"That arrangement will suit me admirably. We must be friends. I leave you
with this charming attendant. I did not think that such a beauty could
exist in Milan unknown to all but you."

"She is a townswoman, who knows how to keep a secret. Do you not?"

"I would rather die than tell anyone that this gentleman is the Marquis
of F----."

"That's right; always keep your word, and take this trifle as a souvenir
of me."

It was a pretty ring, which Zenobia received with much grace; it might be
worth about fifty sequins.

When the marquis was gone, Zenobia undressed me and did my hair for the
night, and as I got into bed I gave her twenty-four sequins, and told her
she might go and comfort her husband.

"He won't be uneasy," said she, "he is a philosopher."

"He need be with such a pretty wife. Kiss me again, Zenobia, and then we
must part."

She threw herself upon me, covering me with kisses, and calling me her
happiness and her providence. Her fiery kisses produced their natural
effect, and after I had given her a fresh proof of the power of her
charms, she left me and I went to sleep.

It was two o'clock when I awoke ravenously hungry. I had an excellent
dinner, and then I dressed to call on the charming Mdlle. Q----, whom I
did not expect to find too hard on me, after what she had said. Everybody
was playing cards with the exception of herself. She was standing by a
window reading so attentively that she did not hear me come into the
room, but when she saw me near her, she blushed, shut up the book, and
put it in her pocket.

"I will not betray you," said I, "or tell anyone that I surprised you
reading a prayer-book."

"No, don't; for my reputation would be gone if I were thought to be a
devotee."

"Has there been any talk of the masqued ball or of the mysterious
masquers?"

"People talk of nothing else, and condole with us for not having been to
the ball, but no one can guess who the beggars were. It seems that an
unknown carriage and four that sped like the wind took them as far as the
first stage, and where they went next God alone knows! It is said that my
hair was false, and I have longed to let it down and thus give them the
lie. It is also said that you must know who the beggars were, as you
loaded them with ducats."

"One must let people say and believe what they like and not betray
ourselves."

"You are right; and after all we had a delightful evening. If you acquit
yourself of all commis