Volume V Part 6 (2/2)
”I hate hih hiive him, too, because unless it had been for him I should never have seen you But I love you, and I shall die unless you satisfy my desires”
”Never; for I know I should be madly in love with you, and then you would leave ain”
”I will never leave you”
”If you will swear that, take me into France andwith Annette; besides, I have got your niece to make love to”
The pleasant part of the affair was that ed me to let her takeat their lascivious play, I willingly consented, and henceforth she was always present at the table We enjoyed her co tales which kept us at table till it was tio to Rosalie's, whereus
The next day, which was Holy Thursday, Rosalie came with us to see the processions I had Rosalie and Marcoline with me, one on each are of her lover The day after ent to see the procession called at Genoa Caracce, and Marcoline pointed out h he pretended not to see us He was most carefully dressed, and the stupid fop seemed to think he was sure to find favour in Marcoline's eyes, anddespised him; but he oefully deceived, for Marcoline kne to h he was both seen and laughed at, the poor devil could not be certain that she had noticed hiirl held me so closely by the arm that he must have concluded ere very intiht themselves the best friends in the world, and could not bearthem that their amorous sports were the only reason for their attachreed to abandon them as soon as we left Genoa, and promised that I should sleep between them in the felucca, all of us to keep our clothes on I said I should hold them to their word, and I fixed our departure for Thursday I ordered the felucca to be in readiness and suo on board
It was a cruel moment when I left Annette with her mother She wept so bitterly that all of us had to shed tears My niece gave her a handso to coland Possano was told to go on board with the abbe; I had provisioned the boat for three days The youngwould be settled I was delighted to hear it; it assured ive her a kind reception Our friends did not leave us till the moment ent on board
The felucca was very conveniently arranged, and was propelled by the twelve oarsmen On the deck there were also twenty-four muskets, so that we should have been able to defend ourselves against a pirate Claire andfive mattresses over them we had an excellent bed, where we could sleep and undress ourselves in perfect co covered the deck, and two lanterns were hung up, one at each end In the evening they were lighted and Clairht in supper I had warned htest presu into the sea, so I allowed him and Possano to sup with us
I sat between my two nymphs and served the company merrily, first my niece, then Marcoline, then my brother, and finally Possano No water was drunk at table, so we each eundy, and e had finished supper the rowers rested on their oars, although the as very light I had the lamps put out and went to bed with ht of daokein the same position I could kiss neither of them, since one passed for my niece, and my sense of humanity would not allow me to treat Marcoline as my mistress in the presence of an unfortunate brother who adored her, and had never obtained the least favour frorief and seasickness, and watching and listening with all hisin I did not want to have any unpleasantness, so I contentedon them till the two roses awoke and opened their eyes
When this delicious sight was over, I got up and found that ere only opposite Final, and I proceeded to reprimand the master
”The wind fell dead at Savona, sir;” and all the seamen chorused his excuse
”Then you should have rowed instead of idling”
”We were afraid of waking you You shall be at Antibes by to a hearty o on shore at St Rehted I tookany of the others to disembark I conducted the ladies to an inn, where I ordered coffee A man accosted us, and invited us to coame was forbidden in Genoa,” said I I felt certain that the players were the rascals whose bank I had broken at Genoa, so I accepted the invitation My niece had fifty Louis in her purse, and I gave fifteen to Marcoline We found a large assenized the knaves of Genoa As soon as they saw me they turned pale and tre was not the poor devil who had servedto
”I play harlequin,” said I
”There isn't one”
”What's the bank?”
”There it is We play for small stakes here, and those two hundred louis are quite sufficient You can bet as low as you like, and the highest stake is of a louis”
”That's all very well, but ht”
”I think ours are, too”
”Are you sure?”
”No”