Volume V Part 26 (1/2)

I Drive My Brother The Abbe Froh My Cabala--A Bad Joke--The Corticelli--I Take d'Aranda to London My Arrival At Calais

As usual, Madame d'Urfe receivedher tell Aranda to fetch the sealed letter she had given hi I opened it, found it was dated the saenius toldfrom Fontainebleau, and that he will coht, but I have had many similar experiences in the course of my life-experiences which would have turned any other man's head I confess they have surprisedpowers Men uess which turns out to be correct, and they iot all about the o I was silly enough to bet that a bitch would have a litter of five bitch pups on a certain day, and I won Everyone thought it a marvel except myself, for if I had chanced to lose I should have been the first to laugh

I naturally expressed enius, and shared her joy in finding herself so well during her pregnancy The worthy lunatic had given orders that she was not at home to her usual callers, in expectation of ether, consulting hoe could o to London of his own free will; and as I did not in the least knoas to be done, the replies of the oracle were very obscure Madao, that I could not presume on her obedience to that extent, and I had to rackthe little man ask to be taken to London as a favour

I went to the Colad to see ain

”I want to consult the oracle on a reatest importance,”

said she, ”and I hope you will come and see me tomorrow”

I, of course, promised to do so

I did not care for the performance, and should have left the theatre if I had not wanted to see the ballet, though I could not guess the peculiar interest it would have for st the dancers I thought I would like to speak to her, not for any amorous reasons, but because I felt curious to hear her adventures As I came out I e and was living on an annuity I asked hi me that she was in a poor way

I went to sup with hted to see entle persuasion on our friend the abbe, of whoot tired

”Where is he?”

”You will see hi and drinking are the chief concerns of his life, he will not fail to put in an appearance”

”What has he done?”

”Everything that a good-for-nothing can do; but I hear hi, and I will tell you all about it in his presence”

The abbe was astonished to see h I did not favour hiainst hiainst a monster I have read the letter you wrote to Possano, in which I am styled a cheat, a spy, a coiner, and a poisoner What does the abbe think of that?”

He sat down to table without a word, and entleave him a most cordial welcome I allowed him a nice room, and told him to look uponus in his favour, he began by saying that you were the greatest rascal in the world To prove it he told us how he had carried off a girl fro her, and went to you at Genoa as he was in great necessity He confesses that you rescued him from his misery, but he says that you traitorously took possession of the girl, associating her with two other mistresses you had at that time In fine, he says that you lay with her before his eyes, and that you drove hiht be able to enjoy her with greater freedo that as he could not go back to Venice, he needed our help till he could find soh his profession as a priest I asked him what his talents were, and he said he could teach Italian; but as he speaks it vilely, and doesn't knoord of French, we laughed at hi e could do for him in his character of priest, and the very next day my wife spoke to M de Sauci, the ecclesiastical coive ht give hiood benefice He would have to go to our parish church, and I spoke to the rector of St Sauveur, who promised to let him say mass, for which he would receive the usual suht have led to so; but e told the worthy abbe of our success, he got into a rage, saying that he was not the man to say mass for twelve sols, nor to toady the archbishop in the hope of being taken into his service No, he was not going to be in anyone's service We concealed our indignation, but for the three weeks he has been here he has turned everything upside down My wife's reat annoyance, because of hio if he re her in the kitchen We are therefore resolved that he shall go, for his society is intolerable to us I aht to be able to drive hi easier,” said I; ”if he likes to stay in Paris, let his to some furnished apartments, and serve hiain On the other hand if he wants to go away, let hi”

”Nothing could be enerous What do you say, abbe?”

”I say that this is the way in which he drove me from Marseilles What intolerable violence!”

”Give God thanks,you within an inch of your life as you deserve, I aet ed at Lyons, did you?”

”Where is Marcoline?”

”What is that to you? Make haste and choose between Rome and Paris, and re to live on”