxurious city of Paris, which made me leave Holland But such was the disposition that Mother Nature had given h to cure this mental malady of mine But when I reflect upon after events of my life I am not astonished that The Leads proved ineffectual, for the nuh since have not curedof the incurable kind There is no such thing as destiny We ourselves shape our lives, notwithstanding that saying of the Stoics, 'Volente Esther to return before the end of the year, I set out with a clerk of the coht the French securities, and I reached the Hague, where Boaz received led air of wonder and admiration He told me that I had worked a miracle; ”but,” he added, ”to succeed thus youconcluded”

”By nothem, they are of the opposite opinion; but all the same I may tell you that peace is really iive ,” said he, ”I will make you a present of fifty thousand florins' worth of diamonds”

”Well,” I answered, ”the French ambassador is of the same opinion as reat as yet for you to risk your diamonds upon it”

Next day I finished my business with the ambassador, and the clerk returned to Amsterdam

I went to supper at Therese's, and found her children very well dressed

I told her to go on to Rotterdam the next day and wait for ive scandal at the Hague

At Rotterdam, Therese told me that she knew I had won half a million at Amsterdam, and that her fortune would be made if she could leave Holland for London She had instructed Sophie to tell ood luck was the effect of the prayers she had addressed to Heaven on h at the ave her a hundred ducats, telling her that she should have another hundred when she wrote to ht the suive her anyinto ive her another hundred ducats, and I said, in a low tone, that she should have a thousand if she would give ht it over for a minute, and then said that she could not part with her