When my brother-in-law and myself were alone, he said to me,
"I played my part famously, did I not? How eagerly the bait
was swallowed!"
"Explain yourself," said I.
"My good sister, what I have said respecting this perfection of
loveliness is no fiction, neither have I at all exaggerated either
her perfections or her beauty, and I trust by her aid we shall
obliterate from the king's mind every recollection of the syren
of the
."
"Heaven grant it," exclaimed I.
"My dear sister," replied comte Jean, "heaven has nothing to do
with such things."
Alas! he was mistaken, and Providence only employed the present
occasion as a means of causing us to be precipitated into the very
abyss of ruin we had dug for others. On the following morning,
Chamilly came to me to inquire whether it was my pleasure that
the present scheme should be carried into execution.
"Yes, yes,' answered I eagerly, "by all means, the more we direct
the inclinations of the king for the present, the better for him
and for us likewise."
Armed with my consent, Chamilly dispatched to the unhappy girl
that , whose skill in such delicate commissions had never
been known to fail. Not that in the present instance any great
bribes were requisite, but it was necessary to employ some agent
whose specious reasoning and oily tongue should have power to
vanquish the virtuous reluctance of the victim herself, as well
as to obtain a promise of strict silence from her family.
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