“Well my first order to you is not to give her grief a single thought.  You have only to leave everything to me.  Would you like to start to-morrow?”

“To-morrow?”

“Yes.  Have you any debts?”

“No.”

“Do you want any money?”

“I have sufficient.  But the idea of leaving tomorrow has taken my breath away.  I must have three days delay.”

“Why so?”

“I expect some letters the day after to-morrow, and I must write to my relations to tell them where I am going.”

“I will take charge of your letters and send them on to you.”

“Where shall I be?”

“I will tell you at the moment of your departure; trust in me.  I will send you at once where you will be comfortable.  All you have to do is to leave your trunk in the hands of your landlord, with orders not to give it up to anyone but myself.”

“Very good.  I am to go without my trunk, then.”

“Yes.  You must dine with me every day till you go, and mind not to tell anyone whatsoever that you intend leaving Bologna.”

“I will take care not to do so.”

The worthy young fellow looked quite radiant.  I embraced him and thanked him for putting so much trust in me.

I felt proud at the good work I was about to perform, and smiled at the thought of Brigida’s anger when she found that her lover had escaped.  I wrote to my good friend Dandolo that in five or six days a young abbe would present himself before him bearing a letter from myself.  I begged Dandolo to get him a comfortable and cheap lodging, as my friend was so unfortunate as to be indifferently provided with money, though an excellent man.  I then wrote the letter of which the abbe was to be the bearer.

Next day Bolini told me that Brigida was far from suspecting his flight, as owing to his gaiety at the thought of freedom he had contented her so well during the night she had passed with him that she thought him as much in love as she was.

“She has all my linen,” he added, “but I hope to get a good part of it back under one pretext or another, and she is welcome to the rest.”

On the day appointed he called on me as we had arranged the night before, carrying a huge carpet bag containing necessaries.  I took him to Modena in a post chaise, and there we dined; afterward I gave him a letter for M. Dandolo, promising to send on his trunk the next day.

He was delighted to hear that Venice was his destination, as he had long wished to go there, and I promised him that M. Dandolo should see that he lived as comfortably and cheaply as he had done at Bologna.

I saw him off, and returned to Bologna.  The trunk I dispatched after him the following day.

As I had expected, the poor victim appeared before me all in tears the next day.  I felt it my duty to pity her; it would have been cruel to pretend I did not know the reason for her despair.  I gave her a long but kindly sermon, endeavouring to persuade her that I had acted for the best in preventing the abbe marrying her, as such a step would have plunged them both into misery.