"In the first place, my dear love, why are you so silly as to place any faith in these fables, invented by one person to give himself importance, and repeated by others because lies always find fools enough who are ready to spread them? I, kill a peasant! to take her vegetables, I presume? I, steal an ass! Why, what on earth should I do with it?--And you could believe that, Miretta! you, who have seen my wealth, and who know of the thirst for gold that possesses me now!" "Mon Dieu! will it never be satisfied, this passion which drives you to crime? Giovanni, do you mean to pass your whole life in this way?" "No; a few months more.--Hark ye, next spring I mean to return to my lovely Italy." "You will take me, will you not?" "Yes, I will take you. I will buy a palace, a superb villa. I will have splendid equipages. You shall be covered with diamonds! I propose that Milan and Florence shall be dazzled by my magnificence and my luxurious mode of life." "Why do you not carry out your plan now?" "No; this will be a good winter in Paris; we will go in the spring." "Giovanni, no one can defy danger forever with impunity! No one can be always stronger than the laws and his fellow men! The moment of retribution arrives when he believes that he is safe from all danger." "Enough, Miretta, enough! I have told you before that your arguments are of no avail.--Let us take this street--we shall soon be at the Hôtel de Mongarcin." "Then let us take another, for I do not want to leave you so soon, Giovanni. I do not know why, but it seems to me that I shall not see you again for a long while. I have a heavy weight on my heart; do not leave me yet, I implore you, unless your safety requires it!" "My safety has nothing to fear. But it is very late, and I thought that it was necessary for you to return." "Oh! I am in no hurry now; I may remain as long as I please; my mistress herself gave me permission, for she thinks that I am employing my time in her service." "What does that mean?" "That Mademoiselle Valentine de Mongarcin, furious with rage because she is disdained by the young Comte Léodgard de Marvejols, who was to marry her, wishes to know if he is really in love with the daughter of a bath keeper on Rue Dauphine, and if it is really he who obtains access to her at night by scaling the balcony of a window on the first floor. Mademoiselle instructed me to investigate, to resort to every possible means of ascertaining the truth." "Your investigation is all made, the truth is ascertained for you.--I know better than anyone what takes place in Paris at night. I know Comte Léodgard; on a certain night last winter I had quite a long conversation with him; and for some time past I have, in fact, noticed him several times scaling the bath keeper Landry's balcony. It would never have occurred to me to interfere with him; I should have been more inclined to assist him, if he had needed assistance."