from the pyramid she said, quietly, that as I
did not want to know the answer, she would be much obliged if I would let
her translate the cypher.

"With pleasure," I replied. "And I shall do so all the more willingly as
I shall thereby save your delicacy from sharing with me a secret which
may or may not be agreeable. I promise you not to try to find it out. It
is enough for me to see you convinced."

"I shall be convinced when I have verified the truth of the reply."

"Are you persuaded, dearest Esther, that I have had nothing to do with
framing this answer?"

"I shall be quite sure of it if it has spoken the truth, and if so the
oracle will have conquered, for the matter is so secret a one that even I
do not know of it. You need not know yourself, as it is only a trifle
which would not interest you; but it will be enough to convince me that
the answers of your oracle are dictated by an intelligence which has
nothing in common with yours."

There was so much candour and frankness in what she said that a feeling
of shame replaced the desire of deceiving her, and I shed some tears,
which Esther could only interpret favourably to me. Nevertheless, they
were tears of remorse, and now, as I write after such a lapse of years, I
still regret having deceived one so worthy of my esteem and love. Even
then I reproached myself, but a pitiable feeling of shame would not let
me tell the truth; but I hated myself for thus leading astray one whose
esteem I desired to gain.

In the mean time I was not absolutely sure that I had hit the mark, for
in nature, like everything else, every law has its exceptions, and I
might possibly have dug a pitfall for myself. On the other hand, if I
were right, Esther would no doubt be convinced for the moment, but her
belief would speedily disappear if she chanced to discover that the
correspondence of moles on the human body was a necessary law of nature.
In that case I could only anticipate her scorn. But however I might
tremble I had carried the deception too far, and could not draw back.

I left Esther to call on Rigerboos, whom I thanked for his offices on my
behalf with the chief of the police. He told me that I had nothing to
fear from Piccolomini in Holland, but all the same he advised me not to
go about without pistols. "I am on the eve of embarking for Batavia,"
said he, "in a vessel which I have laden with the ruins of my fortune. In
the state my affairs are in I thought this the bes