Volume VI Part 6 (1/2)
”With all”
”Then she has never been in love”
”She says she has not, but I don't believe her”
”I wonder she can sleep so comfortably with a man at a few feet distant”
”She is not afraid”
Mercy cao to bed I ive her a kiss, but she turned her back on ht not see her taking off her chemise My host and hostess then went to bed, and so did I, puzzling irl's behaviour which struck me as most extraordinary and unaccountable However, I slept peacefully, and when I awoke the bird had left the nest I felt inclined to have a little quiet arguirl, and to see what I couldan opportunity The hatter availed hies, whereby he ood profit
There was no risk for me in the matter, and he and his wife declared that they blessed the day on which I had come to live with them
On the fifth or sixth day I awoke before Mercy, and only putting on own I came towards her bed She had a quick ear and woke up, and no sooner did she seetowards her than she asked ently that I only wanted to wish her a good day and to have a little talk It was hot weather, and she was only covered by a single sheet; and stretching out one arive her a kiss Her resistancean audacious hand under the sheet I discovered that she was made like other women; but just as my hand was on the spot, I received a fisticuff on the nose that uished the fire of my concupiscence The blood streamed from my nose and stained the bed of the furious Mercy I kept my presence of iven ht expect if I attempted reprisals I washedso Mercy dressed herself and left the rooreat annoyance that my nose ollen in such a manner that my face was simply hideous I covered it up with a handkerchief and sent for the hairdresser to do ht iving her the money she saw my face and uttered a cry of horror I told her the whole story, freely acknowledging that I was in the wrong, and begging her to say nothing to her niece Then heeding not her excuses I went out with my handkerchief before my face, and visited a house which the duchess of Richmond had left the day before
Half of the suite she had abandoned had been taken in advance by an Italian marquis; I took the other half, hired a servant, and had s The tears and supplications of my landlady had no effect whatever upon er
In the house into which I haddown the bruise in one hour, and make the discoloration of the flesh disappear in twenty-four I let him do what he liked and he kept his word He rubbed the place with spirits of wine and so ashamed to appear in public in the state I was in, I kept indoors for the rest of the day At noon the distressed aunt brought me my trout, and said that Mercy was cut to the heart to have used me so, and that if I would come back I could do what I liked with her
”You must feel,” I replied, ”that if I complied with your request the adventure would becoe of my honour and your business, and your niece would not be able to pass for a devotee any longer”
I iven the officer, much to the aunt's surprise, for she could not think how I had heard of it; and I shewed her that, after having exposed me to her niece's brutality, her request was extre that I could believe her to be an accoination This ize and to pro her business by way of consolation, and so she left me in a calmer mood Half an hour afterwards her husband caold snuff-box set with diamonds, and proposed that I should lend two hundred Louis on a ring worth four hundred
”It will be yours,” he said, ”if the owner does not bring me two hundred and twenty Louis in a week's time”
I had the money and proceeded to exaood diah six carats as the owner declared
The setting was in gold
”I consent to give the suive me a receipt”
”I will do so ood You shall have theto have the stone taken out first That will make no difference to the owner, as I shall have it reset at my own expense If he redeems it, the twenty Louis shall be yours”
”Itaken out”
”Very good, but you can tell hi for it”
He returned before long with a jeweller who said he would guarantee the stone to be at least two grains over the six carats
”Have you weighed it?”