forms, telling his name and his political position."

"Then it is all for the best, darling. How could you suppose that I would
have any difficulty in procuring you that pleasure, when on the contrary,
nothing could please me more myself? Name the day, and be quite certain
that I shall anxiously look for it."

"I should have been sure of your compliance, if you had not given me
cause to doubt it."

"It is a home-thrust, but I deserve it."

"And I hope it will not make you angry. Now I am happy. Our friend is M.
de Bernis, the French ambassador. He will come masked, and as soon as he
shews his features I shall present him to you. Recollect that you must
treat him as my lover, but you must not appear to know that he is aware
of our intimacy."

"I understand that very well, and you shall have every reason to be
pleased with my urbanity. The idea of that supper is delightful to me,
and I hope that the reality will be as agreeable. You were quite right,
my love, to dread my being a patrician, for in that case the
State-Inquisitors, who very often think of nothing but of making a show
of their zeal, would not have failed to meddle with us, and the mere idea
of the possible consequences makes me shudder. I under The Leads--you
dishonoured--the abbess--the convent! Good God! Yes, if you had told me
what you thought, I would have given you my name, and I could have done
so all the more easily that my reserve was only caused by the fear of
being known, and of C---- C---- being taken to another convent by her
father. But can you appoint a day for the supper? I long to have it all
arranged."

"To-day is the fourth; well, then, in four days."

"That will be the eighth?"

"Exactly so. We will go to your casino after the second ballet. Give me
all necessary particulars to enable us to find the house without
enquiring from anyone."

I sat down and I wrote down the most exact particulars to find the casino
either by land or by water. Delighted with the prospect of such a party
of pleasure, I asked my mistress to go to bed, but I remarked to her
that, being convalescent and having made a hearty supper, I should be
very likely to pay my first homages to Morpheus. Yielding to the
circumstances, she set the alarum for ten o'clock, and we went to bed in
the alcove. As soon as we woke up, Love claimed our attention and he had
no cause of complaint, but towards midnight we fell asleep, our lips
fastened together, and we found ours