f the expected arrival of
the father of my charming C---- C----, and the kind old man wrote to him
immediately in my presence. He requested him to name at what time he
might call on him on important business. I asked M. de Bragadin not to
send his letter until the following day.

The reader can very well guess that C---- C---- had not to wait for me long
after midnight. I gained admittance without any difficulty, and I found
my darling, who received me with open arms.

"You have nothing to fear," she said to me; "my father has arrived in
excellent health, and everyone in the house is fast asleep."

"Except Love," I answered, "which is now inviting us to enjoy ourselves.
Love will protect us, dearest, and to-morrow your father will receive a
letter from my worthy protector."

At those words C---- C---- shuddered. It was a presentiment of the future.

She said to me,

"My father thinks of me now as if I were nothing but a child; but his
eyes are going to be opened respecting me; he will examine my conduct,
and God knows what will happen! Now, we are happy, even more than we were
during our visits to Zuecca, for we can see each other every night
without restraint. But what will my father do when he hears that I have a
lover?"

"What can he do? If he refuses me your hand, I will carry you off, and
the patriarch would certainly marry us. We shall be one another's for
life"

"It is my most ardent wish, and to realize it I am ready to do anything;
but, dearest, I know my father."

We remained two hours together, thinking less of our pleasures than of
our sorrow; I went away promising to see her again the next night. The
whole of the morning passed off very heavily for me, and at noon M. de
Bragadin informed me that he had sent his letter to the father, who had
answered that he would call himself on the following day to ascertain M.
de Bragadin's wishes. At midnight I saw my beloved mistress again, and I
gave her an account of all that had transpired. C---- C---- told me that
the message of the senator had greatly puzzled her father, because, as he
had never had any intercourse with that nobleman, he could not imagine
what he wanted with him. Uncertainty, a sort of anxious dread, and a
confused hope, rendered our enjoyment much less lively during the two
hours which we spent together. I had no doubt that M. Ch. C---- the father
of my young friend, would 'go home immediately after his interview with
M. de Bragadin, th