“I should, indeed, as her face left a strong impression on my mind.”
“Wait a minute.”
He got up from the table, went out, and returned a minute after with a box containing eight or ten miniatures, all in the same style, namely, with hair in disorder and bare necks.
“These,” said I, “are rare charms, with which you have doubtless a near acquaintance?”
“Yes, and if you recognize any of them be discreet.”
“You need not be afraid. Here are three I recognize, and this looks like M—— M——; but confess that you may have been deceived—at least, that you did not have her in the convent or here, for there are women like her.”
“Why do you think I have been deceived? I have had her here in her religious habit, and I have spent a whole night with her; and it was to her individually that I sent a purse containing five hundred sequins. I gave fifty to the good procurer.”
“You have, I suppose, visited her in the parlour, after having her here?”
“No, never, as she was afraid her titular lover might hear of it. You know that was the French ambassador.”
“But she only saw him in the parlour.”