“What, madam!  Have you not letters of exchange to the amount of six thousand florins, or the goods bought with them?”

“The goods are no longer here; they have all been taken away, because the letters of exchange, which you saw, and which we considered as good as cash, only made the merchants laugh; they have sent for everything.  Oh! who could have supposed it?”

“The scoundrel!  He knew it well enough, and that is why he was so anxious to bring me here.  Well, it is right that I should pay the penalty of my own folly.”

The bill brought by the landlord amounted to forty sequins, a very high figure for three days; but a large portion of that sum was cash advanced by the landlord, I immediately felt that my honour demanded that I should pay the bill in full; and I paid without any hesitation, taking care to get a receipt given in the presence of two witnesses.  I then made a present of two sequins to the nephew of the landlord to console him for the thrashing he had received, and I refused the same sum to the wretched C——­, who had sent the landlady to beg it for her.

Thus ended that unpleasant adventure, which taught me a lesson, and a lesson which I ought not to have required.  Two or three weeks later, I heard that Count Trento had given those two miserable beings some money to enable them to leave the city; as far as I was concerned, I would not have anything to do with them.  A month afterwards P——­ C——­ was again arrested for debt, the man who had been security for him having become a bankrupt.  He had the audacity to write a long letter to me, entreating me to go and see him, but I did not answer him.  I was quite as inflexible towards Madame C——­, whom I always refused to see.  She was reduced to great poverty.

I returned to Padua, where I stopped only long enough to take my ring and to dine with M. de Bragadin, who went back to Venice a few days afterwards.

The messenger from the convent brought me a letter very early in the morning; I devoured its contents; it was very loving, but gave no news.  In my answer I gave my dear C——­ C——­ the particulars of the infamous trick played upon me by her villainous brother, and mentioned the ring, with the secret of which I acquainted her.

According to the information I had received from C——­ C——­, I placed myself, one morning, so as to see her mother enter the church, into which I followed her.  Kneeling close to her, I told her that I wished to speak with her, and she followed me to the cloister.  I began by speaking a few consoling words; then I told her that I would remain faithful to her daughter, and I asked her whether she visited her.

“I intend,” she said, “to go and kiss my dear child next Sunday, and I shall of course speak of you with her, for I know well enough that she will be delighted to have news of you; but to my great regret I am not at liberty to tell you where she is.”

“I do not wish you to tell me, my good mother, but allow me to send her this ring by you.  It is the picture of her patroness, and I wish you to entreat her to wear it always on her finger; tell her to look at the image during her daily prayers, for without that protection she can never become my wife.  Tell her that, on my side, I address every day a credo to St. James.”