He made no reply, and his coldness restored my self-control.
“It is not necessary to seek any pretext to avoid meeting Donna Faustina,” continued I with a sang-froid nearly equal to his own. “Mme. de Kergy has invited me, and you also, to dine there to-morrow, and pass the evening.”
“Very well, go; nothing could be more fortunate. As for me, I shall not go with you. I have business I am obliged to finish before my departure. To-morrow I shall be absent all the morning, and shall not return in season to accompany you.”
I knew through Lando what business he referred to. I knew he was to settle the next day the important accounts I had learned about the preceding Sunday. I recollected likewise that he was afterwards to dine with Lando....
It was not, then, an imaginary excuse I had to transmit to Mme. de Kergy, and yet, when I wrote the note before mentioned, it was with a trembling hand and a heart heavier than it had ever been in my life!
To Be Continued.
September—Sabbath Rest.
Most holy of the numbers, sacred Seven!
Which reverently the ancient sages held,