Volume III Part 39 (1/2)
On my father's death I succeeded to the property, and at Roood taste, for she's a pretty woht so, and it was a loveme to co ood company and a bank at faro, which he kept hio half shares, and that I should find it profitable I thanked him, and promised to pay hi, and after having spent soiven a polite refusal to his offer of a bed, I went to pay my respects to M d'Afri, who since the death of the Princess of Orange, the Regent of the Low Countries, was generally known as His Most Christian Majesty's aave me an excellent reception, but he said that if I had returned to Holland hoping to do business on behalf of the Government I should waste eneral had lowered the credit of the nation, which was thought to be on the verge of bankruptcy
”This M Silhouette,” said he, ”has served the king very badly It is all very well to say that payments are only suspended for a year, but it is not believed”
He then asked me if I knew a certain Coue
”He has not called on h he says he is cootiate a loan of a hundred ed to say that I know nothing about hi myself Such a reply, as you can understand, is not likely to increase his chance of success, but that is his fault and not ht me a letter from the Duc de Choiseul or the Marquise de Pompadour? I take hi more about him in the course of ten days”
I told him, in my turn, all I knew of this truly eccentric individual
He was not a little surprised to hear that the king had given him an apartment at Chambord, but when I told hihed and said that in that case he would no doubt , M d'Afri askedto the hotel I called on the Comte de St Ger me enter, ”I intended to have called on you I suppose, my dear Casanova, that you have come to try what you can do for our Court, but you will find your task a difficult one, as the Exchange is highly offended at the late doings of that fool Silhouette All the saet my hundred millions I have passed my word to my friend, Louis XV (I may call him so), and I can't disappoint him; the business will be done in the next three or four weeks”
”I should think M d'Afri ht assist you”
”I do not require his assistance Probably I shall not even call upon hiht say he helped me No, I shall have all the trouble, and I lory, too”
”I presu to Court, where the Duke of Brunswick o to Court? As for the Duke of Brunswick, I do not care to know hio to A I a of France; there's not a better h table, the company is of the best and will please you”
”You know I never eat; moreover, I never sit down at a table where I may meet persons who are unknown to me”
”Then, ain at A-roa served, I conversed with some officers They asked me if I knew Prince Piccolomini, to which I answered that he was not a prince but a count, and that it was many years since I had seen him
When the count and his fair wife (who only spoke Italian) came down, I shewed them some polite attentions, and we then sat down to dinner
EPISODE 13 -- HOLLAND AND GERMANY
CHAPTER X
Portrait of the Pretended Countess Piccolomini--Quarrel and Duel--Esther and Her Father, M D'O--Esther Still Taken with the Cabala--Piccoloe: Results I A assassinated-- Debauch with the Two Paduan Girls--I Reveal A Great Secret To Esther--I Bate the Rascally St Gerht-- Manon Baletti Proves Faithless to Me; Her Letter Announcing Her Marriage: My Despair--Esther Spends a Day With Me-- My Portrait and My Letters to Manon Get Into Esther's Hands-- I Pass a Day with Her--We Talk of Marrying Each Other
The so-called Countess Piccolo, tall, well- whiteness; not, however, that natural whiteness which delights those who know the value of a satin skin and rose petals, but rather that artificial fairness which is commonly to be seen at Rousts those who kno it is produced She had also splendid teeth, glorious hair as black as jet, and arched eyebrows like ebony To these advantages she added attractive ent about the way she spoke; but through all I saw the adventuress peeping out, whichbut Italian the countess had to play the part of a lish officer na her to his taste, set himself to alishs were certainly not the result of sympathy If I had been blind or deaf Sir James Walpole would have been totally indifferent to me, as what I felt for hih I did not care for the countess, for all that I went up to her roouests The count arranged a game of whist, and Walpole played at primero with the countess, who cheated hihed and paid, because it suited his purpose to do so When he had lost fifty Louis he called quarter, and the countess asked hiood-natured English the husband playing whist