some letters. I guessed that he wanted to pump him
about me, and said that I needed his services all the day.

"Well, well," said the abbe, "another time will do." I gave him no
answer. Such is the character of the curious.

I am not referring to that curiosity which depends on the occult
sciences, and endeavours to pry into the future--the daughter of
ignorance and superstition, its victims are either foolish or ignorant.
But the Abbe Gama was neither; he was naturally curious, and his
employment made him still more so, for he was paid to find out
everything. He was a diplomatist; if he had been a little lower down in
the social scale he would have been treated as a spy.

He left me to pay some calls, promising to be back by dinner-time.

Dr. Vannini brought me another servant, of the same height as the first,
and engaged that he should obey orders and guess nothing. I thanked the
academician and inn-keeper, and ordered him to get me a sumptuous dinner.

The Corticelli was the first to arrive, bringing with her her brother, an
effeminate-looking young man, who played the violin moderately well, and
her mother, who informed me that she never allowed her daughter to dine
out without herself and her son.

"Then you can take her back again this instant," said I, "or take this
ducat to dine somewhere else, as I don't want your company or your
son's."

She took the ducat, saying that she was sure she was leaving her daughter
in good hands.

"You may be sure of that," said I, "so be off."

The daughter made such witty observations on the above dialogue that I
could not help laughing, and I began to be in love with her. She was only
thirteen, and was so small that she looked ten. She was well-made,
lively, witty, and fairer than is usual with Italian women, but to this
day I cannot conceive how I fell in love with her.

The young wanton begged me to protect her against the manager of the
opera, who was a Jew. In the agreement she had made with him he had
engaged to let her dance a 'pas de deux' in the second opera, and he had
not kept his word. She begged me to compel the Jew to fulfil his
engagement, and I promised to do so.

The next guest was Redegonde, who came from Parma. She was a tall,
handsome woman, and Costa told me she was the sister of my new footman.
After I had talked with her for two or three minutes I found her remarks
well worthy of attention.

Then came the Abbe Gama, who congratulated me on bei