how far he would
operate during the personation of that character--though I shrewdly
suspected that his actions would be anything but fatherly. Therefore,
when he again clasped my waist, and made me lean against him, I did not
repulse him, for his conduct was in furtherance of _our_ plans; and I
also permitted him, (though with extreme disgust on my part,) to toy
with my breasts, and kiss me again and again, all of which he did under
cover of his holy privileges as a father! The moment had then arrived
for _me_ to play _my_ part; and though the old rascal's conduct and
person were loathsome to me in the extreme, I affected all the languor,
flutter, and ardor of passionate longings; which he perceived with the
most extravagant demonstrations of delight--"

"I know all the rest," interrupted the Chevalier, almost suffocated with
laughter, in which the merry Duchess joined him--"I applied my eye to
the key-hole just at that moment, and saw the old goat, as you properly
term him, hugging you with the ferocity of a bear; I heard him say--'Let
me no longer play the father; let me be thy lover--thy all--thy own
Timothy--thy chosen Tickels!' Ha, ha, ha! was anything so richly
ludicrous. And, by Jove, how admirably you acted, my Duchess! You
appeared absolutely dying with rapture--your eyes seemed to express a
thousand soft wishes--your face glowed as if with the heat of
languishing desire; how wildly you seemed to abandon your person to his
lascivious embraces! and yet I know the disgust which you must have felt
towards him, at that very moment; for he was anything but a comely
object, with his gray hair disordered, his bloated countenance red as
fire, and his dress indecently disarranged. At that moment I noiselessly
stole into the room; and just at the very instant when the old fool
thought himself sure of his prey, you screamed, and pointed to my
reflection in the mirror. The result was precisely as I expected; too
cowardly to fight, afraid of his life, and anxious to preserve his
reputation, he preferred giving me the handsome sum of five thousand
dollars--which money we very much needed, and which will last us a long
time, provided we exercise a reasonable degree of economy. That last
five hundred, which we extracted from the parson, lasted us but little
over a month; let us be more discreet hereafter, my Duchess--we may live
splendidly, but not extravagantly; for old age will come on us
by-and-by, and your beauty will fa