t me.

Five or six hours afterwards, M. de Bragadin and his two inseparable
friends paid me a visit, and found me raving with fever. That did not
prevent my respectable protector from laughing at the sight of the
costume of Pierrot lying on the sofa. After congratulating me upon having
escaped with my life out of such a bad predicament, they left me alone.
In the evening I perspired so profusely that my bed had to be changed.
The next day my fever and delirium increased, and two days after, the
fever having abated, I found myself almost crippled and suffering
fearfully with lumbago. I felt that nothing could relieve me but a strict
regimen, and I bore the evil patiently.

Early on the Wednesday morning, Laura, the faithful messenger, called on
me; I was still in my bed: I told her that I could neither read nor
write, and I asked her to come again the next day. She placed on the
table, near my bed, the parcel she had for me, and she left me, knowing
what had occurred to me sufficiently to enable her to inform C---- C---- of
the state in which I was.

Feeling a little better towards the evening, I ordered my servant to lock
me in my room, and I opened C---- C----'s letter. The first thing I found
in the parcel, and which caused me great pleasure, was the key of the
casino which she returned to me. I had already repented having given it
up, and I was beginning to feel that I had been in the wrong. It acted
like a refreshing balm upon me. The second thing, not less dear after the
return of the precious key, was a letter from M---- M----, the seal of
which I was not long in breaking, and I read the following lines:

"The particulars which you have read, or which you are going to read, in
the letter of my friend, will cause you, I hope, to forget the fault
which I have committed so innocently, for I trusted, on the contrary,
that you would be very happy. I saw all and heard all, and you would not
have gone away without the key if I had not, most unfortunately, fallen
asleep an hour before your departure. Take back the key and come to the
casino to-morrow night, since Heaven has saved you from the storm. Your
love may, perhaps, give you the right to complain, but not to ill-treat a
woman who certainly has not given you any mark of contempt."

I afterwards read the letter of my dear C---- C----, and I will give a
copy of it here, because I think it will prove interesting:

"I entreat you, dear husband, not to send back thi