The next morning at day-break I went to the bishop.  After saying his mass, we took some chocolate, and for three hours he laid me under examination.  I saw clearly that he was not pleased with me, but I was well enough pleased with him.  He seemed to me a worthy man, and as he was to lead me along the great highway of the Church, I felt attracted towards him, for, at the time, although I entertained a good opinion of my personal appearance, I had no confidence whatever in my talents.

After the departure of the good bishop, M. Grimani gave me a letter left by him, which I was to deliver to Father Lazari, at the Convent of the Minims, in Ancona.  M. Grimani informed me that he would send me to that city with the ambassador from Venice, who was on the point of sailing.  I had therefore to keep myself in readiness, and, as I was anxious to be out of his hands, I approved all his arrangements.  As soon as I had notice of the day on which the suite of the ambassador would embark, I went to pay my last farewell to all my acquaintances.  I left my brother Francois in the school of M. Joli, a celebrated decorative painter.  As the peotta in which I was to sail would not leave before daybreak, I spent the short night in the arms of the two sisters, who, this time, entertained no hope of ever seeing me again.  On my side I could not forsee what would happen, for I was abandoning myself to fate, and I thought it would be useless to think of the future.  The night was therefore spent between joy and sadness, between pleasures and tears.  As I bade them adieu, I returned the key which had opened so often for me the road to happiness.

This, my first love affair, did not give me any experience of the world, for our intercourse was always a happy one, and was never disturbed by any quarrel or stained by any interested motive.  We often felt, all three of us, as if we must raise our souls towards the eternal Providence of God, to thank Him for having, by His particular protection, kept from us all the accidents which might have disturbed the sweet peace we were enjoying.

I left in the hands of Madame Manzoni all my papers, and all the forbidden books I possessed.  The good woman, who was twenty years older than I, and who, believing in an immutable destiny, took pleasure in turning the leaves of the great book of fate, told me that she was certain of restoring to me all I left with her, before the end of the following year, at the latest.  Her prediction caused me both surprise and pleasure, and feeling deep reverence for her, I thought myself bound to assist the realization of her foresight.  After all, if she predicted the future, it was not through superstition, or in consequence of some vain foreboding which reason must condemn, but through her knowledge of the world, and of the nature of the person she was addressing.  She used to laugh because she never made a mistake.