fore the circumstances of the plan could be adjusted, it was his good
fortune to meet his Dulcinea in the street, and, in the midst of their
mutual condolence on the interruption they had suffered in their
correspondence, he assured her, that he would never give his invention
respite, until he should have verified the protestations contained in the
letter he had delivered to her discreet agent. This allusion to a billet
she had never received, did not fail to alarm her fears, and introduce a
very mortifying explanation, in which he so accurately described the
person of the messenger, that she forthwith comprehended the plot, and
communicated to our hero her sentiments on that subject.

Though he expressed infinite anxiety and chagrin at this misfortune,
which could not fail to raise new obstacles to their love, his heart was
a stranger to the uneasiness he affected; and rather pleased with the
occasion, which would furnish him with pretences to withdraw himself
gradually from an intercourse by this time become equally cloying and
unprofitable. Being well acquainted with the mother's temperament, he
guessed the present situation of her thoughts, and concluding she would
make the jeweller a party in her revenge, he resolved from that moment to
discontinue his visits, and cautiously guard against any future interview
with the lady whom he had rendered so implacable.

It was well for our adventurer that his good fortune so seasonably
interposed; for that same day, in the afternoon, he was favoured with a
billet from the jeweller's wife, couched in the same tender style she had
formerly used, and importing an earnest desire of seeing him next day at
the wonted rendezvous. Although his penetration was sufficient to
perceive the drift of this message, or at least to discern the risk he
should run in complying with her request, yet he was willing to be more
fully certified of the truth of his suspicion, and wrote an answer to the
billet, in which he assured her, that he would repair to the place of
appointment with all the punctuality of an impatient lover.
Nevertheless, instead of performing this promise, he, in the morning,
took post in a public-house opposite to the place of assignation, in
order to reconnoitre the ground, and about noon had the pleasure of
seeing the German, wrapped in a cloak, enter the door of his wife's
she-friend, though the appointment was fixed at five in the evening.
Fathom blessed his good angel