Volume V Part 99 (1/2)
”Alas! count, I a”
”I congratulate you, my dear fellow; I should like to hear about it”
With these words he introducedher if she had heard of the duel
”Yes; I heard so about it in the papers So this is the hero of the tale Delighted to reat kindness, but with the cool politeness of the Court She did not give nition, and of course I imitated her in her reserve
I visited the count in the afternoon, and he begged hted to hear the account of my duel from my own lips, and I followed him to her apartment with pleasure The princess listened to my narrative in stately sort, and her women never looked at me She went away the day after, and the story went no farther
Towards the end of the fair I received a very unexpected visit fro down to table to eat a dozen larks, when she made her appearance
”What, madam, you here!”
”Yes, to my sorrow I have been here for the last three weeks, and have seen you several times, but you have always avoided us”
”Who are 'us'?”
”Schwerin and myself”
”Schwerin is here, is he?”
”Yes; and in prison on account of a forged bill I am sure I do not knohat they will do to the poor wretch He would have been wise to have fled, but it seeed”
”And you have been with hio”
”Exactly Our occupation is robbing, cheating, and escaping from one land to another Never was a woed bill?”
”For three hundred crowns Do a generous action M Casanova, and let bygones be bygones; deliver the poor wretch froed I shall killfor alloith his forged bills; but I confess I pity you So much, indeed, that I invite you to come to Dresden with ive you three hundred crowns as soon as Schwerin has undergone the extreme penalty of the law I can't understand hooman like you can have fallen in love with a man that has neither face, nor talents, nor wit, nor fortune, for all that he has to boast of is his name of Schwerin”
”I confess, to ue, Castelbajac--who, by the as never married to me--h his tears and his despairs have excited ivenago, for sooner or later he will be the death of me”
”Where do you live?”
”Nowhere I have been turned out into the street with nothing but the clothes on my back Have compassion on me”
With these words the hapless woman threw herself at my knees and burst into tears I waswith ao out I may safely say that this woman was one of the most handsome in France; she was probably about twenty-six years old She had been the wife of a druggist of Montpellier, and had been so unfortunate as to let Castelbajac seduce her At London her beauty had produced no impression on me, my heart was another's; nevertheless, she was made to seduce the heart of man
I raised her from her knees, and said I felt inclined to help her, but that in the first place she must calht another bed and put it inany orders to do so; this h