entleman had indicated, and thanked her, saying, that I hoped
not to trouble her long, but that I was deeply grateful for her kindness.
She made me a graceful curtsy, but I could not make out her features, for
a stormy wind was blowing, and she and her two friends had drawn their
hoods almost entirely over their faces. Marcoline's beautiful head was
uncovered and her hair streaming in the breeze. She only replied by
graceful bows and smiles to the compliments which were addressed to her
on all sides. The gentleman who had first accosted me asked me, as he
gave her his arm, if she were my daughter. Marcoline smiled and I
answered that she was my cousin, and that we were both Venetians.

A Frenchman is so bent on flattering a pretty woman that he will always
do so, even if it be at the expense of a third party. Nobody could really
think that Marcoline was my daughter, for though I was twenty years older
than she was, I looked ten years younger than my real age, and so
Marcoline smiled suggestively.

We were just going into the house when a large mastiff ran towards us,
chasing a pretty spaniel, and the lady, being afraid of getting bitten,
began to run, made a false step, and fell to the ground. We ran to help
her, but she said she had sprained her ankle, and limped into the house
on the arm of one of the gentlemen. Refreshments were brought in, and I
saw that Marcoline looked uneasy in the company of a lady who was talking
to her. I hastened to excuse her, saying that she did not speak French.
As a matter of fact, Marcoline had begun to talk a sort of French, but
the most charming language in the world will not bear being spoken badly,
and I had begged her not to speak at all till she had learned to express
herself properly. It is better to remain silent than to make strangers
laugh by odd expressions and absurd equivocations.

The less pretty, or rather the uglier, of the two ladies said that it was
astonishing that the education of young ladies was neglected in such a
shocking manner at Venice. "Fancy not teaching them French!"

"It is certainly very wrong, but in my country young ladies are neither
taught foreign languages nor round games. These important branches of
education are attended to afterwards."

"Then you are a Venetian, too?"

"Yes, madam."

"Really, I should not have thought so."

I made a bow in return for this compliment, which in reality was only an
insult; for if flattering to me it was insult