Those arrangements made me feel at peace with myself.  I was certain that the husband I wanted would be found, and I only thought of finishing the carnival gaily, and of contriving to find my purse ready for a case of emergency.

Fortune soon rendered me possessor of a thousand sequins.  I paid my debts, and the licence for the marriage having arrived from Rome ten days after M. de Bragadin had applied for it, I gave him one hundred ducats, that being the sum it had cost.  The dispensation gave Christine the right of being married in any church in Christendom, she would only have to obtain the seal of the episcopal court of the diocese in which the marriage was to take place, and no publication of banns was required.  We wanted, therefore, but one thing—­a trifling one, namely, the husband.  M. Dandolo had already proposed three or four to me, but I had refused them for excellent reasons.  At last he offered one who suited me exactly.

I had to take the diamond ring out of pledge, and not wishing to do it myself, I wrote to the priest making an appointment in Treviso.  I was not, of course, surprised when I found that he was accompanied by his lovely niece, who, thinking that I had come to complete all arrangements for our marriage, embraced me without ceremony, and I did the same.  If the uncle had not been present, I am afraid that those kisses would have caused all my heroism to vanish.  I gave the curate the dispensation, and the handsome features of Christine shone with joy.  She certainly could not imagine that I had been working so actively for others, and, as I was not yet certain of anything, I did not undeceive her then.  I promised to be in P——­ within eight or ten days, when we would complete all necessary arrangements.  After dinner, I gave the curate the ticket for the ring and the money to take it out of pledge, and we retired to rest.  This time, very fortunately, there was but one bed in the room, and I had to take another chamber for myself.

The next morning, I went into Christine’s room, and found her in bed.  Her uncle had gone out for my diamond ring, and alone with that lovely girl, I found that I had, when necessary, complete control over my passions.  Thinking that she was not to be my wife, and that she would belong to another, I considered it my duty to silence my desires.  I kissed her, but nothing more.

I spent one hour with her, fighting like Saint Anthony against the carnal desires of my nature.  I could see the charming girl full of love and of wonder at my reserve, and I admired her virtue in the natural modesty which prevented her from making the first advances.  She got out of bed and dressed herself without shewing any disappointment.  She would, of course, have felt mortified if she bad had the slightest idea that I despised her, or that I did not value her charms.

Her uncle returned, gave me the ring, and we had dinner, after which he treated me to a wonderful exhibition.  Christine had learned how to write, and, to give me a proof of her talent, she wrote very fluently and very prettily in my presence.