"Yes, provided that I do not keep it." "That is understood. Here is a sketch of the note you must write him:" "I know that you have found your wife again and that you love her. I did not want you yesterday, you seemed too easy a conquest; to-day it seems to me that it will be interesting to make you unfaithful; moreover, I am anxious to know if your frantic desire to possess me makes you capable of everything, as you boast. I know that you are to give a concert on the water this evening; I will be in a gondola and will follow you. You know my gondolier, Cristofano; be near the rail of your boat and leap into my gondola as soon as you see it. I will keep you an hour, after which I shall have had enough of you forever, perhaps. I want none of your presents; I want only this proof of your love. This evening or never." La Misana thought the note very singular in tone and copied it laughingly. "What will you do with him when you have him in the gondola?" "Set him ashore on the bank of the Lido and let him pass a long, cool night there." "I would gladly kiss you to show my gratitude," said the courtesan; "but I have a lover whom I propose to love all the week. Adieu." "You must place your gondolier at my orders," I said. "To be sure; he is intelligent, discreet and strong; do with him as you will." XXIV I returned to the hotel and passed the rest of the day reflecting deeply upon what I was to do. Night came; Cristofano and the gondola were waiting under my window. I dressed myself like a gondolier; Leoni's boat appeared, decorated with colored lanterns, which gleamed like gems, from the top of the masts to the end of every piece of rigging, and sending up rockets in all directions in the intervals between the bursts of music. I stood at the stern of the gondola, oar in hand; I rowed alongside. Leoni was by the rail, in the same costume as on the night before; Juliette was sitting among the musicians; she too wore a magnificent costume, but she was downcast and pensive, and seemed not to be thinking of him. Cristofano removed his hat and raised his lantern to the level of his face. Leoni recognized him and leaped into the gondola. As soon as he was on board, Cristofano informed him that La Misana was awaiting him in another gondola near the public garden. "What's that? why isn't she here?" he asked. "_Non so_," replied the gondolier indifferently, and he began to row. I seconded him vigorously, and in a few moments we had passed the public garden. We were surrounded by a dense mist. Leoni leaned forward several times and asked if we were not almost there. We continued to glide smoothly over the placid surface of the lagoon; the moon, pale and swathed in mist, whitened the atmosphere without lightening it. We passed like smugglers the line which cannot ordinarily be passed without a permit from the police, and did not pause until we reached the sandy bank of the Lido, far enough away to be in no danger of meeting a living being.