int-Francis, there were neither Capuchins nor
Recollets. His answer was that I had proved myself an ignoramus. I firmly
believed that he would be thought a madman, and that we should not
receive anything, but I was mistaken, for such a quantity of provisions
came pouring in that I was amazed. Wine was sent from three or four
different quarters, more than enough for us during all our stay, and yet
I drank nothing but water, so great was my wish to recover my health. As
for eatables, enough was sent in every day for six persons; we gave all
our surplus to our keeper, who had a large family. But the monk felt no
gratitude for the kind souls who bestowed their charity upon him; all his
thanks were reserved for Saint-Francis.

He undertook to have my men washed by the keeper; I would not have dared
to give it myself, and he said that he had nothing to fear, as everybody
was well aware that the monks of his order never wear any kind of linen.

I kept myself in bed nearly all day, and thus avoided shewing myself to
visitors. The persons who did not come wrote letters full of
incongruities cleverly worded, which I took good care not to point out to
him. It was with great difficulty that I tried to persuade him that those
letters did not require any answer.

A fortnight of repose and severe diet brought me round towards complete
recovery, and I began to walk in the yard of the lazzaretto from morning
till night; but the arrival of a Turk from Thessalonia with his family
compelled me to suspend my walks, the ground-floor having been given to
him. The only pleasure left me was to spend my time on the balcony
overlooking the yard. I soon saw a Greek slave, a girl of dazzling
beauty, for whom I felt the deepest interest. She was in the habit of
spending the whole day sitting near the door with a book or some
embroidery in her hand. If she happened to raise her eyes and to meet
mine, she modestly bent her head down, and sometimes she rose and went in
slowly, as if she meant to say, "I did not know that somebody was looking
at me." Her figure was tall and slender, her features proclaimed her to
be very young; she had a very fair complexion, with beautiful black hair
and eyes. She wore the Greek costume, which gave her person a certain air
of very exciting voluptuousness.

I was perfectly idle, and with the temperament which nature and habit had
given me, was it likely that I could feast my eyes constantly upon such a
charming objec