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she might retort upon him. Laura was quite satisfied that, if this could be accomplished, she would be perfectly safe; as with his good temper she said she had little doubt, even in case of the worst we dreaded occurring, she would be able to persuade him that it would be for the interests of both that he should keep quiet, seeing she had such a hold over him. She now admitted that she really was fond of him, though her curiosity and my boldness had lately enabled me to gain the advantage over him, and I easily drew from her that she did not like him the less for the report I had made of his evident ability to perform satisfactorily in the battles of Venus. I therefore told her that, though I was afraid that the performance of the instrument that would probably afford the greatest pleasure to her might prove to be martyrdom to me, I was prepared to undergo it for her sake, and we signed and sealed the agreements in our usual happy way. As I have always found that where a thing is once determined on it is better to lose no time in carrying it into execution, I set to work immediately. I dressed for dinner that day sooner than usual, and about half an hour before the ordinary dinner hour, I made my way to Sir Charles' room, taking with me an amorous work he had lent me and making a pretext of wishing to borrow another. When he found who it was that knocked at the door he asked me to come in, saying that he wanted to see me as he had that day received a packet from town with some things he had ordered down for me. He then told his servant to lay out some things for him, and that he would not be required further. As soon as the servant had left the room, he took from a drawer a large parcel, and selecting a packet of drawings, told me to sit down and amuse myself with them while he finished dressing. This was coming to the point even sooner than I had anticipated, but as it was just the opening I wanted, I sat down and began to examine the drawings which consisted of a most beautifully executed series of voluptuous designs. When he had dressed himself, all except his coat and waistcoat (and he was a very few minutes about it), he came and leaned over me, looking at the drawings and making observations upon them. After we had gone over them, he said there were some more which he liked still better and he hoped I would be equally well pleased with them. He went to the drawer for them, while I rose up to lay aside those
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