ou would certainly never find me
compliant; and how am I to know that you would not threaten me with
death?"

"Nothing of the sort would happen, Bellino," I answered, rather tired of
the length of his argument, "positively nothing, and I am sure you are
exaggerating your fears. Yet I am bound to tell you that, even if all you
say should happen, it seems to me that to allow what can strictly be
considered only as a temporary fit of insanity, would prove a less evil
than to render incurable a disease of the mind which reason would soon
cut short."

Thus does a poor philosopher reason when he takes it into his head to
argue at those periods during which a passion raging in his soul makes
all its faculties wander. To reason well, we must be under the sway
neither of love nor of anger, for those two passions have one thing in
common which is that, in their excess, they lower us to the condition of
brutes acting only under the influence of their predominating instinct,
and, unfortunately, we are never more disposed to argue than when we feel
ourselves under the influence of either of those two powerful human
passions.

We arrived at Sinigaglia late at night, and I went to the best inn, and,
after choosing a comfortable room, ordered supper. As there was but one
bed in the room, I asked Bellino, in as calm a tone as I could assume,
whether he would have a fire lighted in another chamber, and my surprise
may be imagined when he answered quietly that he had no objection to
sleep in the same bed with me. Such an answer, however, unexpected, was
necessary to dispel the angry feelings under which I was labouring. I
guessed that I was near the denouement of the romance, but I was very far
from congratulating myself, for I did not know whether the denouement
would prove agreeable or not. I felt, however, a real satisfaction at
having conquered, and was sure of my self-control, in case the senses, my
natural instinct, led me astray. But if I found myself in the right, I
thought I could expect the most precious favours.

We sat down to supper opposite each other, and during the meal, his
words, his countenance, the expression of his beautiful eyes, his sweet
and voluptuous smile, everything seemed to announce that he had had
enough of playing a part which must have proved as painful to him as to
me.

A weight was lifted off my mind, and I managed to shorten the supper as
much as possible. As soon as we had left the table, my amia