My health had scarcely returned, when I forgot all my woes and began once more to amuse myself.  My excellent cook, Anna Midel, who had been idle so long, had to work hard to satisfy my ravenous appetite.  My landlord and pretty Gertrude, his daughter, looked at me with astonishment as I ate, fearing some disastrous results.  Dr. Algardi, who had saved my life, prophesied a dyspepsia which would bring me to the tomb, but my need of food was stronger than his arguments, to which I paid no kind of attention; and I was right, for I required an immense quantity of nourishment to recover my former state, and I soon felt in a condition to renew my sacrifices to the deity for whom I had suffered so much.

I fell in love with the cook and Gertrude, who were both young and pretty.  I imparted my love to both of them at once, for I had foreseen that if I attacked them separately I should conquer neither.  Besides, I felt that I had not much time to lose, as I had promised to sup with Madame, d’Urfe on the first night of the year 1761 in a suite of rooms she had furnished for me in the Rue de Bac.  She had adorned the rooms with superb tapestry made for Rene of Savoy, on which were depicted all the operations of the Great Work.  She wrote to me that she had heard that Santis had recovered from the wound I had given him, and had been committed to the Bicetre for fraud.

Gertrude and Anna Midel occupied my leisure moments agreeably enough during the rest of my stay at Augsburg, but they did not make me neglect society.  I spent my evenings in a very agreeable manner with Count Max de Lamberg, who occupied the position of field-marshal to the prince-bishop.  His wife had all the attractions which collect good company together.  At this house I made the acquaintance of the Baron von Selentin, a captain in the Prussian service, who was recruiting for the King of Prussia at Augsburg.  I was particularly drawn to the Count Lamberg by his taste for literature.  He was an extremely learned man, and has published some excellent works.  I kept up a correspondence with him till his death, by his own fault, in 1792, four years from the time of my writing.  I say by his fault, but I should have said by the fault of his doctors, who treated him mercurially for a disease which was not venereal; and this treatment not only killed him but took away his good name.

His widow is still alive, and lives in Bavaria, loved by her friends and her daughters, who all made excellent marriages.

At this time a miserable company of Italian actors made their appearance in Augsburg, and I got them permission to play in a small and wretched theatre.  As this was the occasion of an incident which diverted me, the hero, I shall impart it to my readers in the hope of its amusing them also.

CHAPTER XIV

The Actors—­Bassi—­The Girl From Strasburg The Female Count—­My Return to Paris I Go to Metz—­Pretty Raton—­The Pretended Countess Lascaris