Volume IV Part 100 (1/2)
”But my dear Clementine,” said the countess, ”what do you think hty whose sole acco h,” said the husband, ”if he could have ed the estate, but the honest old man will not believe in the existence of rascals He is so learned that he is quite stupid”
”Good heavens!” cried Clementine ”Sardini stupid? It is certainly easy to deceive him, but that is because he is so noble I love a man who is easily deceived, but they call me silly”
”Not at all, my dear sister,” said the countess ”On the contrary, there is wisdom in all you say, but it is wisdom out of place in a woman; theabout literature, poetry, or philosophy, and when it co you I a will stand in your way”
”I know it, and I a to die a maid; not that it is much coue ine hiht iven her a hundred thousand crowns, and I would have married her that moment She told me that Sardini was at Milan, very old and ill
”Have you been to see him?” I asked
”I have never been to Milan”
”Is it possible? It is not far from here”
”Distance is relative, you know”
This was beautifully expressed It told o, and I was pleased by her frankness But in the state ofshe chose to do There are moments in aof him
I spoke to her in a manner that affected her so that she took me into a closet next to her room to shew me her books There were only thirty in all, but they were chosen, although so more
”Do you know, my dear Hebe, that you want more books?”
”I have often suspected it, dear Iolas, without being able to say exactly what I want”
After spending an hour in glancing over Sardini's works, I begged her to spew me her own
”No,” said she, ”they are too bad”
”I expect so; but the good will outweigh the bad”
”I don't think so”
”Oh, yes! you needn't be afraid I will forgive the bad graes, faulty method, and even the verses that won't scan”
”That's too much, Iolas; Hebe doesn't need so vast a pardon as all that
Here, sir, these are s; sift the faults and the defaults
Read what you will”
I was delighted that an by reading aloud an anacreontic, adding to its beauties by theher pleasure at finding her work so fair When I ie she noticed it, for she followedhumiliated, she was pleased with h with hts and darkened the shadows, and she was charreater than hers The reading continued for two hours It was a spiritual and pure, but a most intensely voluptuous, enjoyone no farther; but love is a traitor who laughs at us e think to play with hi into his nets Shall a ?
The countess interrupted us, and begged us to join the co back, and thanked iven her The pleasure she felt shewed itself in her blushes, and when she cahting, which made her blush stilldown I told Clair day I wanted to go to Lodi and back by dinnertime
Everybody played as before, the abbe excepted, and he, to ht, did not put in an appearance at all, but his place was supplied by a canon, who punted a ducat at a time and had a pile of ducats before hialad to see that everybody had won except the canon, but his losses had not spoilt his temper
Next day I started for Lodi at day-break without telling anybody where I was going, and bought all the books I judged necessary for Cleht numerous translation, which I was surprised to find at Lodi, which hitherto had been only famous in my mind for its cheese, usually called Parmesan This cheese is made at Lodi and not at Parma, and I did not fail to make an entry to that effect under the article ”Pared to abandon as beyond ed to abandon his ”Dictionary of Botany” This great but eccentric individual was then known under the pseudonym of Renaud, the Botanist