tiable condition, and that she had
been put to bed.

"I made haste to come and tell you," said the cunning maid, "not for the
sake of your two guineas, but because I saw you were so unhappy." This
duped me directly. I gave her the two guineas, and made her sit down on
my bed, begging her to tell me all about her mistress's return. I did not
dream that she had been schooled by my enemies; but during the whole of
this period I was deprived of the right use of my reason.

The slut began by saying that her young mistress loved me, and had only
deceived me in accordance with her mother's orders.

"I know that," I said, "but where did she pass the night?"

"At a shop which she found open, and where she was known from having
bought various articles there. She is in bed with a fever, and I am
afraid it may have serious consequences as she is in her monthly period."

"That's impossible, for I caught her in the act with her hairdresser."

"Oh, that proves nothing! the poor young man does not look into things
very closely."

"But she is in love with him."

"I don't think so, though she has spent several hours in his company."

"And you say that she loves me!"

"Oh, that has nothing to do with it! It is only a whim of hers with the
hairdresser."

"Tell her that I am coming to pass the day beside her bed, and bring me
her reply."

"I will send the other girl if you like."

"No, she only speaks English."

She went away, and as she had not returned by three o'clock I decided on
calling to hear how she was. I knocked at the door, and one of the aunts
appeared and begged me not to enter as the two friends of the house were
there in a fury against me, and her niece lay in a delirium, crying out
"There's Seingalt, there's Seingalt! He's going to kill me. Help! help!"
"For God's sake, sir, go away!"

I went home desperate, without the slightest suspicion that it was all a
lie. I spent the whole day without eating anything; I could not swallow a
mouthful. All night I kept awake, and though I took several glasses of
strong waters I could obtain no rest.

At nine o'clock the next morning I knocked at the Charpillon's door, and
the old aunt came and held it half open as before. She forbade me to
enter, saying that her niece was still delirious, continually calling on
me in her transports, and that the doctor had declared that if the
disease continued its course she had not twenty-four hours to live. "The
fright you gave her