told her, ries 4 after Madame de L's health that Monfieur his mafter was au defefpoir for her reeftablishment from the fatigues of her journey and, to clofe all, that Monfieur had received the let ter which Madame had done him the honour And he has done me the honour, faid Madaine de L-, interrupting La Fleur, to fend a billet in return. - Madame de L had faid this with fuch a tone of reliance upon the fact, that La Fleur had not power to difappoint her expectations he trembled for my ho nour) and poffibly might not altogether be unconcerned for his own, as a man capable of being attached to a master who could be a wanting en egards visavis d'une femme; fo that when Madame de L afked La Fleur if he had brought a letter qu'oui, faid La Fleur: fo laying down his hat upon the ground), and taking hold of the flap of his right. fide pocket with his left hand, he began to fearch for the letter with his right-then contrary-wife Dia, ble! then fought every pocket-pocket cket, round, not forgetting his fob then La Fleur emptied them upon the floor by po. Pefte! pulled out ich das Billet der Dame nicht beantworter hätte. 6. fo laying down his hat upon the ground etc. Eine aufserft richtig gezeichnete Scene von einem Menschen, der ängstlich etwas fucht, felbft an Orten wo es lächerlich feyn würde, wenn er es hingefteckt hätte, und es durchaus nicht finden kann. Dafs Diable uni Pefte hier wieder vorkommen ift aufserft launigt, f. Cap. 25. out a dirty cravata handkerchief a comb a whip. lafh- a night. cap then gave a peep into his hatQuelle etourderie! He had left the letter upon the table) in the Auberge he would run for it, and be back with it in three minutes. I had juft finifhed my fupper when La Fleur ca me in to give me an account of his adventure: he told the whole ftory fimply as it was; and only added, that if Monfieur had forgot (par hazard) *) to answer Madaine's letter the arrangement gave him an opportunity to recover the faux pas and if not, that things were only as they were "). te, Now I was not altogether fure of my etiquet. whether I ought to have wrote or no; but if I had a devil himself could not have been angry: 'twas but the officious zeal of a wellmeaning creature for my honour; and however, he might have mistook the road doing his heart was in der no neceffity to write 7. he had left the let ter upon the table Nachdem er alles durchfucht hat um zu finden, was er nicht finden konnte, erfinnt er die Lüge, dass er den Brief habe zu Haufe auf dem Tifche liegen laffen, 8. had forgot (par ha zard). Diefe letzten Wor te fetzt La Fleur deswegen hinzu, weil er es als ein arti Franzofe gar nicht begreifen or embarraffed me in fo no fault - I was un and what weighed mo. re kann, wie man fich einer folchen Nachläfligkeit gegen das zweyte Gefchlecht fchuldig machen könne, zugleich aber auch um feinen Herrn an die Schuldigkeit zu erinnern feinen Fehler wieder gut zu machen und ihm einen Brief mit zu geben. 9. that things were only as they were. » So müffe es dabey bleiben wie es wäre." F re than all- he did not look as if he had done amifs 10). 'Tis all very well, La Fleur, faid I — 'Twas fufficient. La Fleur flew out of the room like lighte ning, and return'd with pen, ink, and paper, in his hand; and coming up to the table, laid them clofe before me; with fuch a delight in his countenance, that I could not help taking up the pen. I begun and begun again "); and thought I had nothing to fay, and that nothing might have been exprefs'd in half a dozen lines, I made half a dozen diffe rent beginnings, and could no way please myself. In fhort, I was in no mood to write. La Fleur stepp'd out and brought a little water in a glafs to dilute my ink then fetch'd fand and fealIt was all one: I wrote, and blotted, and tore Wax off, and burnt, and wrote again l'emporte! faid I half to myself Le Diable I cannot write this felf-fame letter 12); throwing the pen down defpairingly as I faid it. Io. he did not look as if he had done amifs. Alles Vorhergehende find Betrachtungen darüber: ob es feinem Schwure nicht entgegen fey zu schreiben? Da die Schuld nicht in ihm, fondern in der guten Meinung feines treuen Bedienten lag, fo findet er endlich nichts Gewissenswidriges darin, nnd fchreibt, f, das folgende Capitel, As II. I begun and begun again. Die Aengftlichkeit in der er fich noch immer darüber befindet: ob er mit gutem Gewiffen wohl fchreiben könne; und das Verhältnifs, in welchem er mit der Dame fteht, macht dafs er nicht ein Wort zu Papiere bringen kann." 12. this felf-fame letter. Gerade diefen Brief nicht, fonft zehn andere.“ As foon as I had caft down the pen, La Fleur advanced with the most respectful 3) carriage up to the table, and making a thousand apologies for the liberty he was going to take, told me he had a letter in his pocket wrote by a drummer in his regiment to a corporal's wife, which, he durft fay, would fuit the occafion. mour I had a mind to let the poor fellow have his hu La Fleur inftantly pull'd out a little dirty pocketbook cramm'd full of finall letters and billet. doux in fad condition, and laying it upon the table, and then untying the ftring which held them all together, run them over one by one, till he came to the letter in question 14) La voilà! faid he, clapping his hands: fo unfolding it firt; he laid it before me, and retired three fteps from the table whilft I read it. Je fuis penetré de la douleur la plus vive, et reduit en même temps au defespoir par ce retour imprevû du Corporal qui rend notre entrevue de ce foir la chofe du monde la pus impoffible. 13. m oft refpe& fuh 35 Ganz demüthig, " weil er fahe, dass ich böfe und er der Grund da von war, und ich über fei nen neuen Vorschlag viel leicht noch aufgebrachter wer den könnte. ́ F 2 Mais 14 to the letter ing queftion.,,Zu dem befag. ten Briefe," den ein Tambour unter dem Régimente, wo La Fleur gedient hatte, an eine Corporalsfrau geschrieben hatte, und der fich nach La Fleurs Meinung hieher paffen würde. Mais vive la joie! et toute la mienne feral de pen fer à Vous. L'amour n'eft rien fans fentiment. Et le fentiment encore moins fans amour. On dit qu'on ne doit jamais fe desesperer. On dit auffi que Monfieur le Corporal monte la garde Mecredi: alors ce fera mon tour. It was but changing the Corporal into the Count→→→→ and faying nothing about mounting guard on Wednesday and the letter was neither right nor wrong fo to gratify the poor fellow, who stood trembling for my honour, his own, and the honour of his letter, I took the cream gently off it, and whipping it up in my own way 1 -I feal'd it up and fent him with it to Madame de L and the next morning we pur fued our journey to Paris. PARIS I. whipping it up in my own way. Indem ich ihn nach meiner eignen Manier aufituzte. - Uebrigens fieht man in diefem Briefe den flatterhaften und Quecksilber ähnlichen Franzolen gleichfam vor Augen. |