t angry with Annette, and
seizing her threw her on the bed, and then and there gave the two
sweethearts such an interesting spectacle that they left their own play
to watch us. When I had finished, Annette, who was in high glee; said I
was quite right to avenge myself on their prudery. I felt satisfied with
what I had done, and went to breakfast. I then dressed, and visited my
brother.

"How is Marcoline?" said he, as soon as he saw me.

"Very well, and you needn't trouble yourself any more about her. She is
well lodged, well dressed, and well fed, and sleeps with my niece's
maid."

"I didn't know I had a niece."

"There are many things you don't know. In three or four days she will
return to Venice."

"I hope, dear brother, that you will ask me to dine with you to-day."

"Not at all, dear brother. I forbid you to set foot in my house, where
your presence would be offensive to Marcoline, whom you must not see any
more."

"Yes, I will; I will return to Venice, if I have to hang for it."

"What good would that be? She won't have you."

"She loves me."

"She beats you."

"She beats me because she loves me. She will be as gentle as a lamb when
she sees me so well dressed. You do not know how I suffer."

"I can partly guess, but I do not pity you, for you are an impious and
cruel fool. You have broken your vows, and have not hesitated to make a
young girl endure misery and degradation to satisfy your caprice. What
would you have done, I should like to know, if I had given you the cold
shoulder instead of helping you?"

"I should have gone into the street, and begged for my living with her."

"She would have beaten you, and would probably have appealed to the law
to get rid of you."

"But what will you do for me, if I let her go back to Venice without
following her."

"I will take you to France, and try to get you employed by some bishop."

"Employed! I was meant by nature to be employed by none but God."

"You proud fool! Marcoline rightly called you a whiner. Who is your God?
How do you serve Him? You are either a hypocrite or an idiot. Do you
think that you, a priest, serve God by decoying an innocent girl away
from her home? Do you serve Him by profaning the religion you do not even
understand? Unhappy fool! do you think that with no talent, no
theological learning, and no eloquence, you can be a Protestant minister.
Take care never to come to my house, or I will have you expelled from
Genoa."

"