“Do not love you? You will see!” Luckily it was easy for me to give her proofs of my love. I took her in my arms and put her on the bed. In a moment we lay stark naked side by side.

I had forgotten till then to pull aside the curtain which hid the looking glass, I slipped the cord and it came into view.

Violette uttered an exclamation of joy.

“Ah!” said she, “how charming. We shall be able to see ourselves in the glass.”

“Yes; as long as you can look on.”

“I bet you I will look to the very end.”

“I bet you cannot.”

I began operations by imprinting a long kiss on that part called the Mount of Venus.

“Ah!” said she, “you will not be able to see anything now.”

“You will use your eyes for both of us, and I will guess as much as I can.”

I then used my tongue as I had done before.

“Ah!” she said, “I know what you are doing; but the sensation is even better than the other day. Oh! where do you put your tongue now? The sensation is so delightful, I think I shall die!… Good gracious!… No! no! I will not yield! I will resist!… I will… Ah I am vanquished!… My dear love, my eyes are closing up… I cannot see anything. I die!”

Nights follow one another without being alike for lovers only, but as the description of this one might seem the exact reproduction of the preceding one, I shall beg leave of the reader to say nothing further about it.

The next day about twelve o'clock, I was drawing a sketch of Violette from memory, when there came a ring at the bell, and my servant said the Comtesse de Mainfoy wished to see me. I had a foreboding.

“Usher her in,” I said to my man, and going to the door of the dining room, I led the way to my bedroom, which served me also for a study and a studio.

She seemed at first a little embarrassed, took an armchair and after some hesitation lifted her veil. She was a tall young woman of about eight and twenty, with magnificent curls flowing over her shoulders; her eyebrows, eyelashes and eyes were jet black, her nose straight, her lips as red as coral, with a rather heavy chin. Her breasts and hips were not so well developed as one might have expected from her height.