o no farther, but little by little I attained the center, and strove to
give her some pleasant sensations.

"Let me alone," said she, in a sentimental voice, drawing away, "'tis
perchance the cause of my illness."

"No, sweetheart," I replied, "that cannot be." And my mouth stopped all
her objections upon her lips.

I was enchanted, for I was now in a fair way, and I saw the moment of
bliss in the distance, feeling certain that I could effect a cure if the
doctor was not mistaken. I spared her all indiscreet questions out of
regard for her modesty; but I declared myself her lover, promising to ask
nothing of her but what was necessary to feed the fire of my love. They
sent me up a very good dinner, and she did justice to it; afterwards
saying that she was quite well she got up, and I went away to dress
myself for going out. I came back early in the evening, and found her on
my balcony. There, as I sat close to her looking into her face, speaking
by turns the language of the eyes and that of sighs, fixing my amorous
gaze upon those charms which the moonlight rendered sweeter, I made her
share in the fire which consumed me; and as I pressed her amorously to my
bosom she completed my bliss with such warmth that I could easily see
that she thought she was receiving a favour and not granting one. I
sacrificed the victim without staining the altar with blood.

Her sister came to tell her that it grew late.

"Do you go to bed," she answered; "the fresh air is doing me good, and I
want to enjoy it a little longer."

As soon as we were alone we went to bed together as if we had been doing
it for a whole year, and we passed a glorious night, I full of love and
the desire of curing her, and she of tender and ardent voluptuousness. At
day-break she embraced me, her eyes dewy with bliss, and went to lie down
in her own bed. I, like her, stood in need of a rest, and on that day
there was no talk of a dancing lesson. In spite of the fierce pleasure of
enjoyment and the transports of this delightful girl, I did not for a
moment lay prudence aside. We continued to pass such nights as these for
three weeks, and I had the pleasure of seeing her thoroughly cured. I
should doubtless have married her, if an event had not happened to me
towards the end of the month, of which I shall speak lower down.

You will remember, dear reader, about a romance by the Abbe Chiari, a
satirical romance which Mr. Murray had given me, and in which I far