hours in whimpering in her salon when I ought to have been
carrying on the struggle in the field. It is true that I went
to see her very often, on the theory that it would console me
(I freely expressed my discouragement) for my want of success
on my own premises. But I began to perceive that it did
not console me to be perpetually chaffed for my scruples,
especially when I was really so vigilant; and I was rather
glad when my derisive friend closed her house for the summer.
She had expected to gather amusement from the drama of my
intercourse with the Misses Bordereau, and she was disappointed
that the intercourse, and consequently the drama, had not come off.
"They'll lead you on to your ruin," she said before she left Venice.
"They'll get all your money without showing you a scrap."
I think I settled down to my business with more concentration
after she had gone away.

It was a fact that up to that time I had not, save on a single
brief occasion, had even a moment's contact with my queer hostesses.
The exception had occurred when I carried them according
to my promise the terrible three thousand francs.
Then I found Miss Tita waiting for me in the hall, and she
took the money from my hand so that I did not see her aunt.
The old lady had promised to receive me, but she apparently
thought nothing of breaking that vow. The money was contained
in a bag of chamois leather, of respectable dimensions,
which my banker had given me, and Miss Tita had to make a big
fist to receive it. This she did with extreme solemnity,
though I tried to treat the affair a little as a joke.
It was in no jocular strain, yet it was with simplicity,
that she inquired, weighing the money in her two palms: