"Very much indeed, if you shew yourself very kind."

"I will be very kind, for I love you dearly likewise. I will go and tell
my mother."

"Of course you have a lover?"

"I never had one."

She left my room, and in a short time came back full of joy, saying that
her mother believed me an honest man; she of course meant a generous one.
Cecilia locked the door, and throwing herself in my arms covered me with
kisses. She was pretty, charming, but I was not in love with her, and I
was not able to say to her as to Lucrezia: "You have made me so happy!"
But she said it herself, and I did not feel much flattered, although I
pretended to believe her. When I woke up in the morning I gave her a
tender salutation, and presenting her with three doubloons, which must
have particularly delighted the mother, I sent her away without losing my
time in promising everlasting constancy--a promise as absurd as it is
trifling, and which the most virtuous man ought never to make even to the
most beautiful of women.

After breakfast I sent for mine host and ordered an excellent supper for
five persons, feeling certain that Don Sancio, whom I expected in the
evening, would not refuse to honour me by accepting my invitation, and
with that idea I made up my mind to go without my dinner. The Bolognese
family did not require to imitate my diet to insure a good appetite for
the evening.