ast interchanged such signals as he thought amounted to a firm
appointment. His nymph, being disturbed in her first sleep, immediately
understood the sound, and, true to the agreement, rose; and, unbolting
the door, as softly as possible, gave him admittance; leaving it open
for his more commodious retreat.

While this happy gallant was employed in disengaging himself from
the deshabille in which he had entered, the Capuchin, suspecting that
Peregrine would make another attempt upon his charge, had crept silently
to the apartment in order to reconnoitre, lest the adventure should be
achieved without his knowledge; a circumstance that would deprive him
of the profits he might expect from his privity and concurrence. Finding
the door unlatched, his suspicion was confirmed, and he made no scruple
of creeping into the chamber on all four; so that the painter, having
stripped himself to the shirt, in groping about for his dulcinea's bed,
chanced to lay his hand upon the shaven crown of the father's head,
which, by a circular motion, the priest began to turn round in his
grasp, like a ball in a socket, to the surprise and consternation of
poor Pallet, who, neither having penetration to comprehend the case,
nor resolution to withdraw his fingers from this strange object of his
touch, stood sweating in the dark, and venting ejaculations with great
devotion.

The friar, tired with this exercise, and the painful posture in which he
stooped, raised himself gradually upon his feet, heaving up at the same
time the hand of the painter, whose terror and amazement increased to
such a degree at this unaccountable elevation, that his faculties began
to fail; and his palm, in the confusion of his fright, sliding over the
priest's forehead, one of his fingers happened to slip into his mouth,
and was immediately secured between the Capuchin's teeth with as firm a
fixture as if it had been screwed in a blacksmith's vice.

The painter was so much disordered by this sudden snap, which tortured
him to the bone, that, forgetting all other considerations, he roared
aloud, "Murder! a fire! a trap, a trap! help, Christians, for the love
of God, help!" Our hero, confounded by these exclamation, which he
knew would soon fill the room with spectators, and incensed at his own
mortifying disappointment, was obliged to quit the untasted banquet,
and, approaching the cause of his misfortune, just as his tormentor
had thought proper to release his finger