she might retort upon him.

Laura was quite satisfied that, if this could be accomplished, she
would be perfectly safe; as with his good temper she said she had
little doubt, even in case of the worst we dreaded occurring, she would
be able to persuade him that it would be for the interests of both that
he should keep quiet, seeing she had such a hold over him. She now
admitted that she really was fond of him, though her curiosity and my
boldness had lately enabled me to gain the advantage over him, and I
easily drew from her that she did not like him the less for the report
I had made of his evident ability to perform satisfactorily in the
battles of Venus. I therefore told her that, though I was afraid that
the performance of the instrument that would probably afford the
greatest pleasure to her might prove to be martyrdom to me, I was
prepared to undergo it for her sake, and we signed and sealed the
agreements in our usual happy way.

As I have always found that where a thing is once determined on it is
better to lose no time in carrying it into execution, I set to work
immediately. I dressed for dinner that day sooner than usual, and about
half an hour before the ordinary dinner hour, I made my way to Sir
Charles' room, taking with me an amorous work he had lent me and making
a pretext of wishing to borrow another. When he found who it was that
knocked at the door he asked me to come in, saying that he wanted to
see me as he had that day received a packet from town with some things
he had ordered down for me. He then told his servant to lay out some
things for him, and that he would not be required further. As soon as
the servant had left the room, he took from a drawer a large parcel,
and selecting a packet of drawings, told me to sit down and amuse
myself with them while he finished dressing.

This was coming to the point even sooner than I had anticipated, but as
it was just the opening I wanted, I sat down and began to examine the
drawings which consisted of a most beautifully executed series of
voluptuous designs. When he had dressed himself, all except his coat
and waistcoat (and he was a very few minutes about it), he came and
leaned over me, looking at the drawings and making observations upon
them. After we had gone over them, he said there were some more which
he liked still better and he hoped I would be equally well pleased with
them. He went to the drawer for them, while I rose up to lay aside
those