t me the favour of accompanying you to Parma?"

"I should be delighted, for we could have some conversation, but take
care, sir, your task will not be an easy one, you will often find
yourself obliged to translate for both of us."

"I shall do so with great pleasure; I am only sorry that the journey is
not longer. We can arrange everything at supper-time; allow me to leave
you now as I have some business to settle."

My business was in reference to a carriage, for the one I had boasted of
existed only in my imagination. I went to the most fashionable
coffee-house, and, as good luck would have it, heard that there was a
travelling carriage for sale, which no one would buy because it was too
expensive. Two hundred sequins were asked for it, although it had but two
seats and a bracket-stool for a third person. It was just what I wanted.
I called at the place where it would be seen. I found a very fine English
carriage which could not have cost less than two hundred guineas. Its
noble proprietor was then at supper, so I sent him my name, requesting
him not to dispose of his carriage until the next morning, and I went
back to the hotel well pleased with my discovery. At supper I arranged
with the captain that we would not leave Cesena till after dinner on the
following day, and the conversation was almost entirely a dialogue
between Henriette and myself; it was my first talk with a French woman. I
thought this young creature more and more charming, yet I could not
suppose her to be anything else but an adventurers, and I was astonished
at discovering in her those noble and delicate feelings which denote a
good education. However, as such an idea would not have suited the views
I had about her, I rejected it whenever it presented itself to my mind.
Whenever I tried to make her talk about the captain she would change the
subject of conversation, or evade my insinuations with a tact and a
shrewdness which astonished and delighted me at the same time, for
everything she said bore the impress of grace and wit. Yet she did not
elude this question:

"At least tell me, madam, whether the captain is your husband or your
father."

"Neither one nor the other," she answered, with a smile.

That was enough for me, and in reality what more did I want to know? The
worthy captain had fallen asleep. When he awoke I wished them both good
night, and retired to my room with a heart full of love and a mind full
of projects. I saw that ever