suspecting the
authenticity of the bill of exchange you gave me. I have been punished by
being fined the amount of my commission."

"I wish that had been your only punishment," said I.

He made me a profound bow, and went out, saying that I was only too good.

When I 'got back to the inn, I found a letter from Redegonde in which she
reproached me tenderly for not having been once to see her all the time I
had been at Brunswick, and begging me to breakfast with her in a little
country house.

"I shall not be in my mother's company," she added, "but in that of a
young lady of your acquaintance, whom, I am sure, you will be glad to see
once more."

I liked Redegonde, and I had only neglected her at Brunswick because my
means did not allow my making her a handsome present. I resolved to
accept her invitation, my curiosity being rather stimulated by the
account of the young lady.

I was exact at the time indicated, and I found Redegonde looking charming
in a pretty room on the ground floor, and with her was a young artiste
whom I had known as a child shortly before I had been put under the
Leads. I pretended to be delighted to see her, but I was really quite
taken up with Redegonde, and congratulated her upon her pretty house. She
said she had taken it for six months, but did not sleep there. After
coffee had been served we were on the point of going out for a stroll,
when who should come in but the prince. He smiled pleasantly when he saw
us, and apologized to Redegonde for interrupting our little party.

The appearance of the prince enlightened me as to the position of my
delightful fellow countrywoman, and I understood why she had been so
precise about the time at which I was to come. Redegonde had made the
conquest of the worthy prince, who was always disposed to gallantry, but
felt it his duty during the first year of his marriage with the King of
England's sister to preserve some kind of incognito in his amours.

We spent an hour in walking up and down and talking of London and Berlin,
but nothing was said of the Jew or the bill of exchange. He was delighted
with my warm eulogium of his library at Wolfenbuttel, and laughed with
all his heart when I said that unless it had been for the intellectual
nourishment I enjoyed, the bad fare at the inn would certainly have
reduced me to half my present size.

After bidding a graceful farewell to the nymph, the prince left us, and
we heard him galloping away on his hor