no cause. I will send you my
letter by Laura, unless you promise me to go and fetch it yourself at her
house."

"Your letters will always be dear to me, but, mark my words,
M---- M---- will not enter into any explanation. She will believe you in
everything, except in one."

"I suppose you mean our passing a whole night together as innocently as
if we were brother and sister. If she knows you as well as I do, she will
indeed think it most wonderful."

"In that case, you may tell her the contrary, if you like."

"Nothing of the sort. I hate falsehoods, and I will certainly never utter
one in such a case as this; it would be very wrong. I do not love you
less on that account, my darling, although, during this long night, you
have not condescended to give me the slightest proof of your love."

"Believe me, dearest, I am sick from unhappiness. I love you with my
whole soul, but I am in such a situation that...."

"What! you are weeping, my love! Oh! I entreat you, spare my heart! I am
so sorry to have told you such a thing, but I can assure you I never
meant to make you unhappy. I am sure that in a quarter of an hour
M---- M---- will be crying likewise."

The alarum struck, and, having no longer any hope of seeing
M---- M---- come to justify herself, I kissed C---- C----. I gave her the
key of the casino, requesting her to return it for me to M---- M----, and
my young friend having gone back to the convent, I put on my mask and
left the casino.

CHAPTER XX

I Am in Danger of Perishing in the Lagunes--Illness--Letters
from C. C. and M. M.--The Quarrel is Made Up--Meeting at the
Casino of Muran I Learn the Name of M. M.'s Friend, and
Consent to Give Him A Supper at My Casino in the Company of
Our Common Mistress

The weather was fearful. The wind was blowing fiercely, and it was
bitterly cold. When I reached the shore, I looked for a gondola, I called
the gondoliers, but, in contravention to the police regulations, there
was neither gondola nor gondolier. What was I to do? Dressed in light
linen, I was hardly in a fit state to walk along the wharf for an hour in
such weather. I should most likely have gone back to the casino if I had
had the key, but I was paying the penalty of the foolish spite which had
made me give it up. The wind almost carried me off my feet, and there was
no house that I could enter to get a shelter.

I had in my pockets three hundred philippes that I had won