ture Madame Lebel to return me the ring I
had given her, and as we had agreed, I presented her with a roll of a
hundred Louis, which she took with a melancholy air.

"I should never have sold it," she said, "for I have no need of money."

"In that case I will give it back to you, but promise me never to part
with it, and keep the hundred Louis as some small reward of the services
you have rendered me."

She shook my hand affectionately, put on my finger her wedding ring, and
left me to hide her grief. I wiped my tears away, and said to Lebel,

"You are about to possess yourself of a treasure which I cannot commend
too highly. You are a man of honour; you will appreciate her excellent
qualities, and you will know how to make her happy. She will love you
only, take care of your household, and keep no secrets from you. She is
full of wit and spirits, and will easily disperse the slightest shadow of
ill humour which may fall on you."

I went in with him to the mother's room to take leave of her, and Madame
Dubois begged me to delay my departure and sup once more with her. I told
her that my horses were put in and the carriage waiting at my door, and
that such a delay would set tongues talking; but that if she liked, she,
her future husband and her mother, could come and see me at an inn two
leagues off on the Geneva road, where we could stay as long as we liked.
Lebel approved of the plan, and my proposition was accepted.

When I got back to my inn I found my carriage ready, and I got in and
drove to the meeting-place, and ordered a good supper for four, and an
hour later my guests arrived.

The gay and even happy air of the newly betrothed surprised me, but what
astonished me more was the easy way with which she threw herself into my
arms as soon as she saw me. It put me quite out of countenance, but she
had more wit than I. However, I mustered up sufficient strength to follow
her cue, but I could not help thinking that if she had really loved me
she would not have found it possible to pass thus from love to mere
friendship. However, I imitated her, and made no objections to those
marks of affection allowed to friendship, which are supposed to have no
tincture of love in them.

At supper I thought I saw that Lebel was more delighted at having such a
wife than at the prospect of enjoying her and satisfying a strong
passion. That calmed me; I could not be jealous of a man like that. I
perceived, too, that my sweethea