teille having alluded
to a caning and fifty pistoles, the coachman made no further objections. I
did not understand very well what he was about. After an hour's rapid
travelling, as I was looking with some anxiety as to where we were, he
tried to divert me by telling me some episodes of his life. Although I did
not listen very intelligently to what he said, I heard enough to find out
that I was the first woman he had ever loved. They all say so, but he told
the truth, for he spoke with his eyes and his heart. I soon found out that
we were no longer on our right road; but observe how far the feebleness of
a woman in love will go: I hadn't the courage to ask him why he had
changed our route. We crossed the Seine in a boat, between Sevres and St.
Cloud; we regained the woods, and after an hour's ride through them, we
reached an iron park-gate, at the extremity of the village of Velaisy.

"Monsieur de Marteille had counted without his host. He expected not to
have found a soul in his brother's chateau, but, since the evening before,
his brother had returned from a journey to the coast of France. Seeing
that the chateau was inhabited, Monsieur de Marteille begged me to wait a
little in the carriage. As soon as he had gone, the coachman came to the
door.--'Well, madame, we breathe at last! my opinion is that we should make
our escape. Depend upon the word of La Violette, we shall be in less than
two hours at the hotel.'--'La Violette,' said I, 'open the door.'--I ran a
great risk. La Violette obeyed.--'Now,' said I to him, when I had alighted
upon the ground, 'you may go!'--He looked at me with the eye of an old
philosopher, mounted his box, and snapped his whip; but he had hardly
started, when he thought it better to return.--'I will not return without
madame, for if I return alone, I shall be sure of a good heating, and of
being discharged.'--'Indeed, La Violette! as you please.' At that moment I
saw the count returning.--'It is all for the best,' he cried out, in the
distance; 'my brother has only two days to spend in Paris: he has stopped
here to give his orders; he wishes, at all hazards, to see Camargo dance!
I told him that she was to appear this evening. He will leave in a moment.
You must wait in the park till he is gone. I will return to him, for I
must take my leave of him, and wish him a pleasant journey.

"An hour afterward we were installed in the chateau. La Violette remained,
at our order, with his carriage and