I Give My Portrait to M. M.--A Present From Her--I Go to the Opera With
Her--She Plays At the Faro Table and Replenishes My Empty
Purse--Philosophical Conversation With M. M.--A Letter From C. C.--She
Knows All--A Ball At the Convent; My Exploits In the Character of
Pierrot--C. C. Comes to the Casino Instead of M. M.--I Spend the Night
With Her In A Very Silly Way.
My dear M---- M---- had expressed a wish to have my portrait, something
like the one I had given to C---- C----, only larger, to wear it as a
locket. The outside was to represent some saint, and an invisible spring
was to remove the sainted picture and expose my likeness. I called upon
the artist who had painted the other miniature for me, and in three
sittings I had what I wanted. He afterwards made me an Annunciation, in
which the angel Gabriel was transformed into a dark-haired saint, and the
Holy Virgin into a beautiful, light-complexioned woman holding her arms
towards the angel. The celebrated painter Mengs imitated that idea in the
picture of the Annunciation which he painted in Madrid twelve years
afterwards, but I do not know whether he had the same reasons for it as
my painter. That allegory was exactly of the same size as my portrait,
and the jeweller who made the locket arranged it in such a manner that no
one could suppose the sacred image to be there only for the sake of
hiding a profane likeness.
The end of January, 1754, before going to the casino, I called upon Laura
to give her a letter for C---- C----, and she handed me one from her which
amused me. My beautiful nun had initiated that young girl, not only into
the mysteries of Sappho, but also in high metaphysics, and C---- C---- had
consequently become a Freethinker. She wrote to me that, objecting to
give an account of her affairs to her confessor, and yet not wishing to
tell him falsehoods, she had made up her mind to tell him nothing.
"He has remarked," she added, "that perhaps I do not confess anything to
him because I did not examine my conscience sufficiently, and I answered
him that I had nothing to say, but that if he liked I would commit a few
sins for the purpose of having something to tell him in confession."
I thought this reply worthy of a thorough sophist, and laughed heartily.
On the same day I received the following letter from my adorable nun "I
write to you from my bed, dearest browny, because I cannot remain
standing on my feet. I am almost dead. But I am not anxious about it; a
little rest will make me all right, for I eat well and sleep soundly. You
have made me very happy by writing to me that your bleeding has not had
any evil consequences, and I give you fair notice that I shall have the
proof of it on Twelfth Night, at least if you like; that is understood,
and you will let me know. In case you should feel disposed to grant me
that favour, my darling, I wish to go to the opera. At all events,
recollect that I positively forbid the whites of eggs for the future, for
I would rather have a little less enjoyment and more security respecting
your health. In future, when you go to the casino of Muran, please to
enquire whether there is anybody there, and if you receive an affirmative
answer, go away. My friend will do the same. In that manner you will not
run the risk of meeting one another, but you need not observe these
precautions for long, if you wish, for my friend is extremely fond of
you, and has a great desire to make your acquaintance. He has told me
that, if he had not seen it with his own eyes, he never would have
believed that a man could run the race that you ran so splendidly the
other night, but he says that, by making love in that manner, you bid
defiance to death, for he is certain that the blood you lost comes from
the brain. But what will he say when he hears that you only laugh at the
occurrence? I am going to make you very merry: he wants to eat the salad
of whites of eggs, and he wants me to ask you for some of your vinegar,
because there is none in Venice. He said that he spent a delightful
night, in spite of his fear of the evil consequences of our amorous
sport, and he has found my own efforts superior to the usual weakness of
my sex. That may be the case, dearest browny, but I am delighted to have
done such wonders, and to have made such trial of my strength. Without
you, darling of my heart, I should have lived without knowing myself, and
I wonder whether it is possible for nature to create a woman who could
remain insensible in your arms, or rather one who would not receive new
life by your side. It is more than love that I feel for you, it is
idolatry; and my mouth, longing to meet yours, sends forth thousands of
kisses which are wasted in the air. I am panting for your divine
portrait, so as to quench by a sweet illusion the fire which devours my
amorous lips. I trust my likeness will prove equally dear to you, for it
seems to me that nature has created us for one another, and I curse the
fatal instant in which I raised an invincible barrier between us. You
will find enclosed the key of my bureau. Open it, and take a parcel on
which you will see written, 'For my darling.' It is a small present which
my friend wishes me to offer you in exchange for the beautiful night-cap
that you gave me. Adieu."
The small key enclosed in the letter belonged to a bureau in the boudoir.
Anxious to know the nature of the present that she could offer me at the
instance of her friend, I opened the bureau, and found a parcel
containing a letter and a morocco-leather case.
The letter was as follows:
"That which will, I hope, render this present dear to you is the portrait
of a woman who adores you. Our friend had two of them, but the great
friendship he entertains towards you has given him the happy idea of
disposing of one in your favour. This box contains two portraits of me,
which are to be seen in two different ways: if you take off the bottom
part, of the case in its length, you will see me as a nun; and if you
press on the corner, the top will open and expose me to your sight in a
state of nature. It is not possible, dearest, that a woman can ever have
loved you as I do. Our friend excites my passion by the flattering
opinion that he entertains of you. I cannot decide whether I am more
fortunate in my friend or in my lover, for I could not imagine any being
superior to either one or the other."
The case contained a gold snuff-box, and a small quantity of Spanish
snuff which had been left in it proved that it had been used. I followed
the instructions given in the letter, and I first saw my mistress in the
costume of a nun, standing and in half profile. The second secret spring
brought her before my eyes, entirely naked, lying on a mattress of black
satin, in the position of the Madeleine of Coreggio. She was looking at
Love, who had the quiver at his feet, and was gracefully sitting on the
nun's robes. It was such a beautiful present that I did not think myself
worthy of it. I wrote to M---- M---- a letter in which the deepest
gratitude was blended with the most exalted love. The drawers of the
bureau contained all her diamonds and four purses full of sequins. I
admired her noble confidence in me. I locked the bureau, leaving
everything undisturbed, and returned to Venice. If I had been able to
escape out of the capricious clutches of fortune by giving up gambling,
my happiness would have been complete.
My own portrait was set with rare perfection, and as it was arranged to
be worn round the neck I attached it to six yards of Venetian chain,
which made it a very handsome present. The secret was in the ring to
which it was suspended, and it was very difficult to discover it. To make
the spring work and expose my likeness it was necessary to pull the ring
with some force and in a peculiar manner. Otherwise, nothing could be
seen but the Annunciation; and it was then a beautiful ornament for a
nun.
On Twelfth Night, having the locket and chain in my pocket, I went early
in the evening to watch near the fine statue erected to the hero Colleoni
after he had been poisoned, if history does not deceive us. 'Sit divus,
modo non vivus', is a sentence from the enlightened monarch, which will
last as long as there are monarchs on earth.
At six o'clock precisely my mistress alighted from the gondola, well
dressed and well masked, but this time in the garb of a woman. We went to
the Saint Samuel opera, and after the second ballet we repaired to the
'ridotto', where she amused herself by looking at all the ladies of the
nobility who alone had the right to walk about without masks. After
rambling about for half an hour, we entered the hall where the bank was
held. She stopped before the table of M. Mocenigo, who at that time was
the best amongst all the noble gamblers. As nobody was playing, he was
carelessly whispering to a masked lady, whom I recognized as Madame
Marina Pitani, whose adorer he was.
M---- M---- enquired whether I wanted to play, and as I answered in the
negative she said to me,
"I take you for my partner."
And without waiting for my answer she took a purse, and placed a pile of
gold on a card. The banker without disturbing himself shuffled the cards,
turned them up, and my friend won the paroli. The banker paid, took
another pack of cards, and continued his conversation with his lady,
shewing complete indifference for four hundred sequins which my friend
had already placed on the same card. The banker continuing his
conversations, M---- M---- said to me, in excellent French,
"Our stakes are not high enough to interest this gentleman; let us go."
I took up the gold, which I put in my pocket, without answering M. de
Mocenigo, who said to me:
"Your mask is too exacting."
I rejoined my lovely gambler, who was surrounded. We stopped soon
afterwards before the bank of M. Pierre Marcello, a charming young man,
who had near him Madame Venier, sister of the patrician Momolo. My
mistress began to play, and lost five rouleaux of gold one after the
other. Having no more money, she took handfuls of gold from my pocket,
and in four or five deals she broke the bank. She went away, and the
noble banker, bowing, complimented her upon her good fortune. After I had
taken care of all the gold she had won, I gave her my arm, and we left
the 'ridotto', but remarking that a few inquisitive persons were
following us, I took a gondola which landed us according to my
instructions. One can always escape prying eyes in this way in Venice.
After supper I counted our winnings, and I found myself in possession of
one thousand sequins as my share. I rolled the remainder in paper, and my
friend asked me to put it in her bureau. I then took my locket and threw
it over her neck; it gave her the greatest delight, and she tried for a
long time to discover the secret. At last I showed it her, and she
pronounced my portrait an excellent likeness.
Recollecting that we had but three hours to devote to the pleasures of
love, I entreated her to allow me to turn them to good account.
"Yes," she said, "but be prudent, for our friend pretends that you might
die on the spot."
"And why does he not fear the same danger for you, when your ecstasies
are in reality much more frequent than mine?"
"He says that the liquor distilled by us women does not come from the
brain, as is the case with men, and that the generating parts of woman
have no contact with her intellect. The consequence of it, he says, is
that the child is not the offspring of the mother as far as the brain,
the seat of reason, is concerned, but of the father, and it seems to me
very true. In that important act the woman has scarcely the amount of
reason that she is in need of, and she cannot have any left to enable her
to give a dose to the being she is generating."
"Your friend is a very learned man. But do you know that such a way of
arguing opens my eyes singularly? It is evident that, if that system be
true, women ought to be forgiven for all the follies which they commit
on account of love, whilst man is inexcusable, and I should be in
despair if I happened to place you in a position to become a mother."
"I shall know before long, and if it should be the case so much the
better. My mind is made up, and my decision taken."
"And what is that decision?"
"To abandon my destiny entirely to you both. I am quite certain that
neither one nor the other would let me remain at the convent."
"It would be a fatal event which would decide our future destinies. I
would carry you off, and take you to England to marry you."
"My friend thinks that a physician might be bought, who, under the
pretext of some disease of his own invention, would prescribe to me to go
somewhere to drink the waters--a permission which the bishop might grant.
At the watering-place I would get cured, and come back here, but I would
much rather unite our destinies for ever. Tell me, dearest, could you
manage to live anywhere as comfortably as you do here?"
"Alas! my love, no, but with you how could I be unhappy? But we will
resume that subject whenever it may be necessary. Let us go to bed."
"Yes. If I have a son my friend wishes to act towards him as a father."
"Would he believe himself to be the father?"
"You might both of you believe it, but some likeness would soon enlighten
me as to which of you two was the true father."
"Yes. If, for instance, the child composed poetry, then you would suppose
that he was the son of your friend."
"How do you know that my friend can write poetry?"
"Admit that he is the author of the six lines which you wrote in answer
to mine."
"I cannot possibly admit such a falsehood, because, good or bad, they
were of my own making, and so as to leave you no doubt let me convince
you of it at once."
"Oh, never mind! I believe you, and let us go to bed, or Love will call
out the god of Parnassus."
"Let him do it, but take this pencil and write; I am Apollo, you may be
Love:"
'Je ne me battrai pas; je te cede la place. Si Venus est ma soeur,
L'Amour est de ma race. Je sais faire des vers. Un instant de perdu
N'offense pas L'Amour, si je l'ai convaincu.
"It is on my knees that I entreat your pardon, my heavenly friend, but
how could I expect so much talent in a young daughter of Venice, only
twenty-two years of age, and, above all, brought up in a convent?"
"I have a most insatiate desire to prove myself more and more worthy of
you. Did you think I was prudent at the gaming-table?"
"Prudent enough to make the most intrepid banker tremble."
"I do not always play so well, but I had taken you as a partner, and I
felt I could set fortune at defiance. Why would you not play?"
"Because I had lost four thousand sequins last week and I was without
money, but I shall play to-morrow, and fortune will smile upon me. In the
mean time, here is a small book which I have brought from your boudoir:
the postures of Pietro Aretino; I want to try some of them."
"The thought is worthy of you, but some of these positions could not be
executed, and others are insipid."
"True, but I have chosen four very interesting ones."
These delightful labours occupied the remainder of the night until the
alarum warned us that it was time to part. I accompanied my lovely nun as
far as her gondola, and then went to bed; but I could not sleep. I got up
in order to go and pay a few small debts, for one of the greatest
pleasures that a spendthrift can enjoy is, in my opinion, to discharge
certain liabilities. The gold won by my mistress proved lucky for me, for
I did not pass a single day of the carnival without winning.
Three days after Twelfth Night, having paid a visit to the casino of
Muran for the purpose of placing some gold in M---- M---- 's bureau, the
door-keeper handed me a letter from my nun. Laura had, a few minutes
before, delivered me one from C---- C----.
My new mistress, after giving me an account of her health, requested me
to enquire from my jeweller whether he had not by chance made a ring
having on its bezel a St. Catherine which, without a doubt, concealed
another portrait; she wished to know the secret of that ring. "A young
boarder," she added, "a lovely girl, and my friend, is the owner of that
ring. There must be a secret, but she does not know it." I answered that
I would do what she wished. But here is the letter of C---- C----. It was
rather amusing, because it placed me in a regular dilemma; it bore a late
date, but the letter of M---- M---- had been written two days before it.
"Ali! how truly happy I am, my beloved husband! You love Sister
M---- M----, my dear friend. She has a locket as big as a ring, and she
cannot have received it from anyone but you. I am certain that your dear
likeness is to be found under the Annunciation. I recognized the style of
the artist, and it is certainly the same who painted the locket and my
ring. I am satisfied that Sister M---M---has received that present from
you. I am so pleased to know all that I would not run the risk of
grieving her by telling her that I knew her secret, but my dear friend,
either more open or more curious, has not imitated my reserve. She told
me that she had no doubt of my St. Catherine concealing the portrait of
my lover. Unable to say anything better, I told her that the ring was in
reality a gift from my lover, but that I had no idea of his portrait
being concealed inside of it. 'If it is as you say,' observed M---- M----,
'and if you have no objection, I will try to find out the secret, and
afterwards I will let you know mine.' Being quite certain that she would
not discover it, I gave her my ring, saying that, if she could find out
the secret, I should be very much pleased.
"Just as that moment my aunt paid me a visit, and I left my ring in the
hands of M---- M----, who returned it to me after dinner, assuring me
that, although she had not been able to find out the secret, she was
certain there was one. I promise you that she shall never hear anything
about it from me, because if she saw your portrait, she would guess
everything, and then I should have to tell her who you are. I am sorry to
be compelled to conceal anything from her, but I am very glad you love
one another. I pity you both, however, with all my heart, because I know
that you are obliged to make love through a grating in that horrid
parlour. How I wish, dearest, I could give you my place! I would make two
persons happy at the same time! Adieu!"
I answered that she had guessed rightly, that the locket of her friend
was a present from me and contained my likeness, but that she was to keep
the secret, and to be certain that my friendship for M---- M---- interfered
in no way with the feeling which bound me to her for ever. I certainly
was well aware that I was not behaving in a straightforward manner, but I
endeavoured to deceive myself, so true it is that a woman, weak as she
is, has more influence by the feeling she inspires than man can possibly
have with all his strength. At all events, I was foolishly trying to keep
up an intrigue which I knew to be near its denouement through the
intimacy that had sprung up between these two friendly rivals.
Laura having informed me that there was to be on a certain day a ball in
the large parlour of the convent, I made up my mind to attend it in such
a disguise that my two friends could not recognize me. I decided upon the
costume of a Pierrot, because it conceals the form and the gait better
than any other. I was certain that my two friends would be behind the
grating, and that it would afford me the pleasant opportunity of seeing
them together and of comparing them. In Venice, during the carnival, that
innocent pleasure is allowed in convents. The guests dance in the
parlour, and the sisters remain behind the grating, enjoying the sight of
the ball, which is over by sunset. Then all the guests retire, and the
poor nuns are for a long time happy in the recollection of the pleasure
enjoyed by their eyes. The ball was to take place in the afternoon of the
day appointed for my meeting with M---- M----, in the evening at the
casino of Muran, but that could not prevent me from going to the ball;
besides, I wanted to see my dear C---- C----.
I have said before that the dress of a Pierrot is the costume which
disguises the figure and the gait most completely. It has also the
advantage, through a large cap, of concealing the hair, and the white
gauze which covers the face does not allow the colour of the eyes or of
the eyebrows to be seen, but in order to prevent the costume from
hindering the movements of the mask, he must not wear anything
underneath, and in winter a dress made of light calico is not
particularly agreeable. I did not, however, pay any attention to that,
and taking only a plate of soup I went to Muran in a gondola. I had no
cloak, and--in my pockets I had nothing but my handkerchief, my purse,
and the key of the casino.
I went at once to the convent. The parlour was full, but thanks to my
costume of Pierrot, which was seen in Venice but very seldom, everybody
made room for me. I walked on, assuming the gait of a booby, the true
characteristic of my costume, and I stopped near the dancers. After I had
examined the Pantaloons, Punches, Harlequins, and Merry Andrews, I went
near the grating, where I saw all the nuns and boarders, some seated,
some standing, and, without appearing to, notice any of them in
particular, I remarked my two friends together, and very intent upon the
dancers. I then walked round the room, eyeing everybody from head to
foot, and calling the general attention upon myself.
I chose for my partner in the minuet a pretty girl dressed as a
Columbine, and I took her hand in so awkward a manner and with such an
air of stupidity that everybody laughed and made room for us. My partner
danced very well according to her costume, and I kept my character with
such perfection that the laughter was general. After the minuet I danced
twelve forlanas with the greatest vigour. Out of breath, I threw myself
on a sofa, pretending to go to sleep, and the moment I began to snore
everybody respected the slumbers of Pierrot. The quadrille lasted one
hour, and I took no part in it, but immediately after it, a Harlequin
approached me with the impertinence which belongs to his costume, and
flogged me with his wand. It is Harlequin's weapon. In my quality of
Pierrot I had no weapons. I seized him round the waist and carried him
round the parlour, running all the time, while he kept on flogging me. I
then put him down. Adroitly snatching his wand out of his hand, I lifted
his Columbine on my shoulders, and pursued him, striking him with the
wand, to the great delight and mirth of the company. The Columbine was
screaming because she was afraid of my tumbling down and of shewing her
centre of gravity to everybody in the fall. She had good reason to fear,
for suddenly a foolish Merry Andrew came behind me, tripped me up, and
down I tumbled. Everybody hooted Master Punch. I quickly picked myself
up, and rather vexed I began a regular fight with the insolent fellow. He
was of my size, but awkward, and he had nothing but strength. I threw
him, and shaking him vigorously on all sides I contrived to deprive him
of his hump and false stomach. The nuns, who had never seen such a merry
sight, clapped their hands, everybody laughed loudly, and improving my
opportunity I ran through the crowd and disappeared.
I was in a perspiration, and the weather was cold; I threw myself into a
gondola, and in order not to get chilled I landed at the 'ridotto'. I had
two hours to spare before going to the casino of Muran, and I longed to
enjoy the astonishment of my beautiful nun when she saw M. Pierrot
standing before her. I spent those two hours in playing at all the banks,
winning, losing, and performing all sorts of antics with complete
freedom, being satisfied that no one could recognize me; enjoying the
present, bidding defiance to the future, and laughing at all those
reasonable beings who exercise their reason to avoid the misfortunes
which they fear, destroying at the same time the pleasure that they might
enjoy.
But two o'clock struck and gave me warning that Love and Comus were
calling me to bestow new delights upon me. With my pockets full of gold
and silver, I left the ridotto, hurried to Muran, entered the sanctuary,
and saw my divinity leaning against the mantelpiece. She wore her convent
dress. I come near her by stealth, in order to enjoy her surprise. I look
at her, and I remain petrified, astounded.
The person I see is not M---- M----
It is C---- C----, dressed as a nun, who, more astonished even than
myself, does not utter one word or make a movement. I throw myself in an
arm-chair in order to breathe and to recover from my surprise. The sight
of C---- C---- had annihilated me, and my mind was as much stupefied as my
body. I found myself in an inextricable maze.
It is M---- M----, I said to myself, who has played that trick upon me,
but how has she contrived to know that I am the lover of C---- C----? Has
C---- C---- betrayed my secret? But if she has betrayed it, how could
M---- M---- deprive herself of the pleasure of seeing me, and consent to
her place being taken by her friend and rival? That cannot be a mark of
kind compliance, for a woman never carries it to such an extreme. I see
in it only a mark of contempt--a gratuitous insult.
My self-love tried hard to imagine some reason likely to disprove the
possibility of that contempt, but in vain. Absorbed in that dark
discontent, I believed myself wantonly trifled with, deceived, despised,
and I spent half an hour silent and gloomy, staring at C---- C----, who
scarcely dared to breathe, perplexed, confused, and not knowing in whose
presence she was, for she could only know me as the Pierrot whom she had
seen at the ball.
Deeply in love with M---- M----, and having come to the casino only for
her, I did not feel disposed to accept the exchange, although I was very
far from despising C---- C----, whose charms were as great, at least, as
those of M---- M----. I loved her tenderly, I adored her, but at that
moment it was not her whom I wanted, because at first her presence had
struck me as a mystification. It seemed to me that if I celebrated the
return of C---- C---- in an amorous manner, I would fail in what I owed to
myself, and I thought that I was bound in honour not to lend myself to
the imposition. Besides, without exactly realizing that feeling, I was
not sorry to have it in my power to reproach M---- M---- with an
indifference very strange in a woman in love, and I wanted to act in such
a manner that she should not be able to say that she had procured me a
pleasure. I must add that I suspected M---- M---- to be hiding in the
secret closet, perhaps with her friend.
I had to take a decision, for I could not pass the whole night in my
costume of Pierrot, and without speaking. At first I thought of going
away, the more so that both C---- C---- and her friend could not be certain
that I and Pierrot were the same individual, but I soon abandoned the
idea with horror, thinking of the deep sorrow which would fill the loving
soul of C---- C---- if she ever heard I was the Pierrot. I almost fancied
that she knew it already, and I shared the grief which she evidently
would feel in that case. I had seduced her. I had given her the right to
call me her husband. These thoughts broke my heart.
If M---- M---- is in the closet, said I to myself, she will shew herself in
good time. With that idea, I took off the gauze which covered my
features. My lovely C---- C---- gave a deep sigh, and said:
"I breathe again! it could not be anyone but you, my heart felt it. You
seemed surprised when you saw me, dearest; did you not know that I was
waiting for you?"
"I had not the faintest idea of it."
"If you are angry, I regret it deeply, but I am innocent."
"My adored friend, come to my arms, and never suppose that I can be angry
with you. I am delighted to see you; you are always my dear wife: but I
entreat you to clear up a cruel doubt, for you could never have betrayed
my secret."
"I! I would never have been guilty of such a thing, even if death had
stared me in the face."
"Then, how did you come here? How did your friend contrive to discover
everything? No one but you could tell her that I am your husband. Laura
perhaps....'
"No, Laura is faithful, dearest, and I cannot guess how it was."
"But how could you be persuaded to assume that disguise, and to come
here? You can leave the convent, and you have never apprised me of that
important circumstance."
"Can you suppose that I would not have told you all about it, if I had
ever left the convent, even once? I came out of it two hours ago, for the
first time, and I was induced to take that step in the simplest, the most
natural manner."
"Tell me all about it, my love. I feel extremely curious."
"I am glad of it, and I would conceal nothing from you. You know how
dearly M---- M---- and I love each other. No intimacy could be more tender
than ours; you can judge of it by what I told you in my letters. Well,
two days ago, my dear friend begged the abbess and my aunt to allow me to
sleep in her room in the place of the lay-sister, who, having a very bad
cold, had carried her cough to the infirmary. The permission was granted,
and you cannot imagine our pleasure in seeing ourselves at liberty, for
the first time, to sleep in the same bed. To-day, shortly after you had
left the parlour, where you so much amused us, without our discovering
that the delightful Pierrot was our friend, my dear M---- M---- retired to
her room and I followed her. The moment we were alone she told me that
she wanted me to render her a service from which depended our happiness.
I need not tell you how readily I answered that she had only to name it.
Then she opened a drawer, and much to my surprise she dressed me in this
costume. She was laughing; and I did the same without suspecting the end
of the joke. When she saw me entirely metamorphosed into a nun, she told
me that she was going to trust me with a great secret, but that she
entertained no fear of my discretion. 'Let me tell you, clearest friend,'
she said to me, 'that I was on the point of going out of the convent, to
return only tomorrow morning. I have, however, just decided that you
shall go instead. You have nothing to fear and you do not require any
instructions, because I know that you will meet with no difficulty. In an
hour, a lay-sister will come here, I will speak a few words apart to her,
and she will tell you to follow her. You will go out with her through the
small gate and across the garden as far as the room leading out to the
low shore. There you will get into the gondola, and say to the gondolier
these words: 'To the casino.' You will reach it in five minutes; you will
step out and enter a small apartment, where you will find a good fire;
you will be alone, and you will wait.' 'For whom? I enquired. 'For
nobody. You need not know any more: you may only be certain that nothing
unpleasant will happen to you; trust me for that. You will sup at the
casino, and sleep, if you like, without being disturbed. Do not ask any
questions, for I cannot answer them. Such is, my dear husband, the whole
truth. Tell me now what I could do after that speech of my friend, and
after she had received my promise to do whatever she wished. Do not
distrust what I tell you, for my lips cannot utter a falsehood. I
laughed, and not expecting anything else but an agreeable adventure, I
followed the lay-sister and soon found myself here. After a tedious hour
of expectation, Pierrot made his appearance. Be quite certain that the
very moment I saw you my heart knew who it was, but a minute after I felt
as if the lightning had struck me when I saw you step back, for I saw
clearly enough that you did not expect to find me. Your gloomy silence
frightened me, and I would never have dared to be the first in breaking
it; the more so that, in spite of the feelings of my heart, I might have
been mistaken. The dress of Pierrot might conceal some other man, but
certainly no one that I could have seen in this place without horror.
Recollect that for the last eight months I have been deprived of the
happiness of kissing you, and now that you must be certain of my
innocence, allow me to congratulate you upon knowing this casino. You are
happy, and I congratulate you with all my heart. M---- M---- is, after me,
the only woman worthy of your love, the only one with whom I could
consent to share it. I used to pity you, but I do so no longer, and your
happiness makes me happy. Kiss me now."
I should have been very ungrateful, I should, even have been cruel, if I
had not then folded in my arms with the warmth of true love the angel of
goodness and beauty who was before me, thanks to the most wonderful
effort of friendship.
After assuring her that I no longer entertained any doubt of her
innocence, I told her that I thought the behaviour of her friend very
ambiguous. I said that, notwithstanding the pleasure I felt in seeing
her, the trick played upon me by her friend was a very bad one, that it
could not do otherwise than displease me greatly, because it was an
insult to me.
"I am not of your opinion," replied C---- C----.
"My dear M---- M---- has evidently contrived, somehow or other, to discover
that, before you were acquainted with her, you were my lover. She thought
very likely that you still loved me, and she imagined, for I know her
well, that she could not give us a greater proof of her love than by
procuring us, without forewarning us, that which two lovers fond of each
other must wish for so ardently. She wished to make us happy, and I
cannot be angry with her for it."
"You are right to think so, dearest, but my position is very different
from yours. You have not another lover; you could not have another; but I
being free and unable to see you, have not found it possible to resist
the charms of M---- M----. I love her madly; she knows it, and,
intelligent as she is, she must have meant to shew her contempt for me by
doing what she has done. I candidly confess that I feel hurt in the
highest degree. If she loved me as I love her, she never could have sent
you here instead of coming herself."
"I do not think so, my beloved friend. Her soul is as noble as her heart
is generous; and just in the same manner that I am not sorry to know that
you love one another and that you make each other happy, as this
beautiful casino proves to me, she does not regret our love, and she is,
on the contrary, delighted to shew us that she approves of it. Most
likely she meant to prove that she loved you for your own sake, that your
happiness makes her happy, and that she is not jealous of her best friend
being her rival. To convince you that you ought not to be angry with her
for having discovered our secret, she proves, by sending me here in her
place, that she is pleased to see your heart divided between her and me.
You know very well that she loves me, and that I am often either her wife
or her husband, and as you do not object to my being your rival and
making her often as happy as I can, she does not want you either to
suppose that her love is like hatred, for the love of a jealous heart is
very much like it."
"You plead the cause of your friend with the eloquence of an angel, but,
dear little wife, you do not see the affair in its proper light. You have
intelligence and a pure soul, but you have not my experience.
M---- M----'s love for me has been nothing but a passing fancy, and she
knows that I am not such an idiot as to be deceived by all this affair. I
am miserable, and it is her doing."
"Then I should be right if I complained of her also, because she makes me
feel that she is the mistress of my lover, and she shews me that, after
seducing him from me, she gives him back to me without difficulty. Then
she wishes me to understand that she despises also my tender affection
for her, since she places me in a position to shew that affection for
another person."
"Now, dearest, you speak without reason, for the relations between you
two are of an entirely different nature. Your mutual love is nothing but
trifling nonsense, mere illusion of the senses. The pleasures which you
enjoy together are not exclusive. To become jealous of one another it
would be necessary that one of you two should feel a similar affection
for another woman but M---- M---- could no more be angry at your having a
lover than you could be so yourself if she had one; provided, however,
that the lover should not belong to the other."
"But that is precisely our case, and you are mistaken. We are not angry
at your loving us both equally. Have I not written to you that I would
most willingly give you my place near M---- M----? Then you must believe
that I despise you likewise?"
"My darling, that wish of yours to give me up your place, when you did
not know that I was happy with M---- M----, arose from your friendship
rather than from your love, and for the present I must be glad to see
that your friendship is stronger than your love, but I have every reason
to be sorry when M---- M---- feels the same. I love her without any
possibility of marrying her. Do you understand me, dearest? As for you,
knowing that you must be my wife, I am certain of our love, which
practice will animate with new life. It is not the same with M---- M----;
that love cannot spring up again into existence. Is it not humiliating
for me to have inspired her with nothing but a passing fancy? I
understand your adoration for her very well. She has initiated you into
all her mysteries, and you owe her eternal friendship and everlasting
gratitude."
It was midnight, and we went on wasting our time in this desultory
conversation, when the prudent and careful servant brought us an
excellent supper. I could not touch anything, my heart was too full, but
my dear little wife supped with a good appetite. I could not help
laughing when I saw a salad of whites of eggs, and C---- C---- thought it
extraordinary because all the yolks had been removed. In her innocence,
she could not understand the intention of the person who had ordered the
supper. As I looked at her, I was compelled to acknowledge that she had
improved in beauty; in fact C---- C---- was remarkably beautiful, yet I
remained cold by her side. I have always thought that there is no merit
in being faithful to the person we truly love.
Two hours before day-light we resumed our seats near the fire, and
C---- C----, seeing how dull I was, was delicately attentive to me. She
attempted no allurement, all her movements wore the stamp of the most
decent reserve, and her conversation, tender in its expressions and
perfectly easy, never conveyed the shadow of a reproach for my coolness.
Towards the end of our long conversation, she asked me what she should
say to her friend on her return to the convent.
"My dear M---- M---- expects to see me full of joy and gratitude for the
generous present she thought she was making me by giving me this night,
but what shall I tell her?"
"The whole truth. Do not keep from her a single word of our conversation,
as far as your memory will serve you, and tell her especially that she
has made me miserable for a long time."
"No, for I should cause her too great a sorrow; she loves you dearly, and
cherishes the locket which contains your likeness. I mean, on the
contrary, to do all I can to bring peace between you two, and I must
succeed before long, because my friend is not guilty of any wrong, and
you only feel some spite, although with no cause. I will send you my
letter by Laura, unless you promise me to go and fetch it yourself at her
house."
"Your letters will always be dear to me, but, mark my words,
M---- M---- will not enter into any explanation. She will believe you in
everything, except in one."
"I suppose you mean our passing a whole night together as innocently as
if we were brother and sister. If she knows you as well as I do, she will
indeed think it most wonderful."
"In that case, you may tell her the contrary, if you like."
"Nothing of the sort. I hate falsehoods, and I will certainly never utter
one in such a case as this; it would be very wrong. I do not love you
less on that account, my darling, although, during this long night, you
have not condescended to give me the slightest proof of your love."
"Believe me, dearest, I am sick from unhappiness. I love you with my
whole soul, but I am in such a situation that...."
"What! you are weeping, my love! Oh! I entreat you, spare my heart! I am
so sorry to have told you such a thing, but I can assure you I never
meant to make you unhappy. I am sure that in a quarter of an hour
M---- M---- will be crying likewise."
The alarum struck, and, having no longer any hope of seeing
M---- M---- come to justify herself, I kissed C---- C----. I gave her the
key of the casino, requesting her to return it for me to M---- M----, and
my young friend having gone back to the convent, I put on my mask and
left the casino.