seemed astonished to see me at Trieste.

The procurator asked me if I amused myself as well as I had done at Paris
sixteen years ago, and I told him that sixteen years more, and a hundred
thousand francs less, forced me to live in a different fashion. While we
were talking, the consul came in to announce that the felucca was ready.
Madame de Lantieri as well as her father pressed me to join the party.

I gave a bow, which might mean either no or yes, and asked the consul
what the party was. He told me that they were going to see a Venetian
man-of-war at anchor in the harbor; his excellence there being the
captain I immediately turned to the countess and smilingly professed my
regret that I was unable to set foot on Venetian soil.

Everybody exclaimed at me,--

"You have nothing to fear. You are with honest people. Your suspicion is
quite offensive."

"That is all very fine, ladies and gentlemen, and I will come with all my
heart, if your excellences will assure me that my joining this little
party will not be known to the State Inquisitors possibly by to-morrow."

This was enough. Everybody looked at me in silence, and no objections
could be found to my argument.

The captain of the vessel, who did not know me, spoke a few whispered
words to the others, and then they left.

The next day the consul told me that the captain had praised my prudence