l enjoy our pleasures. But do you know what will be the
result of it? The intensity of our ardour will excite his own, and he
will throw himself at my feet, begging and entreating me to give up to
him the only object likely to calm his amorous excitement. What could I
do in that case? Give you up? I could hardly refuse to do so with good
grace, but I would go away, for I could not remain a quiet spectator.

"Farewell, my darling love; all will be well, I have no doubt. Prepare
yourself for the athletic contest, and rely upon the fortunate being who
adores you."

I spent the six following days with my three worthy friends, and at the
'ridotto', which at that time was opened on St. Stephen's Day. As I could
not hold the cards there, the patricians alone having the privilege of
holding the bank, I played morning and evening, and I constantly lost;
for whoever punts must lose. But the loss of the four or five thousand
sequins I possessed, far from cooling my love, seemed only to increase
its ardour.

At the end of the year 1774 the Great Council promulgated a law
forbidding all games of chance, the first effect of which was to close
the 'ridotto'. This law was a real phenomenon, and when the votes were
taken out of the urn the senators looked at each other with stupefaction.
They had made the law unwittingly, for three-fourths of the voters
objected to it, and yet three-fourths of the votes were in favour of it.
People said that it was a miracle of St. Mark's, who had answered the
prayers of Monsignor Flangini, then censor-in-chief, now cardinal, and
one of the three State Inquisitors.

On the day appointed I was punctual at the place of rendezvous, and I had
not to wait for my mistress. She was in the dressing-room, where she had
had time to attend to her toilet, and as soon as she heard me she came to
me dressed with the greatest elegance.

"My friend is not yet at his post," she said to me, "but the moment he is
there I will give you a wink."

"Where is the mysterious closet?"

"There it is. Look at the back of this sofa against the wall. All those
flowers in relief have a hole in the centre which communicates with the
closet behind that wall. There is a bed, a table, and everything
necessary to a person who wants to spend the night in amusing himself by
looking at what is going on in this room. I will skew it to you whenever
you like."

"Was it arranged by your lover's orders?"

"No, for he could not foresee