ld which
performs that miracle."

"And many others, perhaps."

"Oh! the time has gone by for them! But tell me, my love, where will you
wait for me to-morrow, two hours after the setting of the sun?"

"Could I not wait for you at your casino?"

"No, because my lover will take me himself to Venice."

"Your lover?"

"Yes, himself."

"It is not possible."

"Yet it is true."

"I can wait for you in St. John and St. Paul's Square behind the pedestal
of the statue of Bartholomew of Bergamo."

"I have never seen either the square or the statue except in engravings;
it is enough, however, and I will not fail. Nothing but very stormy
weather could prevent me from coming to a rendezvous for which my heart
is panting."

"And if the weather were bad?"

"Then, dearest, there would be nothing lost; and you would come here
again in order to appoint another day."

I had no time to lose, for I had no casino. I took a second rower so as
to reach St. Mark's Square more rapidly, and I immediately set to work
looking for what I wanted. When a mortal is so lucky as to be in the good
graces of the god Plutus, and is not crackbrained, he is pretty sure to
succeed in everything: I had not to search very long before I found a
casino suiting my purpose exactly. It was the finest in the neighbourhood
of Venice, but, as a natural consequence, it was likewise the most
expensive. It had belonged to the English ambassador, who had sold it
cheap to his cook before leaving Venice. The owner let it to me until
Easter for one hundred sequins, which I paid in advance on condition that
he would himself cook the dinners and the suppers I might order.

I had five rooms furnished in the most elegant style, and everything
seemed to be calculated for love, pleasure, and good cheer. The service
of the dining-room was made through a sham window in the wall, provided
with a dumb-waiter revolving upon itself, and fitting the window so
exactly that master and servants could not see each other. The
drawing-room was decorated with magnificent looking-glasses, crystal
chandeliers, girandoles in gilt, bronze, and with a splendid pier-glass
placed on a chimney of white marble; the walls were covered with small
squares of real china, representing little Cupids and naked amorous
couples in all sorts of positions, well calculated to excite the
imagination; elegant and very comfortable sofas were placed on every
side. Next to it was an octagonal room, the w