eral country noblemen from the Mark, who had
fallen dead in love with her, ventured to speak to her. She treated
them with cool condescension, and it was not long before a regular
court had gathered about her, in which several young people with whom I
had heretofore associated allowed themselves to be enrolled.

"They told me about the moods and whims of their lady, who was made up
of ice and fire; of childish innocence and the most refined coquetry;
of sentiment and wild audacity.

"The English coldness, and the soft, dove-like smile, with which she
appeared in society, and the half-bored and half-ironical manner in
which she accepted the homage of her admirers, were merely a mask. When
she was alone with a person, an entirely different and much more
adventurous character made its appearance; a seductive, melancholy, and
yielding softness--which, however, changed at once into the harshest
coldness the moment he who had been encouraged by it began to grow
warmer, and attempted to seize the whole hand by means of the little
finger she held out to him. She would thrust back any such deluded
being into his place with the most cutting irony, and from that moment
would treat him with pitiless disfavor, without quite setting him free.

"Several of my acquaintances had discovered this to their cost. They
gave me such minute accounts of their disgraceful defeats that I
recognized in this woman a type of those perfectly cold-blooded
coquettes who are--to the credit of the sex be it said--but rarely met
with. The aversion I had felt toward this sea-monster, from the very
first moment I had set eyes on her, was only the more confirmed by
this; but, at the same time, the thought sprang up in me that it might
be a good work, a meritorious act toward the whole male population of
the island, if I could succeed in catching this fisher of men in her
own net.

"This purpose immediately became a fixed idea with me, actually as if
my own honor were staked on the result. As I knew that I was absolutely
proof against her charm, I proceeded to its execution without the
faintest scruples. She had long regarded my reserve with amazement and
anger; the consequence was that nothing was easier for me than to take
advantage of the first chance meeting I could bring about, to conquer a
place among her intimates.

"I will refrain from inflicting upon you, scene for scene, an account
of the wretched comedy that now began. The fact that I had to d