he duke and our daughter to the
opera."

The memory of former loves awakens when one is near the once beloved
object, and desires rapidly become irresistible if the beauty still
remain. The lovers feel as if they were once more in possession of a
blessing which belongs to them, and of which they have been long deprived
by unfortunate incidents. These were our feelings, and without delay,
without idle discussion, and above all, without false modesty, we
abandoned ourselves to love, the only true source of nature.

In the first interval, I was the first to break the silence; and if a man
is anything of a wit, is he the less so at that delicious moment of
repose which follows on an amorous victory?

"Once again, then," said I, "I am in this charming land which I entered
for the first time to the noise of the drum and the rattle of musket
shots."

This remark made her laugh, and recalled past events to her memory. We
recollected with delight all the pleasures we had enjoyed at Testaccio,
Frascati, and Tivoli. We reminded each other of these events, only to
make each other laugh; but with two lovers, what is laughter but a
pretext for renewing the sweet sacrifice of the goddess of Cythera?

At the end of the second act, full of the enthusiasm of the fortunate
lover, I said,--

"Let us be united for life; we are of the same age, we love each other,
our means are sufficient for us, we may hope to live a happy life, and to
die at the same moment."

"Tis the darling wish of my heart," Lucrezia replied, "but let us stay at
Naples and leave Leonilda to the duke. We will see company, find her a
worthy husband, and our happiness will be complete."

"I cannot live at Naples, dearest, and you know that your daughter
intended to leave with me."

"My daughter! Say our daughter. I see that you are still in love with
her, and do not wish to be considered her father."

"Alas, yes! But I am sure that if I live with you my passion for her will
be stilled, but otherwise I cannot answer for myself. I shall fly, but
flight will not bring me happiness. Leonilda charms me still more by her
intelligence than by her beauty. I was sure that she loved me so well
that I did not attempt to seduce her, lest thereby I should weaken my
hold on her affections; and as I wanted to make her happy I wished to
deserve her esteem. I longed to possess her, but in a lawful manner, so
that our rights should have been equal. We have created an angel,
Lu