the entire family.
Rinaldi took everything in good part. He told me that since the daughter
would make no objection he had no fear of the father doing so. He went to
the house the next day, but he did not get the girl till I had left St.
Petersburg. He kept her for the remainder of his days, and behaved very
handsomely to her.
After this melancholy separation Madame Valville became my sole mistress,
and we left the Russian capital in the course of a few weeks. I took an
Armenian merchant into my service; he had lent me a hundred ducats, and
cooked very well in the Eastern style. I had a letter from the Polish
resident to Prince Augustus Sulkowski, and another from the English
ambassador for Prince Adam Czartoryski.
The day after we left St. Petersburg we stopped at Koporie to dine; we
had taken with us some choice viands and excellent wines. Two days later
we met the famous chapel-master, Galuppi or Buranelli, who was on his way
to St. Petersburg with two friends and an artiste. He did not know me,
and was astonished to find a Venetian dinner awaiting him at the inn, as
also to hear a greeting in his mother tongue. As soon as I had pronounced
my name he embraced me with exclamations of surprise and joy.
The roads were heavy with rain, so we were a week in getting to Riga, and
when we arrived I was sorry to hear that Prince Charles was not there.
From Riga, we were four days before getting to Konigsberg, where Madame
Valville, who was expected at Berlin, had to leave me. I left her my
Armenian, to whom she gladly paid the hundred ducats I owed him. I saw
her again two years later, and shall speak of the meeting in due time.
We separated like good friends, without any sadness. We spent the night
at Klein Roop, near Riga, and she offered to give me her diamonds, her
jewels, and all that she possessed. We were staying with the Countess
Lowenwald, to whom I had a letter from the Princess Dolgorouki. This lady
had in her house, in the capacity of governess, the pretty English woman
whom I had known as Campioni's wife. She told me that her husband was at
Warsaw, and that he was living with Villiers. She gave me a letter for
him, and I promised to make him send her some money, and I kept my word.
Little Betty was as charming as ever, but her mother seemed quite jealous
of her and treated her ill.
When I reached Konigsberg I sold my travelling carriage and took a place
in a coach for Warsaw. We were four in all, and m
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