Volume III Part 66 (1/2)
”That will do; he is just ant under the circu you, my dear friend, as you will have me style you thus, that Madame's honour is perfectly safe Follow my advice, and if the detestabledoes not take care she will be the only person put to sha Above all we must find out how he contracted his disease, as several circun Go to him at once and find out all particulars, and if he has told any of the servants what is the matter with him When you have heard what he has to say, warn him to keep the matter quiet”
Ito penetrate her design I went to Le Duc I found hi on his bed by himself I sat down beside him with a smile on my face, and promised to have him cured if he would tell me all the circumstances of the case
”With all my heart, sir, the et your letters, I got down at a roadside dairy to get a glass of ht ; she raised no objection, and in a quarter of an hour she made me what you see”
”Have you told anyone about it?”
”I took good care not to do so, as I should only have got laughed at
The doctor is the only one who knohat is the one down before tomorrow, and I hope I shall be able by that tiood, but remember to keep your own counsel”
I proceeded to inform my Minerva of our conversation, and she said,--
”Tell me whether thecould take her oath that she had spent the two hours on the sofa with you”
”No, for she didn't see ood; then sit down at your desk and write, and tell her she is a liar, as you did not leave your roo the necessary enquiries in your household to find out who is the wretched person she has unwittingly contaminated Write at once and send off your letter directly In an hour and a half's time you can write another letter; or rather you can copy what I a to put down”
”My dear, I see your plan; it is an ingenious one, but I have given my word of honour to Mada her”
”Then your word of honourher honour Your love retards your steps, but everything depends on our promptitude, and on the interval between the first and second letter
Followof you, and you will know the rest fro to write for you to copy Quick I write letter number one”
I did not allow myself to reflect I was persuaded that no better plan could be found than that oflove-letter to the impudent monster:
”The impudence of your letter is in perfect accord with the three nights you spent in discovering a fact which has no existence save in your own perverse iination Know, cursed woman, that I never leftpassed two hours with a being such as you God knohom you did pass them, but I mean to find out if the whole story is not the creation of your devilish brain, and when I do so I will inform you
”You may thank Heaven that I did not open your letter till after M and Mada the hand that wrote it I put it inwhat infah to read it and uests had seen it, I would have you know that I would have gone in pursuit of you, and at this moment you would have been a corpse I am quite well, and have no symptoms of any complaint, but I shall not lower myself to convince you of ion as well as your wretched carcase”
I shewed the letter to ly expressed, but approved of it on the whole; I then sent it to the horrible being who had caused me such unhappiness An hour and a half afterwards I sent her the following letter, which I copied without addition or subtraction:
”A quarter of an hour after I had sent off e doctor came to tell me that my man had need of his treatment for a disease of a shameful nature which he had contracted quite recently I told hione I went to see the invalid, who confessed, after some pressure, that he had received this pretty present from you I asked him how he had contrived to obtain access to you, and he said that he saw you going by your self in the dark into the apart no further services to renderthere by stealth, as if you had wanted to see the lady, ould be in bed by that tiarden He at first thought that you went there with ill-intent, and he waited an hour to see if you stole anything, in which case he would have arrested you; but as you did not coo in after you, and found you had left the door open He has assured me that he had no intentions in the way of carnal enjoyment, and I can well believe hi for help, when you took hold of hied his plans on finding hiently to a couch and covered with kisses You plainly took him for somebody else, 'and,' said he, 'I did her a service which she has done ill to reco a word as soon as the day began to dawn, his nition It is easy to see that you took ht, you know, all cats are grey, and I congratulate you on obtaining an enjoyment you certainly would not have had fronized you directly froed charone hard with you Luckily for you and for s happened otherwise I may tell you that the poor fellow is furious, and intends ht to dissuade hienerous mood when he comes, as he is a determined fellow like all Spaniards, and if you do not treat him properly he will publish the matter, and you will have to take the consequences He will tell you hih to grant them”
An hour after I had sent off this epistle I received a reply to enious one, but that it was no good, as she knehat she was talking about She defied me to shew her that I was healthy in the course of a few days
While ere at supper, my dear Dubois tried her utmost to cheer me up, but all to no purpose; I was too h spirits We discussed the third step, which would put an apex to the scheme and cover the impudent wo to my housekeeper's instructions, I determined to follow her advice to the end She told ; and she was curious to knohat sort of stuff he was ed me to let her listen behind the curtains ofLe Due came in, and I asked if he could ride on horseback to Soleure
”Yes, sir,” he replied, ”but the doctor tells ood As soon as your horse is ready, set out and go to Madame F----, but do not let her know you come from me, or suspect that you are a mere emissary of mine Say that you want to speak to her If she refuses to receive you, wait outside in the street; but I fancy she will receive you, and without a witness either Then say to her, 'You have givenbeen asked, and I require you to give et myself cured' Add that she made you work for two hours in the dark, and that if it had not been for the fatal present she had given to you, you would have said nothing about it; but that finding yourself in such a state (you needn't be asha such a course
If she resists, threaten her with the law That's all you have to do, but don't let my name appear Return directly without loss of tiot on”
”That's all very fine, sir, but if this jolly wench has me pitched out of , I shan't come home quite so speedily”