rifices they make for the beloved object are
always ultimately referable to their own desires.

I had determined, then, to do all in my power for her, and certainly not
to allow her to return to the convent in the state she was in. I
concluded that to save her would be an action pleasing to God, since God
alone could have made her so like my beloved, and God had willed that I
should win a good deal of money, and had made me find the Zeroli, who
would serve as a shield to my actions and baffle the curiosity of spies.
The philosophers and the mystics may perhaps laugh at me, but what do I
care? I have always delighted in referring all the actions of my life to
God, and yet people have charged me with Atheism!

Next morning I did not forget the Zeroli, and I went to her room at eight
and found her asleep. Her maid begged me to go in quietly for fear of
awakening her, and then left me and shut the door. I knew my part, for I
remembered how, twenty years before, a Venetian lady, whose sleep I had
foolishly respected, had laughed at me and sent me about my business. I
therefore knew what to do; and having gently uncovered her, I gave myself
up to those delicate preliminary delights which sweeten the final
pleasure. The Zeroli wisely continued to sleep; but at last, conquered by
passion, she seconded my caresses with greater ardour than my own, and
she was obliged to laugh at her stratagem. She told me that her husband
had gone to Geneva to buy a repeating watch, and that he would not return
till next day, and that she could spend the night with me.

"Why the night, dearest, while we have the day before us? The night is
for slumber, and in the day one enjoys double bliss, since the light
allows all the senses to be satisfied at once. If you do not expect
anybody, I will pass the whole morning with you."

"Very good; nobody will interrupt us."

I was soon in her arms, and for four hours we gave ourselves up to every
kind of pleasure, cheating each other the better to succeed, and laughing
with delight each time we convinced each other of our love. After the
last assault she asked me, in return for her kindness, to spend three
more days at Aix.

"I promise you," I said, "to stay here as long as you continue giving me
such marks of your love as you have given me this morning."

"Let us get up, then, and go to dinner."

"In company, dearest? Look at your eyes."

"All the better. People will guess what has happened, and t