is the house I will be guided by you in everything."

"Don't trust a Piedmontese; that's the first commandment here."

She then gave me the address of a small furnished house, which was only
inhabited by an old door-keeper and his wife.

"They will let it you by the month," said she, "and if you pay a month in
advance you need not even tell them your name."

I found the house to be a very pretty one, standing in a lonely street at
about two hundred paces from the citadel. One gate, large enough to admit
a carriage, led into the country. I found everything to be as Madame
R---- had described it. I paid a month in advance without any bargaining,
and in a day I had settled in my new lodging. Madame R---- admired my
celerity.

I went to the Jewish wedding and enjoyed myself, for there is something
at once solemn and ridiculous about the ceremony; but I resisted all
Leah's endeavours to get me once more into her meshes.. I hired a close
carriage from her father, which with the horses I placed in the
coach-house and stables of my new house. Thus I was absolutely free to go
whenever I would by night or by day, for I was at once in the town and in
the country. I was obliged to tell the inquisitive Gama where I was
living, and I hid nothing from Desarmoises, whose needs made him
altogether dependent on me. Nevertheless I gave orders that my door was
shut to them as to everyone else, unless I had given special instructions
that they were to be admitted. I had no reason to doubt the fidelity of
my two servants.

In this blissful abode I enjoyed all Mdlle. R----'s girls, one after the
other. The one I wanted always brought a companion, whom I usually sent
back after giving her a slice of the cake. The last of them, whose name
was Victorine, as fair as day and as soft as a dove, had the misfortune
to be tied, though she knew nothing about it. Mdlle. R----, who was
equally ignorant on the subject, had represented her to me as a virgin,
and so I thought her for two long hours in which I strove with might and
main to break the charm, or rather open the shell. All my efforts were in
vain. I was exhausted at last, and I wanted to see in what the obstacle
consisted. I put her in the proper position, and armed with a candle I
began my scrutiny. I found a fleshy membrane pierced by so small a hole
that large pin's head could scarcely have gone through. Victorine
encouraged me to force a passage with my little finger, but in vain I
tri