Volume III Part 67 (1/2)
”I only want to have credit in your eyes”
”You cannot doubt that I honour you immensely, and I shall certainly not deprive you of the reward that is your due”
”The only reward I ask for is for you to be perfectly open with me”
”You are very wonderful Why do you interest yourself so much in my affairs? I don't like to think you are really inquisitive”
”You would be wrong to think that I have a defect which would lower me in my own eyes Be sure, sir, that I shall only be curious when you are sad”
”But what can have enerously towards me?”
”Only your honourable conduct towards me”
”You touch me profoundly, and I promise to confide in you for the future”
”You will one an hour when aaveme that he had orders to wait for a reply I sent hiave the letter to Madaht see what it contained While she was reading it I leant upon the ,on famously,” cried my housekeeper ”Here is the letter; read it”
”Whether I a told the truth, or whether I aination (for which you are too well known all over Europe), I will regard the whole story as being true, as I arieved to have injured an innocent ly pay the penalty by giving him a suue hich I infected hiive hi you; they will serve to restore hiet the bitterness of the pleasure I am so sorry to have procured for hienerous to employ your authority as master to enjoin on your man the most absolute secrecy? I hope so, for you have reason to dread eance otherwise Consider that, if this affair is allowed to transpire, it will be easy for ive it a turn which may be far from pleasant to you, and which will force the worthy edwith his wife As I do not desire that we should o to Lucerne on the pretext of faot this letter”
”I am sorry,” I said, ”to have sent Le Duc, as the harpy is violent, and I a to hi will happen, and it is better that they should see each other; it makes it ive it to hieance will be cohtest suspicion, especially if Le Duc shews her her work, and in two or three hours you will have the pleasure of hearing everything from his lips You have reason to bless your stars, as the honour of the wo that can trouble you is the remembrance of the 's foul embraces, and the certainty that the prostitute has communicated her coht attack and be easily cured An inveterate leucorrhoea is not exactly a venereal disease, and I have heard people in London say that it was rarely contagious We ought to be very thankful that she is going to Lucerne Laugh and be thankful; there is certainly a coi-comic I know the human heart, and I am sure that I must have forfeited Madame's affections”
”It is true that----; but this is not the ti of such matters Quick! write to her briefly and return her the twenty-five Louis”
My reply was as follows:
”Your unworthy suspicions, your aboe, and the impudent letter you wrote me, are the only causes of your no doubt bitter repentance I hope that it will restore peace to your conscience
Our h no fault of ive them to theyou a visit, but this time you will not keep him two hours, and you will not find it difficult to appease his anger I wish you a good journey, and I shall certainly flee all occasions ofyou, for I always avoid the horrible; and you must know, odious woman, that it isn't everybody who endeavours to ruin the reputation of their friends If you see the apostolic nuncio at Lucerne, ask him about me, and he will tell you what sort of a reputation I have in Europe I can assure you that Le Duc has only spoken to me of his misadventure, and that if you treat hi to boast of Farewell”
My dear Minerva approved of this letter, and I sent it with the er
”The piece is not yet done,” said my housekeeper, ”we have three scenes more:”
”What are they?”
”The return of your Spaniard, the appearance of the disease, and the astonishment of Madame when she hears it all”
I counted the moments for Le Duc to return, but in vain; he did not appear I was in a state of great anxiety, althoughwas that the as out Some people are so happily constituted that they never admit the possibility of e of thirty, when I was put under the Leads Now I ae and look on the dark side of everything I alooue, I say to e, thou art only worthy of dwelling in hell, as others before ht also, 'tristisque senectus'
About half-past nine ht coht in the room, and my housekeeper ran to hide in the recess, for she would not have missed a word of the Spaniard's coer,” said he, as he came in ”I had to wait for that woman till half-past six When she cao aboutto say to me
”'That may be, fair lady,' I replied; 'but I have a feords to say to you, and I have been waiting here for a cursed time with that intent'