Volume III Part 49 (2/2)

We could not continue this pleasant interview, as my mistress had with her a lady fro with her for a few days And indeed the box was full of coaveto interest her in it I knew that it would be exceedingly interesting to n which love inspired is subject not to difficulty but uncertainty The wife only sleeps in the closet when her husband asks her--an event which only occurs at certain periods, and the separation does not last forcustom has made it impossible for the wife to impose on her husband It will, therefore, be necessary to wait Love arn you when the hour of bliss has come The plan will be to hide in the church; and there h poor he is too stupid to be bribed, and would betray the secret The only ill be to hide so as to elude his watchfulness He shuts the church at noon on working days; on feast days he shuts it at evening, and he always opens it again at dawn When the tientle push-it will not be locked As the closet which is to be the scene of the blissful combat is only separated frohing, nor nose-blowing: it would be fatal The escape will be a o out as soon as it is opened Since the beadle has seen nobody in the evening, it is not likely that he will see ain this charreat power of mental combination, and I went next day to see how the coast lay: this was the first thing to be done There was a chair in the church in which I should never have been seen, but the stair was on the sacristy side, and that was always locked up I decided on occupying the confessional, which was close to the door I could creep into the space beneath the confessor's seat, but it was so small that I doubted my ability to stay there after the door was shut I waited till noon to make the attempt, and as soon as the church was empty I took up my position I had to roll myself up into a ball, and even then I was so badly concealed by the folding door that anyone happening to pass by at two paces distance ht easily have seen me However I did not care for that, for in adventures of that nature one reat deal to fortune Deterhly pleased withI had deter, and sent it to her box at the theatre, enclosed in an old gazette

A week after she asked the general infor hi on thein three days That was enough forto her words I was all thea feast day I could take up il of several hours' duration

I curledmyself to the care of all the saints At five o'clock the beadle made his usual tour of inspection, went out and locked the door As soon as I heard the noise of the key I ca the s Soon after rated panes, and I knew she had seen me

I sat on the bench for a quarter of an hour and then pushed open the little door and entered I shut it and sat down on the lowest step of the stair, and spent there five hours which would probably have not been unpleasant ones if I had not been dreadfully tor to and fro close to reat dislike to this animal, which is comparatively harmless; but the smell of rats always sickens me

At last I heard the clock strike ten, the hour of bliss, and I saw the for a candle, and I was then freed from my painful position If ine the pleasures of that happy night, but they cannot divine the minute circumstances; for if I was an expertthe bliss of that sweet eet me a little collation, which looked delicious, but which I could not touch,in another quarter

For seven hours, which I thought all too short, we enjoyed one another, not resting, except for talk, which served to heighten our pleasure

The burgoth of constitution enabled hi, but, whether froious scruple, he suspended his rights every month while the moon exercised hers, and to put himself out of temptation he made his wife sleep apart But for once in a way, the lady was not in the position of a divorcee

Exhausted, but not satiated with pleasure, I left her at day-break, assuring her that e ain she would find me the sa lest the growing light ot aithout any difficulty, and passed nearly the whole day in bed, havingI went to the theatre, to have the pleasure of seeing the beloved object of whom my love and constancy had ht she sent me a note in which she toldIt was a ferial day, and I therefore went to the church at eleven in thean enormous breakfast I hidany discovery

I had a wait of ten hours, and the reflection that I should have to spend the time partly in the church and partly on the dark and rat-haunted staircase, without being able to take a pinch of snuff for fear of being obliged to blow my nose, did not tend to enliven the prospect; however, the hope of the great reward ht noise, and looking up saw a hand appear through the grated , and a paper drop on the floor of the church I ran to pick it up, while my heart beat fast, for my first idea was that some obstacle had occurred which would coht on a bench in the church I opened it, and as my joy to read as follows:

”The door is open, and you will be ht, a little dinner, and some books, than in the church The seat is not very easy, but I have done my best to remedy the disco to eneral that I do not feel very well, and shall not go out to-day May God keep you froht, for on the least noise we should be undone”

What stratagems are inspired by love! I opened the door directly, and found a nicely-laiddish, lear, and rum to make some punch if I liked With these coh; but I was astonished at the dexterity of e of anybody in the house

I spent three hours in reading, and threecoffee and punch, and then I went to sleep At ten o'clock ht was delicious, but not so much so as the former, as we could not see each other, and the violence of our ecstatic coood husband We slept part of the tiood eneral went to Westphalia, and she was soon to go into the country I thusto co, which promise however I was precluded, as the reader will see, froretted by all

The stay of two ne did not dih I lost whenever I was persuaded to play However, s at Bonn made up all deficiencies, and my banker, M Franck, complained that I had not ed to be prudent so that those persons who spied intoreprehensible

I left Cologne about the middle of March, and I stopped at Bonn, to present my respects to the Elector, but he ay I dined with Count Verita and the Abbe Scaave me a letter of introduction to a canoness at Coblentz, of whoed ot down at the inn, I found that the canoness was at Manheim, while in her stead I encountered an actress na and pretty daughter She was on her way fro character-dancing with the famous Vestris I had known her at Paris, but had not seen , which was the joy of her daughter This daughter was a perfect jeho had very little difficulty in persuading art, where I expected, for other reasons, to have a very pleasant stay The mother was ihter, for she had destined her from her childhood to serve the pleasures of this voluptuous prince, who, though he had a titular irls who took his fancy

We uessed that two of us belonging to the boards the conversation was not exactly a course in hter was a neophyte, and that she had made up her mind not to let the duke touch her till he had disned to take The hter of a Venetian boatman, whose name has been mentioned in ata, who fro

As I seemed to doubt the mother's assertion, and threw out some rather broad hints to the effect that I believed that the first bloo would only have the second, their vanity was touched; and onto verify the reed that this ceremony should take place the next day They kept their proed for two hours the next uish in the hter had kindled in h, she would have found hter had been able to satisfy h to leave us alone together As it was she ell satisfied

I resolved, then, on going to Stuttgart in company with the two nymphs, and I expected to see there the Binetti, as always an enthusiastic adhter of a Roet on the boards the same year that Madame de Valmarana had married her to a French dancer named Binet, whose name she had Italianized by the addition of one syllable, like those who ennoble the another syllable to their na Baletti, of who wife the Vulcani, and several other of ht would coart a very pleasant one But it will be seen that it is a risky thing to reckon without one's host At the last posting station I bid adieu to my two friends, and went to the ”Bear”