Volume VI Part 64 (2/2)

”Well, I should have refused Leonilda if she had asked me, but I accept this mark of your friendshi+p A refusal would have borne witness to nothing but a foolish pride, as I am a poor man I should like Leonilda and her ive me the money”

”Embrace me; ill do our business after dinner”

Naples has always been a temple of fortune to me, but if I went there now I should starve Fortune flouts old age

Leonilda and Lucrezia ith joy when the good ave me the five thousand ducats in bank notes, and presented his ratitude to her for having introduced h not to reveal his chief reason Donna Lucrezia did not know that the Duke of Matalone had told hiratitude lessened h spirits for the rest of the day, and Anastasia did not spend a very lively night withI was sad, and the whole house was in tears

I promised that I would write to the marquis from Rome, and I reached Naples at eleven o'clock

I went to see Agatha, as astonished at ht I was at Rome Her husband welco a great deal

I said I would dine with theet e for the bank notes I gave hiatha saw thatto persuade me to stay went in search of Calliht I was in Roain

My sudden disappearance and my unexpected return were the mystery of the day, but I did not satisfy anyone's curiosity

I left them at three o'clock, and stopped at Montecasino, which I had never seen I congratulated myself on my idea, for Iunder the name of Comte de Lusace with Madame Spinucci, a lady of Fere He had been waiting for three days to hear from the Pope, for by St Benedict's rule women are not allowed in monasteries; and as Madame Spinucci was extreed to apply for a dispensation to the Holy Father

I slept at Montecasino after having seen the curiosities of the place, and I went on to Rone

CHAPTER XV

Margarita--Madame Buondcorsi--The duchess of Fiano--Cardinal Bernis--The Princess Santa Croce--Menicuccio and His Sister

I had made up my mind to spend a quiet six months at Rome, and the day after my arrival I took a pleasant suite of rooms opposite the Spanish Ambassador, whose name was d'Aspura It happened to be the sao by the teacher of languages, to whoone for lessons while I ith Cardinal Acquaviva The landlady was the wife of a cook who only, slept with his better half once a week The wohter of sixteen or seventeen years old, ould have been very pretty if the small-pox had not deprived her of one eye They had provided her with an ill-ave a very unpleasant expression to her face Margarita, as she was called, made no impression on hly There was an English oculist naot hiht size and colour This ine that I had fallen in love with her, and the mother, a devotee, was in some trouble as to whether eood dinner and supper without any luxury I had three thousand sequins, and I had made up my mind to live in a quiet and respectable manner

The next day I found letters for me in several post-offices, and the banker Belloni, who had known me for several years, had been already advised of ood friend Dandolo sent me two letters of introduction, of which one was addressed to M Erizzo, the Venetian ambassador He was the brother of the areatly The other was addressed to the duchess of Fiano, by her brother M Zuliani

I saw that I should be free of all the best houses, and I promised myself the pleasure of an early visit to Cardinal Bernis

I did not hire either a carriage or a servant At Rome both these articles are procurable at a moment's notice

My first call was on the duchess of Fiano She was an ugly woood-natured, she assu malicious so as to obtain some consideration

Her husband, who bore the name of Ottoboni, had only married her to obtain an heir, but the poor devil turned out to be what the Romans call 'babilano', and we impotent The duchess told ivetone, or as if she was fain to be consoled, but merely to defy her confessor, who had threatened her with exco people about her husband's condition, or if she tried to cure hiave a little supper every evening to her select circle of friends I was not admitted to these reunions for a week or ten days, by which tienerally popular The duke did not care for company and supped apart