without desiring to possess them?  At this point her wretched husband left the room, saying he was gone to fetch some water.  I saw the snare, and my self-respect prevented my being caught in it.  I had an idea that the whole scene had been arranged with the intent that I should deliver myself up to brutal pleasure, while the proud and foolish woman would be free to disavow all participation in the fact.  I constrained myself, and gently veiled what I would fain have revealed in all its naked beauty.  I condemned to darkness these charms which this monster of a woman only wished me to enjoy that I might be debased.

Stuard was long enough gone.  When he came back with the water-bottle full, he was no doubt surprised to find me perfectly calm, and in no disorder of any kind, and a few minutes afterwards I went out to cool myself by the banks of the Rhone.

I walked along rapidly, feeling enraged with myself, for I felt that the woman had bewitched me.  In vain I tried to bring myself to reason; the more I walked the more excited I became, and I determined that after what I had seen the only cure for my disordered fancy was enjoyment, brutal or not.  I saw that I should have to win her, not by an appeal to sentiment but by hard cash, without caring what sacrifices I made.  I regretted my conduct, which then struck me in the light of false delicacy, for if I had satisfied my desires and she chose to turn prude, I might have laughed her to scorn, and my position would have been unassailable.  At last I determined on telling the husband that I would give him twenty-five louis if he could obtain me an interview in which I could satisfy my desires.

Full of this idea I went back to the inn, and had my dinner in my own room without troubling to enquire after her.  Le Duc told me that she was dining in her room too, and that the landlord had told the company that she would not take her meals in public any more.  This was information I possessed already.

After dinner I called on the good-natured Dolci, who introduced me to his father, an excellent man, but not rich enough to satisfy his son’s desire of travelling.  The young man was possessed of considerable dexterity, and performed a number of very clever conjuring tricks.  He had an amiable nature, and seeing that I was curious to know about his love affairs he told me numerous little stories which shewed me that he was at that happy age when one’s inexperience is one’s sole misfortune.

There was a rich lady for whom he did not care, as she wanted him to give her that which he would be ashamed to give save for love, and there was a girl who required him to treat her with respect.  I thought I could give him a piece of good advice, so I told him to grant his favours to the rich woman, and to fail in respect now and again to the girl, who would be sure to scold and then forgive.  He was no profligate, and seemed rather inclined to become a Protestant.  He amused himself innocently with his friends of his own age, in a garden near Avignon, and a sister of the gardener’s wife was kind to him when they were alone.