dined with us on that day; as soon as dinner was over he closeted himself
with M. Dandoio, and for two hours they remained together. I had gone to
bed during that time, but M. Dandolo came up to me and told me that I had
arrived just in time to consult the oracle respecting an important affair
entirely private to himself. He gave me the questions, and requested me
to find the answers. He wanted to know whether he would act rightly if he
accepted a project proposed to him by De la Haye.

The oracle answered negatively.

M. Dandolo, rather surprised, asked a second question: he wished Paralis
to give his reasons for the denial.

I formed the cabalistic pile, and brought out this answer:

"I asked Casanova's opinion, and as I find it opposed to the proposal
made by De la Haye, I do not wish to hear any more about it."

Oh! wonderful power of self-delusion! This worthy man, pleased at being
able to throw the odium of a refusal on me, left me perfectly satisfied.
I had no idea of the nature of the affair to which he had been alluding,
and I felt no curiosity about it; but it annoyed me that a Jesuit should
interfere and try to make my friends do anything otherwise than through
my instrumentality, and I wanted that intriguer to know that my influence
was greater than his own.

After that, I dressed, masked myself, and went to the opera, where I sat
down to a faro-table and lost all my money. Fortune was determined to
shew me that it does not always agree with love. My heart was heavy, I
felt miserable; I went to bed. When I woke in the morning, I saw De la