The Memoirs Of Jacques Casanova De Seingalt, The Venetian Years - The Original Classic Edition. Casanova Giacomo

heavens!" exclaimed my companion, "we shall have a storm."

       "Yes," I say, "and although the chaise is covered, the rain will spoil your pretty dress. I am very sorry." "I do not mind the dress; but the thunder frightens me so!"

       "Close your ears." "And the lightning?"

       "Postillion, let us go somewhere for shelter."

       "There is not a house, sir, for a league, and before we come to it, the storm will have passed off."

       He quietly keeps on his way, and the lightning flashes, the thunder sends forth its mighty voice, and the lady shudders with fright. The rain comes down in torrents, I take off my cloak to shelter us in front, at the same moment we are blinded by a flash of lightning, and the electric fluid strikes the earth within one hundred yards of us. The horses plunge and prance with fear, and my companion falls in spasmodic convulsions. She throws herself upon me, and folds me in her arms. The cloak had gone down, I stoop

       to place it around us, and improving my opportunity I take up her clothes. She tries to pull them down, but another clap of thunder deprives her of every particle of strength. Covering her with the cloak, I draw her towards me, and the motion of the chaise coming to my assistance, she falls over me in the most favourable position. I lose no time, and under pretence of arranging my watch in my fob, I prepare myself for the assault. On her side, conscious that, unless she stops me at once, all is lost, she makes a great effort; but I hold her tightly, saying that if she does not feign a fainting fit, the post-boy will turn round and see everything; I let her enjoy the pleasure of calling me an infidel, a monster, anything she likes, but my victory is the most complete that ever a champion achieved.

       The rain, however, was falling, the wind, which was very high, blew in our faces, and, compelled to stay where she was, she said I

       would ruin her reputation, as the postillion could see everything.

       "I keep my eye upon him," I answered, "he is not thinking of us, and even if he should turn his head, the cloak shelters us from him. Be quiet, and pretend to have fainted, for I will not let you go."

       She seems resigned, and asks how I can thus set the storm at defiance. "The storm, dear one, is my best friend to-day."

       She almost seems to believe me, her fear vanishes, and feeling my rapture, she enquires whether I have done. I smile and answer in

       the negative, stating that I cannot let her go till the storm is over. "Consent to everything, or I let the cloak drop," I say to her. "Well, you dreadful man, are you satisfied, now that you have insured my misery for the remainder of my life?"

       "No, not yet."

       "What more do you want?" "A shower of kisses."

       "How unhappy I am! Well! here they are."

       "Tell me you forgive me, and confess that you have shared all my pleasure."

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       "You know I did. Yes, I forgive you."

       Then I give her her liberty, and treating her to some very pleasant caresses, I ask her to have the same kindness for me, and she goes to work with a smile on her pretty lips.

       "Tell me you love me," I say to her.

       "No, I do not, for you are an atheist, and hell awaits you."

       The weather was fine again, and the elements calm; I kissed her hands and told her that the postillion had certainly not seen anything, and that I was sure I had cured her of her dread of thunder, but that she was not likely to reveal the secret of my remedy. She answered that one thing at least was certain, namely that no other woman had ever been cured by the same prescription.

       "Why," I said, "the same remedy has very likely been applied a million of times within the last thousand years. To tell you the truth, I had somewhat depended upon it, when we entered the chaise together, for I did not know any other way of obtaining the happiness of possessing you. But console yourself with the belief that, placed in the same position, no frightened woman could have resisted."

       "I believe you; but for the future I will travel only with my husband."

       "You would be wrong, for your husband would not have been clever enough to cure your fright in the way I have done." "True, again. One learns some curious things in your company; but we shall not travel tete-a-tete again."

       We reached Pasean an hour before our friends. We get out of the chaise, and my fair mistress ran off to her chamber, while I was looking for a crown for the postillion. I saw that he was grinning.

       "What are you laughing at?" "Oh! you know."

       "Here, take this ducat and keep a quiet tongue in your head."

       CHAPTER VI

       My Grandmother's Death and Its Consequences I Lose M. de

       Malipiero's Friendship--I Have No Longer a Home--

       La Tintoretta--I Am Sent to a Clerical Seminary--I Am Expelled

       From It, and Confined in a Fortress

       During supper the conversation turned altogether upon the storm, and the official, who knew the weakness of his wife, told me that he was quite certain I would never travel with her again. "Nor I with him," his wife remarked, "for, in his fearful impiety, he exorcised the lightning with jokes."

       Henceforth she avoided me so skilfully that I never could contrive another interview with her.

       When I returned to Venice I found my grandmother ill, and I had to change all my habits, for I loved her too dearly not to surround her with every care and attention; I never left her until she had breathed her last. She was unable to leave me anything, for during her life she had given me all she could, and her death compelled me to adopt an entirely different mode of life.

       A month after her death, I received a letter from my mother informing me that, as there was no probability of her return to Venice, she had determined to give up the house, the rent of which she was still paying, that she had communicated her intention to the Abbe Grimani, and that I was to be guided entirely by his advice.

       He was instructed to sell the furniture, and to place me, as well as my brothers and my sister, in a good boarding-house. I called upon

       Grimani to assure him of my perfect disposition to obey his commands.

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