As soon as the gloomy Abbe des Forges was gone and Madame was alone, we rejoined her.  She treated me as her gossip, and played the timid child for Tiretta’s benefit, and he played up to her admirably, much to my admiration.

“I shall see no more of that foolish priest,” said she; “for after telling me that I was lost both in this world and the next he threatened to abandon me, and I took him at his word.”

An actress named Quinault, who had left the stage and lived close by, came to call, and soon after Madame Favart and the Abbe de Voisenon arrived, followed by Madame Amelin with a handsome lad named Calabre, whom she called her nephew.  He was as like her as two peas, but she did not seem to think that a sufficient reason for confessing she was his mother.  M. Patron, a Piedmontese, who also came with her, made a bank at faro and in a couple of hours won everybody’s money with the exception of mine, as I knew better than to play.  My time was better occupied in the company of my sweet mistress.  I saw through the Piedmontese, and had put him down as a knave; but Tiretta was not so sharp, and consequently lost all the money he had in his pockets and a hundred louis besides.  The banker having reaped a good harvest put down the cards, and Tiretta told him in good Italian that he was a cheat, to which the Piedmontese replied with the greatest coolness that he lied.  Thinking that the quarrel might have an unpleasant ending, I told him that Tiretta was only jesting, and I made my friend say so, too.  He then left the company and went to his room.

Eight years afterwards I saw this Patron at St. Petersburg, and in the year 1767 he was assassinated in Poland.

The same evening I preached Tiretta a severe yet friendly sermon.  I pointed out to him that when he played he was at the mercy of the banker, who might be a rogue but a man of courage too, and so in calling him a cheat he was risking his life.

“Am I to let myself be robbed, then?”

“Yes, you have a free choice in the matter; nobody will make you play.”

“I certainly will not pay him that hundred louis.”

“I advise you to do so, and to do so before you are asked.”

“You have a knack of persuading one to do what you will, even though one be disposed to take no notice of your advice.”

“That’s because I speak from heart and head at once, and have some experience in these affairs as well.”

Three quarters of an hour afterwards I went to bed and my mistress came to me before long.  We spent a sweeter night than before, for it is often a matter of some difficulty to pluck the first flower; and the price which most men put on this little trifle is founded more on egotism than any feeling of pleasure.

Next day, after dining with the family and admiring the roses on my sweetheart’s cheeks, I returned to Paris.  Three or four days later Tiretta came to tell me that the Dunkirk merchant had arrived, that he was coming to dine at Madame’s, and that she requested me to make one of the party.  I was prepared for the news, but the blood rushed into my face.  Tiretta saw it, and to a certain extent divined my feelings.  “You are in love with the niece,” said he.