that he would use it."

"I understand that he may find great pleasure in such a sight, but being
unable to possess you at the very moment nature will make you most
necessary to him, what will he do?"

"That is his business. Besides, he is at liberty to go away when he has
had enough of it, or to sleep if he has a mind to, but if you play your
part naturally he will not feel any weariness."

"I will be most natural, but I must be more polite."

"No, no politeness, I beg, for if you are polite, goodbye to nature.
Where have you ever seen, I should like to know, two lovers, excited by
all the fury of love, think of politeness?"

"You are right, darling, but I must be more delicate."

"Very well, delicacy can do no harm, but no more than usual. Your letter
greatly pleased me, you have treated the subject like a man of
experience."

I have already stated that my mistress was dressed most elegantly, but I
ought to have added that it was the elegance of the Graces, and that it
did not in any way prevent ease and simplicity. I only wondered at her
having used some paint for the face, but it rather pleased me because she
had applied it according to the fashion of the ladies of Versailles. The
charm of that style consists in the negligence with which the paint is
applied. The rouge must not appear natural; it is used to please the eyes
which see in it the marks of an intoxication heralding the most amorous
fury. She told me that she had put some on her face to please her
inquisitive friend, who was very fond of it.

"That taste," I said, "proves him to be a Frenchman."

As I was uttering these words, she made a sign to me; the friend was at
his post, and now the play began.

"The more I look at you, beloved angel, the more I think you worthy of my
adoration."

"But are you not certain that you do not worship a cruel divinity?"

"Yes, and therefore I do not offer my sacrifices to appease you, but to
excite you. You shall feel all through the night the ardour of my
devotion."

"You will not find me insensible to your offerings."

"I would begin them at once, but I think that, in order to insure their
efficiency, we ought to have supper first. I have taken nothing to-day
but a cup of chocolate and a salad of whites of eggs dressed with oil
from Lucca and Marseilles vinegar."

"But, dearest, it is folly! you must be ill?"

"Yes, I am just now, but I shall be all right when I have distilled the
whites of eggs, one