left at home is a mere impostor?"

"Perfectly, and I shall pay my wager with the greatest willingness."

"I may say the same. If, when I summon M. M. to the parlour, the
lay-sister tells us she is ill or busy, we will go, and the wager will be
yours; you will sup with the fair, and I will go elsewhere."

"So be it; but since all this will be at nighttime, it is possible that
when you ask for her, the sister will tell you that no one can be seen at
such an hour."

"Then I shall lose."

"You are quite sure, then, that if she be in the convent she will come
down?"

"That's my business. I repeat, if you don't speak to her, I shall hold
myself to have lost a hundred sequins, or a thousand if you like."

"One can't speak plainer than that, my dear fellow, and I thank you
beforehand."

"The only thing I ask you is to come sharp to time; and not to come too
late for a convent."

"Will an hour after sunset suit you?"

"Admirably."