"No, it seems to me, on the contrary, that I need not account to him for
any of my proceedings. So much the worse for him if he should, even for
one moment, doubt my word."

The next morning, we left Parma, taking only what we wanted for an
absence of a fortnight. We arrived in Milan without accident, but both
very sad, and we spent the following fifteen days in constant
tete-a-tete, without speaking to anyone, except the landlord of the hotel
and to a dressmaker. I presented my beloved Henriette with a magnificent
pelisse made of lynx fur--a present which she prized highly.

Out of delicacy, she had never enquired about my means, and I felt
grateful to her for that reserve. I was very careful to conceal from her
the fact that my purse was getting very light. When we came back to Parma
I had only three or four hundred sequins.

The day after our return M. d'Antoine invited himself to dine with us,
and after we had drunk coffee, I left him alone with Henriette. Their
interview was as long as the first, and our separation was decided. She
informed me of it, immediately after the departure of M. d'Antoine, and
for a long time we remained folded in each other's arms, silent, and
blending our bitter tears.

"When shall I have to part from you, my beloved, alas! too much beloved
one?"

"Be calm, dearest, only when we reach Geneva, whither you are going to
accompany me. Will you try to find me a respectable maid by to-morrow?
She will accompany me from Geneva to the place where I am bound to go."