As we were on our way back to Venice, the countess, tired perhaps of our silence, said to me, with a smile, "M---- M---- is beautiful and very witty." "I have seen her beauty, and I believe in her wit." "She did not address one word to you." "I had refused to be introduced to her, and she punished me by pretending not to know that I was present." The countess made no answer, and we reached her house without exchanging another word. At her door a very ceremonious curtesy, with these words, "Adieu, sir!" warned me that I was not to go any further. I had no wish to do so, and went away dreaming and wondering at the singularity of the adventure, the end of which I longed to see.