Everybody burst out laughing, but the foolish old general knitted his
brows. The guests retired soon afterwards, and Madame F-----, whom I had
preceded to the carriage, M. D---- R---- having offered her his arm,
invited me to get in with her, saying that it was raining. It was the
first time that she had bestowed such an honour upon me.

"I am of your opinion about that prince," she said, "but you have
incurred the displeasure of the proveditore."

"I am very sorry, madam, but it could not have been avoided, for I cannot
help speaking the truth openly."

"You might have spared him," remarked M. D---- R-----, "the cutting jest
of the confessor killing the false prince."

"You are right, sir, but I thought it would make him laugh as well as it
made madam and your excellency. In conversation people generally do not
object to a witty jest causing merriment and laughter."

"True; only those who have not wit enough to laugh do not like the jest."

"I bet a hundred sequins that the madman will recover, and that, having
the general on his side, he will reap all the advantages of his
imposture. I long to see him treated as a prince, and making love to
Madame Sagredo"

Hearing the last words, Madame F-----, who did not like Madame Sagredo,
laughed heartily, and, as we were getting out of the carriage, M.
D---- R---- invited me to accompany them upstairs. He was in the habit of
spending half an hour alone with her at her own house when they had taken