prescribed I appeared at the place of assignation. My mind misgave me
when I saw a female conduct me into a little chamber hung with tapestry
descriptive of the loves of Mars and Venus. After I had cooled my heels
in this apartment about a quarter of an hour, in sailed a tall woman, of
a complexion almost Moorish. I bowed; the lady sighed. An
/eclaircissement/ ensued; and I found that I had the good fortune to be
the object of a /caprice/ in the favourite mistress of the Abbe Dubois.
Nothing was further from my wishes! What a pity it is that one cannot
always tell a woman one's mind!

I attempted a flourish about friendship, honour, and the respect due to
the /amante/ of the most intimate /ami/ I had in the world.

"Pooh!" said the tawny Calypso, a little pettishly, "pooh! one does not
talk of those things here."

"Madame," said I, very energetically, "I implore you to refrain. Do not
excite too severe a contest between passion and duty! I feel that I
must fly you: you are already too bewitching."

Just as I rose to depart in rushes the /femme de chambre/, and
announces, not Monsieur the Abbe, but Monseigneur the Regent. Of course
(the old resort in such cases) I was thrust in a closet; in marches his
Royal Highness, and is received very cavalierly. It is quite
astonishing to me what airs those women give themselves when they have
princes to manage! However, my confinement was not long: the closet had
another door; the /femme de chambre/ slips round, opens it, and I
congratulate myself on my escape.

When a Frenchwoman is piqued, she passes all understanding. The next