“I am Maggiorin, of Vicenza.  My father, who was a coachman, kept me at school till I was eleven, by which time I had learnt to read and write; I was afterwards apprenticed to a barber, where I learnt my business thoroughly.  After that I became valet to the Count of X—–.  I had been in the service of the nobleman for two years when his daughter came from the convent.  It was my duty to do her hair, and by degrees I fell in love with her, and inspired her with a reciprocal passion.  After having sworn a thousand times to exist only for one another, we gave ourselves up to the task of shewing each other marks of our affection, the result of which was that the state of the young countess discovered all.  An old and devoted servant was the first to find out our connection and the condition of my mistress, and she told her that she felt in duty bound to tell her father, but my sweetheart succeeded in making her promise to be silent, saying that in the course of the week she herself would tell him through her confessor.  She informed me of all this, and instead of going to confession we prepared for flight.  She had laid hands on a good sum of money and some diamonds which had belonged to her mother, and we were to set out for Milan to-night.  But to-day the count called me after dinner, and giving me a letter, he told me to start at once and to deliver it with my own hand to the person to whom it was addressed at Venice.  He spoke to me so kindly and quietly that I had not the slightest suspicion of the fate in store for me.  I went to get my cloak, said good-bye to my little wife, telling her that I should soon return.  Seeing deeper below the surface than I, and perchance having a presentiment of my misfortune, she was sick at heart.  I came here in hot haste, and took care to deliver the fatal letter.  They made me wait for an answer, and in the mean time I went to an inn; but as I came out I was arrested and put in the guard-room, where I was kept till they brought me here.  I suppose, sir, I might consider the young countess as my wife?”

“You make a mistake.”

“But nature——­ "

“Nature, when a man listens to her and nothing else, takes him from one folly to another, till she puts him under the Leads.”

“I am under the Leads, then, am I?”

“As I am.”

The poor young man shed some bitter tears.  He was a well-made lad, open, honest, and amorous beyond words.  I secretly pardoned the countess, and condemned the count for exposing his daughter to such temptation.  A shepherd who shuts up the wolf in the fold should not complain if his flock be devoured.  In all his tears and lamentations he thought not of himself but always of his sweetheart.  He thought that the gaoler would return and bring him some food and a bed; but I undeceived him, and offered him a share of what I had.  His heart, however, was too full for him to eat.  In the evening I gave him my mattress, on which he passed the night, for though