I met the prince one day as I was coming out of the old fortress leading to the esplanade. He stopped, and reproached me for not having called upon him. I laughed, and advised him to think of his safety before the arrival of the news which would expose all the imposture, in which case the proveditore was certain to treat him very severely. I offered to help him in his flight from Corfu, and to get a Neapolitan captain, whose ship was ready to sail, to conceal him on board; but the fool, instead of accepting my offer, loaded me with insults. He was courting Madame Sagredo, who treated him very well, feeling proud that a French prince should have given her the preference over all the other ladies. One day that she was dining in great ceremony at M. D---- R-----'s house, she asked me why I had advised the prince to run away. "I have it from his own lips," she added, "and he cannot make out your obstinacy in believing him an impostor." "I have given him that advice, madam, because my heart is good, and my judgment sane." "Then we are all of us as many fools, the proveditore included?" "That deduction would not be right, madam. An opinion contrary to that of another does not necessarily make a fool of the person who entertains it. It might possibly turn out, in ten or twelve days, that I have been entirely mistaken myself, but I should not consider myself a fool in consequence. In the mean time, a lady of your intelligence must have discovered whether that man is a peasant or a prince by his education and manners. For instance, does he dance well?" "He does not know one step, but he is the first to laugh about it; he says he never would learn dancing." "Does he behave well at table?" "Well, he doesn't stand on ceremony. He does not want his plate to be changed, he helps himself with his spoon out of the dishes; he does not know how to check an eructation or a yawn, and if he feels tired he leaves the table. It is evident that he has been very badly brought up." "And yet he is very pleasant, I suppose. Is he clean and neat?" "No, but then he is not yet well provided with linen." "I am told that he is very sober." "You are joking. He leaves the table intoxicated twice a day, but he ought to be pitied, for he cannot drink wine and keep his head clear. Then he swears like a trooper, and we all laugh, but he never takes offence." "Is he witty?" "He has a wonderful memory, for he tells us new stories every day." "Does he speak of his family?" "Very often of his mother, whom he loved tenderly. She was a Du Plessis." "If his mother is still alive she must be a hundred and fifty years old." "What nonsense!" "Not at all; she was married in the days of Marie de Medicis." "But the certificate of baptism names the prince's mother, and his seal--" "Does he know what armorial bearings he has on that seal?" "Do you doubt it?" "Very strongly, or rather I am certain that he knows nothing about it."