“Then,” he exclaimed, “we must go full speed ahead!”

In the conference which was held the next day between my young substitute, his god-father, and M. Dandolo, it was decided that the parson should be invited to come with his niece.  I undertook to carry the message, and leaving Venice two hours before morning I reached P——­ early.  The priest said he would be ready to start immediately after mass.  I then called on Christine, and I treated her to a fatherly and sentimental sermon, every word of which was intended to point out to her the true road to happiness in the new condition which she was on the point of adopting.  I told her how she ought to behave towards her husband, towards his aunt and his sister, in order to captivate their esteem and their love.  The last part of my discourse was pathetic and rather disparaging to myself, for, as I enforced upon her the necessity of being faithful to her husband, I was necessarily led to entreat her pardon for having seduced her.  “When you promised to marry me, after we had both been weak enough to give way to our love, did you intend to deceive me?”

“Certainly not.”

“Then you have not deceived me.  On the contrary, I owe you some gratitude for having thought that, if our union should prove unhappy, it was better to find another husband for me, and I thank God that you have succeeded so well.  Tell me, now, what I can answer to your friend in case he should ask me, during the first night, why I am so different to what a virgin ought to be?”

“It is not likely that Charles, who is full of reserve and propriety, would ask you such a thing, but if he should, tell him positively that you never had a lover, and that you do not suppose yourself to be different to any other girl.”

“Will he believe me?”

“He would deserve your contempt, and entail punishment on himself if he did not.  But dismiss all anxiety; that will not occur.  A sensible man, my dear Christine, when he has been rightly brought up, never ventures upon such a question, because he is not only certain to displease, but also sure that he will never know the truth, for if the truth is likely to injure a woman in the opinion of her husband, she would be very foolish, indeed, to confess it.”

“I understand your meaning perfectly, my dear friend; let us, then, embrace each other for the last time.”

“No, for we are alone and I am very weak.  I adore thee as much as ever.”

“Do not cry, dear friend, for, truly speaking, I have no wish for it.”

That simple and candid answer changed my disposition suddenly, and, instead of crying, I began to laugh.  Christine dressed herself splendidly, and after breakfast we left P——.  We reached Venice in four hours.  I lodged them at a good inn, and going to the palace, I told M. Dandolo that our people had arrived, that it would be his province to bring them and Charles together on the following day, and to attend to the matter altogether, because the honour of the future husband and wife, the respect due to their parents and to propriety, forbade any further interference on my part.