Volume V Part 28 (1/2)
At nine o'clock I placed her legs in a bath of lukeater, and taught her how to suffus were moulded by the hand of the Graces and I wiped theratitude, and I then laid her in bed, contenting myself with a solemn kiss on her pretty forehead When it was over I went up to my room where I aited on by the pretty race peculiar to the French soubrette, and told me that as I had becoht that she should be my valet Her mirth was infectious, and I tried to make her sit down on ht to take care of ure at five o'clock the next day She rong, but appearances were certainly against us, and it is well known that servants do not give their masters and mistresses the benefit of the doubt
At five o'clock in theI found Madame du Rumain nearly dressed when I went into her roo sun ht have been see if the ”Hotel de Bouillon”
had not been in the way, but that, of course, was a matter of no consequence Madanity of an ancient priestess of Baal She then sat down to her piano, tellingof nine hours would prove the hardest of all the rules, for she did not dine till thich was then the fashi+onable hour We had a meat breakfast without coffee, which I had proscribed, and I left her, proot back tovery uneasy at my absence at such an early hour When I saw him I cried,--
”Rome or Paris, which is it to be?”
”Roly
”Wait in the antechamber I will do your business for you”
When I had finished I called him in, and found my other brother and his wife, who said they had coive them a dinner
”Welcome!” said I ”You are come just in tio to Rome and to follow ence office, and told him to book a place for Lyons; and then I wrote out five bills of exchange, of five louis each, on Lyons, Turin, Genoa, Florence, and Rome
”Who is to assure me that these bills will be honoured?”
”I assure you, blockhead If you don't like theht the ticket for the diligence and I gave it to the abbe, telling hione
”But I may dine with you, surely?” said he
”No, I have done with you Go and dine with Possano, as you are his accomplice in the horrible attempt he made to murder me Clairain”
No doubt more than one of my readers will pronounceaside the fact that I owe no hts, deeds, and words, nature had i dislike to this brother of mine, and his conduct as a man and a priest, and, above all, his connivance with Possano, hadhanged with the utreatest pleasure Let everyone have his own principles and his own passions, and eance
”What did you do with the girl he eloped with?” said my sister-in-raw
”I sent her back to Venice with the ambassadors the better by thirty thousand francs, some fine jewels, and a perfect outfit of clothes She travelled in a carriage I gave her which orth more than two hundred louis”
”That's all very fine, but you e at seeing you sleep with her”
”Fools, rief, and many others besides Did he tell you that she would not let hi to do with her, and that she used to box his ears?”
”On the the contrary, he was always talking of her love for him”
”He made himself a fine fellow, I have no doubt, but the truth is, it was a very ugly business”
After several hours of pleasant conversation my brother left, and I took my sister-in-law to the opera As soon as ere alone this poor sister of an to make the most bitter complaints of my brother
”I aht before our e”