sking me if I had used such articles with her Venetian sister. "I will
put it on myself; you don't know how I shall enjoy it. Why didn't you use
one last night? How could you have forgotten it? Well, I shall be very
wretched if anything comes of it. What shall I do in four or five months,
when my condition becomes past doubt?"

"Dearest, the only thing to do is not to think of it, for if the damage
is done, there is no cure for it; but from my experience and knowledge of
the laws of nature I expect that our sweet combats of last night will
probably have no troublesome consequences. It has been stated that after
child-birth a woman cannot conceive afresh without having seen something
which I expect you have not seen."

"No, God be thanked!"

"Good. Then let us not give any thought to the dismal future lest we lose
our present bliss."

"I am quite comforted; but I can't understand why you are afraid to-day
of what you were not afraid yesterday; my state is the same."

"The event has sometimes given the lie to the most eminent physicians.
Nature, wiser than they, has exceptions to her rules, let us not defy
them for the future, but let us not trouble ourselves if we have defied
there in the past."

"I like to hear you talk so sagely. Yes, we will be prudent whatever it
costs. There you are, hooded like a mother abbess, but in spite of the
fineness of the sheath I like the little fellow better quite naked. I
think that this covering degrades us both."

"You are right, it does. But let us not dwell on these ideas which will
only spoil our pleasure."

"We will enjoy our pleasure directly; let me be reasonable now, for I
have never thought of these matters before. Love must have invented these
little sheaths, but it must first have listened to the voice of prudence,
and I do not like to see love and prudence allied."

"The correctness of your arguments surprises me, but we will philosophize
another time."

"Wait a minute. I have never seen a man before, and I have never wished
to enjoy the sight as much as now. Ten months ago I should have called
that article an invention of the devil; but now I look upon the inventor
as a benefactor, for if my wretched hump-back had provided himself with
such a sheath he would not have exposed me to the danger of losing my
honour and my life. But, tell me, how is that the makers of these things
remain unmolested; I wonder they are not found out, excommunicated, or
heavily fined,