hand to wander indiscreetly, and my happy fingers felt all
the precincts of the temple of love. This was enough to fire the chastest
disposition. I could not find the object of my research, and, not wishing
to stop short at so vain an enjoyment, I was allowed to convince myself
with my eyes that it actually existed. There, however, her concessions
stopped short, and I had to content myself by kissing again and again all
those parts which modesty no longer denied to my gaze.

Satiated with bliss, though I had not attained to the utmost of
enjoyment, which she wisely denied me, after two hours had been devoted
to those pastimes which lead to nothing, I resolved to tell her the whole
truth and to shew her how I had abused her trust in me, though I feared
that her anger would be roused.

Esther, who had a large share of intelligence (indeed if she had had less
I could not have deceived her so well), listened to me without
interrupting me and without any signs of anger or astonishment. At last,
when I had brought my long and sincere confession to an end, she said,

"I know your love for me is as great as mine for you; and if I am certain
that what you have just said cannot possibly be true, I am forced to
conclude that if you do not communicate to me all the secrets of your
science it is because to do so is not in your power. Let us love one
another till death, and say no more about this matter."

After a moment's silence, she went on,--

"If love has taken away from you the courage of sincerity I forgive you,
but I am sorry for you. You have given me too positive proof of the
reality of your science to be able to shake my belief. You could never
have found out a thing of which I myself was ignorant, and of which no
mortal man could know."

"And if I shew you, Esther dear, that I knew you had this mole, that I
had good reasons for supposing you to be ignorant of it, will your belief
be shaken then?"

"You knew it? How could you have seen it? It's incredible!"

"I will tell you all."

I then explained to her the theory of the correspondence of moles on the
various parts of the human body, and to convince her I ended by saying
that her governess who had a large mark on her right cheek ought to have
one very like it on her left thigh. At this she burst into laughter, and
said, "I will find out, but after all you have told me I can only admire
you the more for knowing what no one else does."

"Do you really think, Est