THE LOVELY NUN AND HER YOUNG BOARDER.[98]
Casanova again meets the beautiful nun M—M—, with whom he was on intimate terms some years previously at Venice. The nun is now in a convent at Chamberi, where Casanova visits her and her young boarder, a lovely girl aged twelve or thirteen, who readily succumbs to the adventurer’s amorous advances. The text continues:—
I went to the convent, and M—M—came down alone to the grating. She thanked me for coming to see her, adding that I had come to disturb her peace of mind.
“I am all ready, my heart, to climb the garden wall,” I answered, “and I shall do it more dextrously than thy wretched humpback.”
“Alas! ‘tis not possible, for, believe me, thou art already spied upon.... Let us forget all, my dear friend, that we may be spared the torment of vain desires.”
“Give me thy hand.”
“Nay. All is over. I love thee still; probably I shall love thee always; but I long for thee to go, and by so doing, thou wilt give me proof of thy love.”
“This is dreadful; thou amazest me. Thou dost seem in perfect health; thou art grown even more beautiful; art made for the worship of the sweetest of gods; ‘tis beyond my powers of comprehension how, with a temperament like thine, thou canst live in continual abstinence.”