sed her were it for nothing but a kiss."
"I am sorry to have injured you, though I did not intend to do so; but I
really don't know what I can do."
"Come and see us, and keep your money, which I despise. If you love me,
come and conquer me like a reasonable and not a brutal lover; and I will
help you, for now you cannot doubt that I love you."
All this seemed so natural to me that I never dreamed it contained a
trap. I was caught, and I promised to do what she wished, but only for a
fortnight. She confirmed her promise, and her countenance became once
more serene and calm. The Charpillon was a born actress.
She got up to go, and on my begging a kiss as a pledge of our
reconciliation she replied, with a smile, the charm of which she well
knew, that it would not do to begin by breaking the term of our
agreement, and she left me more in love than ever, and full of repentance
for my conduct.
CHAPTER XII
Goudar's Chair
If she had written all this to me instead of coming and delivering it
viva voce, it would probably have produced no effect; there would have
been no tears, no ravishing features. She probably calculated all this,
for women have a wonderful instinct in these matters.
That very evening I began my visits, and judged from my welcome that my
triumph was nigh at hand. But love fills our minds with idle visions, and
draws a veil over the truth.
The fortnight went by without my even kissing her hand, and every time I
came I brought some expensive gift, which seemed cheap to me when I
obtained such smiles of gratitude in exchange. Besides these presents,
not a day passed without some excursion to the country or party at the
theatre; that fortnight must have cost me four hundred guineas at the
least.
At last it came to an end, and I asked her in the presence of her mother
where she would spend the night with me, there or at my house. The mother
said that we would settle it after supper, and I made no objection, not
liking to tell her that in my house the supper would be more succulent,
and a better prelude for the kind of exercise I expected to enjoy.
When we had supped the mother took me aside, and asked me to leave with
the company and then to come back. I obeyed, laughing to myself at this
foolish mystery, and when I came back I found the mother and the daughter
in the parlour, in which a bed had been laid on the floor.
Though I did not much care for this arrangement, I was too am
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