I thought Veronique prettier than before. Her behaviour, now free and now reserved, as the occasion demanded, shewed me that she was no new hand, and that she could have played the part of a princess in the best society. Nevertheless (so strange a thing is the heart of man), I was sorry to find I liked her, and my only consolation was that her mother would come and take her away before the day was over. I had adored Rosalie, and my heart still bled at the thought of our parting. The girl's mother came while we were still at table. She was astounded at the honour I shewed her daughter, and she overwhelmed me with thanks. "You owe me no gratitude," said I to her; "your daughter is clever, good, and beautiful." "Thank the gentleman for his compliment," said the mother, "for you are really stupid, wanton, and ugly;" and then she added, "But how could you have the face to sit at table with the gentleman in a dirty chemise?" "I should blush, mother, if I thought you were right; but I put a clean one on only two hours ago." "Madam," said I to the mother, "the chemise cannot look white beside your daughter's whiter skin." This made the mother laugh, and pleased the girl immensely. When the mother told her that she was come to take her back, Veronique said, with a sly smile,-- "Perhaps the gentleman won't be pleased at my leaving him twenty-four hours before he goes away." "On the contrary," said I, "I should be very vexed." "Well; then, she can stay, sir," said the mother; "but for decency's sake I must send her younger sister to sleep with her." "If you please," I rejoined. And with that I left them. The thought of Veronique troubled me, as I knew I was taken with her, and what I had to dread was a calculated resistance. The mother came into my room where I was writing, and wished me a pleasant journey, telling me for the second time that she was going to send her daughter Annette. The girl came in the evening, accompanied by a servant, and after lowering her mezzaro, and kissing my hand respectfully, she ran gaily to kiss her sister. I wanted to see what she was like, and called for candles; and on their being brought I found she was a blonde of a kind I had never before seen. Her hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes were the colour of pale gold, fairer almost than her skin, which was extremely delicate. She was very short-sighted, but her large pale blue eyes were wonderfully beautiful. She had the smallest mouth imaginable, but her teeth, though regular, were not so white as her skin. But for this defect Annette might have passed for a perfect beauty.