erve,
that I took great care to avoid the society in the one dress with which
I mixed in the other. This disguise I continued very successfully for
three years, when a circumstance occurred, which ended in my discovery,
and my eventually becoming a slave in your highness's dominions.

For some time I had taught the niece of an elderly lady, who was of
noble family and very rich. The aunt was always present at the lessons;
and, knowing that she was very devout, I rejected all songs that were of
an amorous tendency, and would only practise such as were unimpeachable.
In my demeanour I was always sedate and respectful--full of humility,
and self-accusation. When I received my money from the old lady, I used
to thank her in the name of our convent, for whose use it was to be
appropriated, and call her donation a charity, for which Heaven would
reward her. Her confessor died, and the old lady chose me to supply his
place. This was what I was anxious to obtain, and I redoubled my zeal,
my humility, and my flattery.

It was not that I had originally any design upon the affections of the
niece, although she was a very pretty girl, but upon the old lady's
purse, for I knew that she could not last for many years. On the
contrary, I was anxious, if possible, to have the niece removed, as it
was supposed that she would inherit the old lady's doubloons; but this
required time and opportunity, and, in the meanwhile, I assiduously
cultivated the old lady's good graces. She used to confess once a week;
and I often observed that she acknowledged as a sin, thinking too much
of one who had led her from her duty in former days, and for whom she
still felt too much worldly passion. One evening when the clock had
struck ten, we had laid down the cards, which we occasionally played, it
being the day and her usual hour for confessing. Again she repeated the
same offence, and I then delicately hinted, that she might be more at
ease if she were to confide to me the circumstances connected with her
compunctions. She hesitated; but on my pointing out to her that there
ought to be no reservation, and that the acknowledgment of the
compunction arising from a sin was not that of the sin itself, she
acquiesced. Her confession referred to her early days, when, attached
to a young cavalier, against the wishes of her parents, under a solemn
promise of marriage, she had consented to receive him into her chamber.
The intercourse continued for s