said I was right, scolded loudly, as if
he had been a great lord, and made everybody tremble. The postmaster had
disappeared; his wife came and ordered the postillions to attend to my
wants. During that time Croce said to me that I was quite right in going
back to Padua, where the public rumour had spread the report of my having
left the city in consequence of an order from the police. He informed me
that the podesta had likewise expelled M. de Gondoin, a colonel in the
service of the Duke of Modena, because he held a faro bank at his house.
I promised him to pay him a visit in Venice in the ensuing week. Croce,
who had dropped from the sky to assist me in a moment of great distress,
had won ten thousand sequins in four evenings: I had received five
thousand for my share; and lost no time in paying my debts and in
redeeming all the articles which I had been compelled to pledge. That
scamp brought me back the smiles of Fortune, and from that moment I got
rid of the ill luck which had seemed to fasten on me.

I reached Padua in safety, and the postillion, who very likely out of
fear had driven me in good style, was well pleased with my liberality; it
was the best way of making peace with the tribe. My arrival caused great
joy to my three friends, whom my sudden departure had alarmed, with the
exception of M. de Bragadin, in whose hands I had placed my cash-box the
day before. His two friends had given credence to the general report,
stating that the podesta had ordered me to leave Padua. They forgot that
I was a citizen of Venice, and that the podesta could not pass such a
sentence upon me without exposing himself to legal proceedings. I was
tired, but instead of going to bed I dressed myself in my best attire in
order to go to the opera without a mask. I told my friends that it was
necessary for me to shew myself, so as to give the lie to all that had
been reported about me by slandering tongues. De la Haye said to me,

"I shall be delighted if all those reports are false; but you have no one
to blame but yourself, for your hurried departure gave sufficient cause
for all sorts of surmises."

"And for slander."

"That may be; but people want to know everything, and they invent when
they cannot guess the truth."

"And evil-minded fools lose no time in repeating those inventions
everywhere."

"But there can be no doubt that you wanted to kill the postillion. Is
that a calumny likewise?"

"The greatest of all. Do yo