The fact is, I was not trembling either through fear or cold; but on approaching the Marchioness, the sharp perfume which emanated from her hair went to my head, and with my delicate nerves you will readily understand that I was about to faint.  I mastered this sensation, however.  She took a firm grip of my hand, as one would clasp the knob of a cane or the banister of a stair, and we advanced into the stream side by side.

As we advanced the stream became deeper.  The Marchioness, as the water rose higher, gave vent to low cries of fear resembling the hiss of a serpent; then she broke out into ringing bursts of laughter, and drew closer and closer to me.  Finally, she stopped, and turning she looked straight into my eyes.  I felt then that moment was a solemn one.  I thought a hidden precipice was concealed at my feet, my heart throbbed as if it would burst, and my head seemed to be on fire.

“Come now, teach me to float on my back, Robert.  Legs straight and extended, arms close to the body, that’s the way, is it not?”

“Yes, my dear cousin, and move your hands gently under you.”

“Very good; here goes, then.  One, two, three-off!  Oh, what a little goose I am, I’m afraid!  Oh cousin, support me, just a little bit.”

That was the moment when I ought to have said to her:  “No, Madame, I am not the man to support coquettes, and I will not.”  But I did not dare say that; my tongue remained silent, and I passed my arm round the Marchioness’s waist, in order to support her more easily.

Alas!  I had made a mistake; perhaps an irreparable one.

In that supreme moment it was but too true that I adored her seductive charms.  Let me cut it short.  When I held her thus it seemed to me that all the blood in my body rushed back to my heart—­a deadly thrill ran through every limb—­from shame and indignation, no doubt; my vision became obscure; it seemed as if my soul was leaving my body, and I fell forward fainting, and dragged her down to the bottom of the water in a mortal clutch.

I heard a loud cry.  I felt her arms interlace my neck, her clenched fingers sink deep into my flesh, and all was over.  I had lost consciousness.

When I came to myself I was lying on the grass.  Julie was chafing my hands, and the Marchioness, in her bathing-dress, which was streaming with water, was holding a vinaigrette to my nose.  She looked at me severely, although in her glance there was a shade of pleased satisfaction, the import of which escaped me.

“Baby! you great baby!” said she.

Now that you know all the facts, my pious friend, bestow on me the favor of your counsel, and thank heaven that you live remote from scenes like these.

          With heart and soul,
               Your sincere friend,
                    Robert de K-----Dec------.

CHAPTER III