It shall be the first infidelity I shall commit against my solemn
conquest; and, I promise you, I will embrace the first pretence to be
absent from her four and twenty hours: that shall be her punishment for
having kept me so long distant from her: It is now more than two months
I have been taken up with this adventure: ay, two months and three
days, including to-morrow, as it will not be really consummated until
then. This brings to my memory, that Mademoiselle B—— held out three
complete months. I am pleased to find sheer coquetry can make a longer
defence than austere virtue.
Adieu, charmer! I must leave off, for it is very late. This letter has
led me farther than I intended; but, as I send to Paris to-morrow, I
would not miss the opportunity of letting you partake a day sooner of
your friend’s good success.
_Oct._ 2, 17—, _at Night._
[1] Voltaire’s comedy of Nanine.