sulted. The Genoese added
that if we had kept cool we should have had the plucking of him, but that
God alone knew what he would do now with the mark of the burn on his
face. Tired of the talk of these infamous women, I was about to leave
them, but my landlady began to ride the high horse, and went so far as to
call me a beggar.

"If M. le Noir had not come in just then, she would have had a bad time
of it, as my stick was already in my hand. As soon as they saw him they
told me to hold my tongue, but my blood was up; and turning towards the
worthy man I told him that his mistress had called me a beggar, that she
was a common prostitute, that I was not her cousin, nor in any way
related to her, and that I should leave her that very day. As soon as I
had come to the end of this short and swift discourse, I went out and
shut myself up in my room. In the course of the next two hours I shall go
and fetch my linen, and I hope to breakfast with you to-morrow."

Tiretta did well. His heart was in the right place, and he was wise not
to allow the foolish impulses of youth to plunge him in the sink of
corruption. As long as a man has not committed a dishonourable action, as
long as his heart is sound, though his head may go astray, the path of
duty is still open to him. I should say the same of women if prejudice
were not so strong in their case, and if they were not much more under
the influence of the heart than the head.

After a good dinner washed down by some delicious Sillery we parted, and
I spent the evening in writing. Next morning I did some business, and at
noon went to see the distressed devotee, whom I found at home with her
charming niece. We talked a few minutes about the weather, and she then
told my sweetheart to leave us as she wanted to speak to me. I was
prepared for what was coming and I waited for her to break the silence
which all women of her position observe. "You will be surprised, sir, at
what I am going to tell you, for I have determined to bring before you a
complaint of an unheard-of character. The case is really of the most
delicate nature, and I am impelled to make a confidant of you by the
impression you made on me when I first saw you. I consider you to be a
man of discretion, of honour, and above all a moral man; in short, I
believe you have experienced religion, and if I am making a mistake it
will be a pity, for though I have been insulted I don't lack means of
avenging myself, and as you a