I need not say that I was exact in reaching the appointed place, but they were there already, waiting for me.  Had I not suspected the intentions of P——­ C——­, their coming so early would have been very flattering to my vanity.  The moment I had joined them, P——­ C——­ told me that, having other engagements to fulfil, he would leave his sister with me, and meet us at the theatre in the evening.  When he had gone, I told C——­ C——­ that we would sail in a gondola until the opening of the theatre.

“No,” she answered, “let us rather go to the Zuecca Garden.”

“With all my heart.”

I hired a gondola and we went to St. Blaze, where I knew a very pretty garden which, for one sequin, was placed at my disposal for the remainder of the day, with the express condition that no one else would be allowed admittance.  We had not had any dinner, and after I had ordered a good meal we went up to a room where we took off our disguises and masks, after which we went to the garden.

My lovely C——­ C——­ had nothing on but a bodice made of light silk and a skirt of the same description, but she was charming in that simple costume!  My amorous looks went through those light veils, and in my imagination I saw her entirely naked!  I sighed with burning desires, with a mixture of discreet reserve and voluptuous love.

The moment we had reached the long avenue, my young companion, as lively as a fawn, finding herself at liberty on the green sward, and enjoying that happy freedom for the first time in her life, began to run about and to give way to the spirit of cheerfulness which was natural to her.  When she was compelled to stop for want of breath, she burst out laughing at seeing me gazing at her in a sort of ecstatic silence.  She then challenged me to run a race; the game was very agreeable to me.  I accepted, but I proposed to make it interesting by a wager.

“Whoever loses the race,” I said, “shall have to do whatever the winner asks.”

“Agreed!”

We marked the winning-post, and made a fair start.  I was certain to win, but I lost on purpose, so as to see what she would ask me to do.  At first she ran with all her might while I reserved my strength, and she was the first to reach the goal.  As she was trying to recover her breath, she thought of sentencing me to a good penance:  she hid herself behind a tree and told me, a minute afterwards, that I had to find her ring.  She had concealed it about her, and that was putting me in possession of all her person.  I thought it was a delightful forfeit, for I could easily see that she had chosen it with intentional mischief; but I felt that I ought not to take too much advantage of her, because her artless confidence required to be encouraged.  We sat on the grass, I visited her pockets, the folds of her stays, of her petticoat; then I looked in her shoes, and even at her garters which were fastened below the knees.  Not finding anything, I kept on my