for which I had booked myself, there was one female already
seated: and women and cigars are such great luxuries in their respective
ways, that they are not to be indulged in at one and the same time--the
world would be too happy, and happiness, we are told, is not for us here
below. Not that I agree with that moral, although it comes from very
high authority; there is a great deal of happiness in this world, if you
knew how to extract it,--or, rather, I should say, of pleasure; there is
a pleasure in doing good; there is a pleasure, unfortunately, in doing
wrong; there is a pleasure in looking forward, ay, and in looking
backward also; there is pleasure in loving and being loved, in eating,
and drinking, and, though last, not least, in smoking. I do not mean to
say that there are not the drawbacks of pain, regret, and even remorse;
but there is a sort of pleasure even in them; it is pleasant to repent,
because you know that you are doing your duty; and if there is no great
pleasure in pain, it precedes an excess when it has left you. I say
again that, if you know how to extract it, there is a great deal of
pleasure and of happiness in this world, especially if you have, as I
have, a very bad memory.

"`_Allons, messieurs_!' said the _conducteur_; and when I got in I found
myself the sixth person, and opposite to the lady: for all the other
passengers were of my own sex. Having fixed our hats up to the roof,
wriggled and twisted a little so as to get rid of coat-tails, etcetera,
all of which was effected previously to our having cleared _Rue Notre
Dame des Victoires_, we began to scrutinise each other. Our female
companion's veil was down and doubled so that I could not well make her
out; my other four companions were young men--all Frenchmen,--apparently
good-tempered, and inclined to be agreeable. A few seconds were
sufficient for my reconnoitre of the gentlemen, and then my eyes were
naturally turned towards the lady. She was muffled up in a winter
cloak, so that her figure was not to be made out; and the veil still
fell down before her face, so that only one cheek and a portion of her
chin could be deciphered: that fragment of her physiognomy was very
pretty, and I watched in silence for the removal of the veil.

"I have omitted to state that, before I got into the diligence, I saw
her take a very tender adieu of a very handsome woman; but, as her back
was turned to me at the time, I did not see her face. S