inviolable secrecy, and having undertaken, on that condition, to prove
his gratitude by buying him a regiment, explained what was expected of
him. The poor youth, to whom nothing could have been more unexpected
than such a communication, took it at first for a trick by which the
marquis meant to make him own his love, and was ready to throw himself at
his feet and declare everything; but the marquis seeing his confusion,
and easily guessing its cause, reassured him completely by swearing that
he authorised him to take any steps in order to attain the end that the
marquis had in view. As in his inmost heart the aim of the young man was
the same, the bargain was soon struck: the page bound himself by the most
terrible oaths to keep the secret; and the marquis, in order to supply
whatever assistance was in his power, gave him money to spend, believing
that there was no woman, however virtuous, who could resist the
combination of youth, beauty, and fortune: unhappily for the marquis,
such a woman, whom he thought impossible, did exist, and was his wife.

The page was so anxious to obey his master, that from that very day his
mistress remarked the alteration that arose from the permission given
him--his prompt obedience to her orders and his speed in executing them,
in order to return a few moments the sooner to her presence. She was
grateful to him, and in the simplicity of her heart she thanked him. Two
days later the page appeared before her splendidly dressed; she observed
and remarked upon his improved appearance, and amused herself in conning
over all the parts of his dress, as she might have done with a new doll.
All this familiarity doubled the poor young man's passion, but he stood
before his mistress, nevertheless, abashed and trembling, like Cherubino
before his fair godmother. Every evening the marquis inquired into his
progress, and every evening the page confessed that he was no farther
advanced than the day before; then the marquis scolded, threatened to
take away his fine clothes, to withdraw his own promises, and finally to