Volume III Part 40 (2/2)
M d'O---- asked if he should try to get rid of the French securities he held in spite of the loss he would incur by selling out
Esther's oracle replied,
”You must sow plentifully before you reap Pluck not up the vine before the season of the vintage, for your vine is planted in a fruitful soil”
Mine ran as follows:--
”If you sell out you will repent, for there will be a new coeneral, ill pay all claims before another year has elapsed”
Esther's ansas conceived in the sibylline style, and I adht to the point, and the worthyhis hat and stick, said that since our replies agreed he would run the risk of losing three million francs and make a profit of five or six hundred thousand in the course of the year His daughter began to recant, and would have warned hier, but he, as as fir,
”The oracle is not wont to lie, and even if it does deceive me this time it will only be a fourth part of my fortune that I shall lose”
When Esther and I were alone I began to coht, on the cleverness of her answer, the elegance of her style, and her boldness, for she could not be as well acquainted with French affairs as I was
”I a confirmed my reply, but confess that you lied to please me”
”I confess, since that will please you, and I will even tell you that you have nothing more to learn”
”You are a cruel man! But how could you reply that there would be another coeneral in a year's ti the oracle? I never dare to say things like that; I love the oracle too well to expose it to shame and confusion”
”That shews that I do not invent the answers; but since the oracle has pronounced it I a to bet that Silhouette will be dismissed”
”Your obstinacy drives me to despair, for I shall not rest till I know that I am as much a master of the cabala as you are, and yet you will not confess that you invent the answers yourself For charity's sake do so to convince me of the contrary”
”I will think it over”
I passed the whole day with this delightful girl, whose areat wealth would have made me a happy man if it were not for my master-passion, the love of independence, and my aversion to make up my mind to live for the rest of my days in Holland
In the course of my life I have often observed that the happiest hours are often the heralds of enius took me to the Ville de Lyon This was the inn where Piccolo, and I found them there in the midst of a horde of cheats and sharpers, like theood people heard reet me, and others to have a closer look at st those present were a Chevalier de Sabi, ore the uniform of a Polish major, and protested he had knownBohe that his friend the Comte St Germain had arrived at the Etoile d'Orient, and had been enquiring afterbravo as introduced to nized at the first glance as the fellow called Talvis, who had robbed the Prince-Bishop of Presburg, who had lent ht a duel at Paris Finally, there was an Italian named Neri, who looked like a blacksseen him at the place where I met the wretched Lucie
In the midst of this band of cut-purses I saw the so-called wife of the pretended Chevalier de Sabi, a pretty wo Italian indifferently well, was paying her addresses to the Countess Piccoloer to find ood face on a bad ga a roll of a hundred Louis fro hilad to be able to return them to him with my best thanks
My politeness did not meet with much of a reception, for the impudent scoundrel answeredlent it , but he also remembered a more important matter
”And pray what is that?” said I, in a dry and half-disdainful tone
”You owe ht well Here is the , the wretched little man opened his shi+rt and shewed the sed ues with paralysis
”Anywhere else than in Holland, where i, I shall be glad to ain, if you still desire to cross swords withyou not to disturb o out without a couple of friends in my pockets, and that if you attack me I shall blow your brains out in self-defence”