dread from the attentions of M. de la Popeliniere, and in this the abbess
lied.

Mdlle. X. C. V. profited by the delight of her mother in seeing her again
safe and sound, and made her wait on M. de Sartine with the abbess's
certificate, stop all proceedings against me, and withdraw all the
charges she had made. Her daughter told her that if I liked I might claim
damages for libel, and that if she did not wish to injure her reputation
she would say nothing more about what had happened.

The mother wrote me a letter of the most satisfactory character, which I
had registered in court, thus putting an end to the prosecution. In my
turn I wrote to congratulate her on the recovery of her daughter, but I
never set foot in her house again, to avoid any disagreeable scenes with
Farsetti.

Mdlle. X. C. V. could not stay any longer in Paris, where her tale was
known to everyone, and Farsetti took her to Brussels with her sister
Madelaine. Some time after, her mother followed her, and they then went
on to Venice, and there in three years' time she became a great lady.
Fifteen years afterwards I saw her again, and she was a widow, happy
enough apparently, and enjoying a great reputation on account of her
rank, wit, and social qualities, but our connection was never renewed.

In four years the reader will hear more of Castel-Bajac. Towards the end
of the same year (1759), before I went to Holland, I spent several
hundred francs to obtain the release of the midwife.

I lived like a prince, and men might have thought me happy, but I was
not. The enormous expenses I incurred, my love of spending money, and