it for a young marchioness, and he told me that
she should be attended by his own niece, that she should not leave the
house, and that nobody but myself should visit her.

Having made these arrangements I made the fair Venetian come in. I gave
her the money she had won, which I had converted into gold and made up to
a thousand ducats.

"You won't want it here," said I, "so take care of it. At Venice a
thousand ducats will make you somebody. Do not weep, dearest, my heart is
with you, and to-morrow evening I will sup with you."

The old man gave me the latch-key, and I went off to the "Treize
Cantons." I was expected, and my rooms were adjacent to those occupied by
Madame d'Urfe.

As soon as I was settled, Bourgnole waited on me, and told me her
mistress was alone and expecting me impatiently.

I shall not trouble my readers with an account of our interview, as it
was only composed of Madame d'Urfe's mad flights of fancy, and of lies on
my part which had not even the merit of probability. A slave to my life
of happy profligacy, I profited by her folly; she would have found
someone else to deceive her, if I had not done so, for it was really she
who deceived herself. I naturally preferred to profit by her rather than
that a stranger should do so; she was very rich, and I did myself a great
deal of good, without doing anyone any harm. The first thing she asked me
was, "Where is Querilinthos?" And she jumped with joy when I told her
that he was under the same roof.

"'Tis he, then, who shall make me young again. So has my genius assured
me night after night. Ask Paralis if the presents I have prepared are
good enough for Semiramis to present to the head of the Fraternity of the
Rosy Cross."

I did not know what these presents were, and as I could not ask to see
them, I answered that, before consulting Paralis, it would be necessary
to consecrate the gifts under the planetary hours, and that Querilinthos
himself must not see them before the consecration. Thereupon she took me
to her closet, and shewed me the seven packets meant for the Rosicrucian
in the form of offerings to the seven planets.

Each packet contained seven pounds of the metal proper to the planet, and
seven precious stones, also proper to the planets, each being seven
carats in weight; there were diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires,
chrysolites, topazes, and opals.

I made up my mind that nothing of this should pass into the hands of the
Genoese,