and I suppose Bastiani did not like to lower his dignity by declaring his love.  The canon shewed me all the letters he had received from the King of Prussia before he had been made canon.  He was the son of a tailor at Venice, and became a friar, but having committed some peccadillo which got him into trouble, he was fortunate enough to be able to make his escape.  He fled to The Hague, and there met Tron, the Venetian ambassador, who lent him a hundred ducats with which he made his way to Berlin and favour with the king.  Such are the ways by which men arrive at fortune!  ‘Sequere deum’!

On the event of my departure from Breslau I went to pay a call on a baroness for whom I had a letter of introduction from her son, who was an officer of the Polish Court.  I sent up my name and was asked to wait a few moments, as the baroness was dressing.  I sat down beside a pretty girl, who was neatly dressed in a mantle with a hood.  I asked her if she were waiting for the baroness like myself.

“Yes, sir,” she replied, “I have come to offer myself as governess for her three daughters.”

“What!  Governess at your age?”

“Alas! sir, age has nothing to do with necessity.  I have neither father nor mother.  My brother is a poor lieutenant who cannot help me; what can I do?  I can only get a livelihood by turning my good education to account.”

“What will your salary be?”

“Fifty wretched crowns, enough to buy my dresses.”

“It’s very little.”

“It is as much as people give.”

“Where are you living now?”

“With a poor aunt, where I can scarce earn enough bread to keep me alive by sewing from morning till night.”

“If you liked to become my governess instead of becoming a children’s governess, I would give you fifty crowns, not per year, but per month.”

“Your governess?  Governess to your family, you mean, I suppose?”

“I have no family; I am a bachelor, and I spend my time in travelling.  I leave at five o’clock to-morrow morning for Dresden, and if you like to come with me there is a place for you in my carriage.  I am staying at such an inn.  Come there with your trunk, and we will start together.”

“You are joking; besides, I don’t know you.”

“I am not jesting; and we should get to know each other perfectly well in twenty-four hours; that is ample time.”

My serious air convinced the girl that I was not laughing at her; but she was still very much astonished, while I was very much astonished to find I had gone so far when I had only intended to joke.  In trying to win over the girl I had won over myself.  It seemed to me a rare adventure, and I was delighted to see that she was giving it her serious attention by the side-glances she kept casting in my direction to see if I was laughing at her.  I began to think that fate had brought us together that I might become the architect of her fortune.  I had no doubt whatever as to her goodness or her feelings for me, for she completely infatuated my judgment.  To put the finishing stroke on the affair I drew out two ducats and gave them her as an earnest of her first month’s wages.  She took them timidly, but seemed convinced that I was not imposing on her.