od fortune. After I had
taken care of all the gold she had won, I gave her my arm, and we left
the 'ridotto', but remarking that a few inquisitive persons were
following us, I took a gondola which landed us according to my
instructions. One can always escape prying eyes in this way in Venice.

After supper I counted our winnings, and I found myself in possession of
one thousand sequins as my share. I rolled the remainder in paper, and my
friend asked me to put it in her bureau. I then took my locket and threw
it over her neck; it gave her the greatest delight, and she tried for a
long time to discover the secret. At last I showed it her, and she
pronounced my portrait an excellent likeness.

Recollecting that we had but three hours to devote to the pleasures of
love, I entreated her to allow me to turn them to good account.

"Yes," she said, "but be prudent, for our friend pretends that you might
die on the spot."

"And why does he not fear the same danger for you, when your ecstasies
are in reality much more frequent than mine?"

"He says that the liquor distilled by us women does not come from the
brain, as is the case with men, and that the generating parts of woman
have no contact with her intellect. The consequence of it, he says, is
that the child is not the offspring of the mother as far as the brain,
the seat of reason, is concerned, but of the father, and it seems to me
very true. In that important act the woman has scarcely the amount of
reason that she is in need of, and she cannot have any left to enable her
to give a dose to the being she is generating." "Your friend is a very
learned man. But do you know that such a way of arguing opens my eyes
singularly? It is evident that, if that system be true, women ought to be
forgiven for all the follies which they commit on account of love, whilst
man is inexcusable, and I should be in despair if I happened to place you
in a position to become a mother."

"I shall know before long, and if it should be the case so much the
better. My mind is made up, and my decision taken."

"And what is that decision?"

"To abandon my destiny entirely to you both. I am quite certain that
neither one nor the other would let me remain at the convent."

"It would be a fatal event which would decide our future destinies. I
would carry you off, and take you to England to marry you."

"My friend thinks that a physician might be bought, who, under the
pretext of some disease o