I answered her to the effect that the balcony was always at her service, and that since it was still early I begged their permission to put on my dressing-gown and to keep them company.  Her conversation was charming; she made me spend two most delightful hours, and did not leave me till twelve o’clock.  Her younger sister lighted me a candle, and as they went they wished me a good night.

I lay down full of this pretty girl, and I could not believe that she was really ill.  She spoke to the point, she was cheerful, clever, and full of spirits.  I could not understand how it came to pass that she had not been already cured in a town like Venice, if her cure was really only to be effected in the manner described by Dr. Righelini; for in spite of her pallor she seemed to me quite fair enough to charm a lover, and I believed her to be spirited enough to determine to take the most agreeable medicine a doctor can prescribe.

In the morning I rang the bell as I was getting up, and the younger sister came into my room, and said that as they kept no servant she had come to do what I wanted.  I did not care to have a servant when I was not at M. de Bragadin’s, as I found myself more at liberty to do what I liked.  After she had done me some small services, I asked her how her sister was.

“Very well,” said she, “for her pale complexion is not an illness, and she only suffers when her breath fails her.  She has a very good appetite, and sleeps as well as I do.”

“Whom do I hear playing the violin?”

“It’s the dancing master giving my sister a lesson.”

I hurried over my dressing that I might see her; and I found her charming, though her old dancing master allowed her to turn in her toes.  All that this young and beautiful girl wanted was the Promethean spark, the colour of life; her whiteness was too like snow, and was distressing to look at.

The dancing master begged me to dance a minuet with his pupil, and I assented, asking him to play larghissimo.  “The signorina would find it too tiring,” said he; but she hastened to answer that she did not feel weak, and would like to dance thus.  She danced very well, but when we had done she was obliged to throw herself in a chair.  “In future, my dear master,” said she, “I will only dance like that, for I think the rapid motion will do me good.”

When the master was gone, I told her that her lessons were too short, and that her master was letting her get into bad habits.  I then set her feet, her shoulders, and her arms in the proper manner.  I taught her how to give her hand gracefully, to bend her knees in time; in fine, I gave her a regular lesson for an hour, and seeing that she was getting rather tired I begged her to sit down, and I went out to pay a visit to M. M.

I found her very sad, for C——­ C——­’s father was dead, and they had taken her out of the convent to marry her to a lawyer.  Before leaving C——­ C——­ had left a letter for me, in which she said that if I would promise to marry her at some time suitable to myself, she would wait for me, and refuse all other offers.  I answered her straightforwardly that I had no property and no prospects, that I left her free, advising her not to refuse any offer which might be to her advantage.