“Where is Angela?” I enquired.

“She must have been unable to come, or to send a message.  Yet she knows you are here.”

“She thinks she has made a fool of me; but I suspected she would act in this way.  You know her now.  She is trifling with me, and very likely she is now revelling in her triumph.  She has made use of you to allure me in the snare, and it is all the better for her; had she come, I meant to have had my turn, and to have laughed at her.”

“Ah! you must allow me to have my doubts as to that.”

“Doubt me not, beautiful Nanette; the pleasant night we are going to spend without her must convince you.”

“That is to say that, as a man of sense, you can accept us as a makeshift; but you can sleep here, and my sister can lie with me on the sofa in the next room.”

“I cannot hinder you, but it would be great unkindness on your part.  At all events, I do not intend to go to bed.”

“What! you would have the courage to spend seven hours alone with us?  Why, I am certain that in a short time you will be at a loss what to say, and you will fall asleep.”

“Well, we shall see.  In the mean-time here are provisions.  You will not be so cruel as to let me eat alone?  Can you get any bread?”

“Yes, and to please you we must have a second supper.”

“I ought to be in love with you.  Tell me, beautiful Nanette, if I were as much attached to you as I was to Angela, would you follow her example and make me unhappy?”

“How can you ask such a question?  It is worthy of a conceited man.  All I can answer is, that I do not know what I would do.”

They laid the cloth, brought some bread, some Parmesan cheese and water, laughing all the while, and then we went to work.  The wine, to which they were not accustomed, went to their heads, and their gaiety was soon delightful.  I wondered, as I looked at them, at my having been blind enough not to see their merit.

After our supper, which was delicious, I sat between them, holding their hands, which I pressed to my lips, asking them whether they were truly my friends, and whether they approved of Angela’s conduct towards me.  They both answered that it had made them shed many tears.  “Then let me,” I said, “have for you the tender feelings of a brother, and share those feelings yourselves as if you were my sisters; let us exchange, in all innocence, proofs of our mutual affection, and swear to each other an eternal fidelity.”

The first kiss I gave them was prompted by entirely harmless motives, and they returned the kiss, as they assured me a few days afterwards only to prove to me that they reciprocated my brotherly feelings; but those innocent kisses, as we repeated them, very soon became ardent ones, and kindled a flame which certainly took us by surprise, for we stopped, as by common consent, after a short time, looking at each other very much astonished and rather serious.  They