Volume V Part 56 (2/2)

”Get the fair Charpillon to sit in this chair,” said he, ”and your business is done”

I could not help laughing at the contrivance, which struck enious and diabolical, but I could not make up my mind to avail myself of it

”I won't buy it,” said I, ”but I shall be obliged if you will leave it here till to-morrow”

”I can't leave it here an hour unless you will buy it; the owner is waiting close by to hear your answer”

”Then take it away and come back to dinner”

He shewed me hoas to release hi it up again he called the porter and went away

There could be no doubt as to the action of theof avarice which hinderedthe chair As I have said, it seeht easily have sent allows Furtherth of mind to enjoy the Charpillon forcibly, especially by means of the wonderful chair, the htened her out of her wits

At dinner I told Goudar that the Charpillon had demanded an interview, and that I had wished to keep the chair so as to shew her that I could have her if I liked I shewed him the letter, and he advised me to accede to her request, if only for curiosity's sake

I was in no hurry to see the creature while the marks on her face and neck were still fresh, so I spent seven or eight days withoutup my mind to receive her Goudar came every day, and told me of the confabulations of these women who had made up their minds not to live save by trickery

He told her without having any right to it, as she was merely the mistress of a worthy citizen of Berne, by whohters; the est of the family, and, as she was pretty and loose in her morals, the Government had exiled her with her mother and sisters They had then betaken themselves to Franche-Comte, where they lived for some time on the Balm of Life Here it was that the Charpillon ca her to a Count de Boulainvilliers The child grew up pretty, and the family removed to Paris under the impression that it would be the best market for such a commodity, but in the course of four years the inco still too young to be profitable, and debtors closing round them on every side, they resolved to come to London

He then proceeded to tell me of the various tricks and cheats which kept theh then, but the reader would find it dull, and I expect will be grateful forit over

I felt that it was fortunate for me that I had Goudar, who introduced me to all the most famous courtezans in London, above all to the illustrious Kitty Fisher, as just beginning to be fashi+onable He also introduced y of beauty, who served at the bar of a tavern at which we took a bottle of strong beer She was an Irishwoman and a Catholic, and was naet possession of her, but Goudar had views of his own on the subject, and carried her off in the course of the next year

He ended byher, and she was the Sara Goudar who shone at Naples, Florence, Venice, and elsewhere We shall hear of her in four or five years, still with her husband Goudar had conceived the plan ofher take the place of Dubarry, mistress of Louis XV, but a lettre de cachet compelled him to try elsewhere Ah! happy days of lettres de cachet, you have gone never to return!

The Charpillon waited a fortnight for e in person This was no doubt the result of a conference of theof it from Gondar

She came to seeher I was takingher any breakfast She asked reat ive her a kiss, but I turned my head away However, she was not in the least disconcerted

”I suppose the ave me make my face so repulsive?”

”You lie; I never struck you”

”No, but your tiger-like claws have left bruises all over me Look here

No, you needn't be afraid that what you see may prove too seductive; besides, it will have no novelty for you”

So saying the wretched creature let me see her body, on which some livid marks were still visible

Coward that I was! Why did I not look another way? I will tell you: it was because she was so beautiful, and because a woman's charms are unworthy of the name if they cannot silence reason I affected only to look at the bruises, but it was an empty farce I blush for norant of well nigh everything But she kneell enough that I was inhaling the poison at every pore All at once she dropped her clothes and ca sure that I should have relished a continuance of the spectacle