“But, tell me, lovely madcap, what will be the end of this extravaganza?  I am afraid it will take a tragic turn at the last.”

“You are mistaken; it will remain a comedy, and a very amusing one, too.  I am expecting every hour the arrival of Count Holstein, brother of the Elector of Mainz.  He has written to me from Frankfort; he has left that city, and must by this time have reached Venice.  He will take me to the Fair of Reggio, and if my intended takes it into his head to be angry, the count will thrash him and pay my bill, but I am determined that he shall be neither thrashed nor paid.  As I go away, I have only to whisper in his ear that I will certainly return, and it will be all right.  I know my promise to become his wife as soon as I come back will make him happy.”

“That’s all very well!  You are as witty as a cousin of Satan, but I shall not wait your return to marry you; our wedding must take place at once.”

“What folly!  Well, wait until this evening.”

“Not a bit of it, for I can almost fancy I hear the count’s carriage.  If he should not arrive, we can continue the sport during the night.”

“Do you love me?”

“To distraction! but what does it matter?  However, your excellent comedy renders you worthy of adoration.  Now, suppose we do not waste our time.”

“You are right:  it is an episode, and all the more agreeable for being impromptu.”

I can well recollect that I found it a delightful episode.  Towards evening all the family joined us again, a walk was proposed, and we were on the point of going out, when a carriage drawn by six post-horses noisily entered the yard.  Catinella looked through the window, and desired to be left alone, saying that it was a prince who had come to see her.  Everybody went away, she pushed me into my room and locked me in.  I went to the window, and saw a nobleman four times as big as myself getting out of the carriage.  He came upstairs, entered the room of the intended bride, and all that was left to me was the consolation of having seized fortune by the forelock, the pleasure of hearing their conversation, and a convenient view, through a crevice in the partition, of what Catinella contrived to do with that heavy lump of flesh.  But at last the stupid amusement wearied me, for it lasted five hours, which were employed in amorous caresses, in packing Catinella’s rags, in loading them on the carriage, in taking supper, and in drinking numerous bumpers of Rhenish wine.  At midnight the count left the hotel, carrying away with him the beloved mistress of the landlord’s son.

No one during those long hours had come to my room, and I had not called.  I was afraid of being discovered, and I did not know how far the German prince would have been pleased if he had found out that he had an indiscreet witness of the heavy and powerless demonstrations of his tenderness, which were a credit to neither of the actors, and which supplied me with ample food for thoughts upon the miseries of mankind.