tering, his eyebrows strongly arched, and his general
air being that of a cut-throat, accosted me and begged me to step aside
and hear what he had to say.

"If you like to stop at Parma for three days, and if you will promise to
give me fifty sequins when I bring you the news that the borgello is
dead, I promise to shoot him within the next twenty-four hours."

"Thanks. Such an animal as that should be allowed to die a natural death.
Here's a crown to drink my health."

At the present time I feel very thankful that I acted as I did, but I
confess that if I had felt sure that it was not a trap I should have
promised the money. The fear of committing myself spared me this crime.

The next day I got to Parma, and I put up at the posting-house under the
name of the Chevalier de Seingalt, which I still bear. When an honest man
adopts a name which belongs to no one, no one has a right to contest his
use of it; it becomes a man's duty to keep the name. I had now borne it
for two years, but I often subjoined to it my family name.

When I got to Parma I dismissed Costa, but in a week after I had the
misfortune to take him on again. His father, who was a poor violin
player, as I had once been, with a large family to provide for, excited
my pity.

I made enquiries about M. Antonio, but he had left the place; and M.
Dubois Chalelereux, Director of the Mint, had gone to Venice with the
permission of the Duke of Parma, to set up the beam, which was never
brought into use. Republics are famous for their superstitious attachment
to old customs; they are afraid that changes for the better may destroy
the stability of the state, and the government of aristocratic Venice
still preserves its original Greek character.

My Spaniard was delighted when I dismissed Costa and proportionately
sorry when I took him back.

"He's no profligate," said Le Duc; "he is sober, and has no liking for
bad company. But I think he's a robber, and a dangerous robber, too. I
know it, because he seems so scrupulously careful not to cheat you in
small things. Remember what I say, sir; he will do you. He is waiting to
gain your confidence, and then he will strike home. Now, I am quite a
different sort of fellow, a rogue in a small way; but you know me."

His insight was, keener than mine, for five or six months later the
Italian robbed me of fifty thousand crowns. Twenty-three years
afterwards, in 1784, I found him in Venice, valet to Count Hardegg, and I