Beauregard de Farniente

The Adventures of Father Silas

PART THE FIRST

CHAPTER ONE

When I look back at the strange vicissitudes that have chequered my existence, and compare the troubles of the past with the serenity of the present, I can scarcely regret the misfortune which made me retire from active service under the standard of the mighty Venus, and thus afforded me leisure to lay the fruits of my own bitter experience before those who may hereafter serve under the same banners.

I am the fruit of the incontinence of the reverend Celestine Fathers of the town of B-. I say of the reverend Fathers, because all of them boasted of having contributed a share in the formation of my individual person. But what so suddenly arrests me? My heart is agitated-is it through fear that I shall be reproached with revealing the mysteries of the Church? Alas! I must overcome this compunction. Who does not know that all men are men, and especially the monks? they have certainly the faculty of cooperating in the propagation of the species; and why should we hinder them, when they acquit themselves so well in that particular?

Perhaps the reader is impatient for the commencement of a detailed account of my origin. I am sorry that I cannot so soon satisfy him on that head, but I will at once introduce him to the acquaintance of a worthy peasant, upon whom for a long time I looked as my father.

Ambrose, for that was the good man's name, was gardener at a country house belonging to the Celestines, in a little village at some leagues from the town: his wife, Annette, was chosen for my nurse. She had brought a son into the world, who lived but a few days, and his death helped to conceal the mystery of my birth. This child was privately buried, and the offspring of the monks put in his place.

As I grew up, everybody supposed me to be the gardener's son, as I myself also believed.

I may say, however, if the reader will pardon my vanity, that my inclinations betrayed my origin. I do not know what divine influence operates in the works of monks, but it seems that the virtue of the frock is communicated to every thing they touch. Annette was a proof of this. She was the most frisky female I ever saw, and I have seen a pretty number. She was stout, but somewhat attractive, with little black eyes and a turned-up nose, lively and amorous, and dressed rather better than peasants in general. She would have been an excellent makeshift for a respectable man; guess what she must have been for the monks.

When the jade was decked out in her Sunday corset, which enclosed a bosom that the sun had never browned, and allowed a glimpse of her breasts, struggling, as it were, to escape from its constraint; ah! how did I then feel that I was not her son, or that I was quite prepared to resign that honor.

My disposition was altogether monkish. Led by instinct, I never saw a girl without embracing her, or passing my hand over her wherever she would allow me; and although I did not positively know what I wanted, my heart told me that I should have gone further, had no opposition been offered to my transports.

One day, when they supposed me to be at school, I had remained at home in a little closet where I slept. A thin partition, against which a bed was placed, separated it from the chamber of Ambrose. I was asleep, it was the middle of summer and very hot; I was suddenly awakened by several violent pushes against the partition. I knew not what to think of this noise, which became still louder. I listened and could hear the sound of some few words, incoherent and indistinctly articulated.

“Ah! gently, my dear Annette, not so fast! Oh! hussy, you kill me with pleasure!… quick! oh! faster! oh! I am dying”

I was surprised at such exclamations, the force of which I could not understand. I sat up, but durst scarcely move. If they found me there I had much to fear: I knew not what to think, I was so excited. My uneasiness, however, soon gave way to curiosity. I heard the noise repeated, and thought I could distinguish the voices of Annette and someone, by turns, uttering the same words that had before attracted my attention. I continued to listen, till the desire to see what was going on in the chamber became so strong as to banish all my fears. I determined to ascertain what it was. I think I would have readily gone directly into the chamber for that purpose, whatever the danger of so doing might be; but that was not required. As I felt with my hand for some opening in the partition, I found one which was merely covered by a large picture. I made a hole through this, and what a sight! – There was Annette, as naked as my hand, stretched out on the bed, and Father Polycarp, the proctor of the convent, who had been at the house for some time past, as naked as herself doing… what? That which our first parents did when God commanded them to people the Earth, but under circumstances rather less lascivious.

This discovery produced in me surprise mixed with joy, and an acute and delightful sensation that I should have found it impossible to express. I felt as if I could have given every drop of my blood to be in the monk's place. How I envied him the great happiness he appeared to enjoy! An unknown fire shot through my veins; my face reddened; my heart beat; I held my breath; and the pike of Venus, which I took in my hand, was stiff enough to knock down the partition, if I had pushed hard against it. The Father finished his career, and as he raised himself off Annette, he left her face overspread with the deepest red. She was panting for breath; her arms lying down, and her bosom heaved with astonishing rapidity. My eyes ran over every part of her body with inconceivable expedition; nor was there a spot on which my ardent imagination did not fix a thousand burning kisses. I sucked her bubbles, her belly; but the most delicious place, from which my eyes, when once they found it, could not be removed, was… You understand me. How charming did that jewel appear to me! Oh what lovely coloring! Although covered with a white froth, it lost in my eyes nothing of its brilliancy. By the delight I felt, I recognized in it the very focus of pleasure. It was shaded with black and curly hair. Annette lay with her legs parted, and it seemed as if her lechery was in accord with my curiosity, in order to leave me nothing to desire.

The monk having recovered his vigor, again presented himself to renew the combat; he remounted with fresh ardor, but his strength was not equal to his courage, and fatigued with fruitless efforts, he soon withdrew his instrument from Annette's jewel, all powerless and drooping its head. Annette, disappointed at this retreat, took hold of it and began to rub it; the monk was in the utmost agitation, and appeared unable to bear the pleasure he experienced. I examined all their proceedings with no guide but nature, nor other instruction than the instance before me; and in my curiosity to learn the cause of the convulsive movements of the Father, I sought for it in myself. I was astonished at feeling a pleasure hitherto unknown to me, which gradually increased, till it became so intense that I fainted away on the bed. Nature made surprising efforts, and every part of my body seemed to participate in the pleasure afforded by that which I grasped. At length came the discharge of a white fluid, similar to what I had observed on the thighs of Annette, which soon dissipated my ecstasy, and I then returned to the aperture in the partition: however, all was over; the last game was played out. Annette was dressing herself, and the Father had already adjusted his clothing. I remained some time, my head and heart still occupied with the incident I had witnessed, in that kind of stupefaction which a young man experiences when a new and unexpected light has burst in upon his understanding.

Surprise followed surprise; the instinct implanted by nature in my heart began to develop. Now that some of the clouds with which she had covered it were removed, I discovered the cause of the sensations I every day experienced at the sight of women. Those imperceptible transitions, from tranquility to extreme excitement, from indifference to desire, were no longer enigmas to me.

“Ah,” I exclaimed, “how happy they were! They were both transported with joy. How great must have been the pleasure they experienced! What bliss was theirs!” These ideas completely absorbed me, so much so that for a moment I lost all power of reflection. A profound silence followed the exclamations.

“Oh,” continued I, “should I ever have the luck to do as much for some woman, I must certainly expire upon her with pleasure, since this sight has given me so much. My enjoyment can only be a faint image of what father Polycarp tasted with my mother! But what a fool am I, no doubt that pleasure can only be for grown up persons? Still, by jingo, it seems as if it does not depend on the stature, and provided one is on the other, all will go on bravely!”

It immediately occurred to me that I would impart my discovery to my sister Susan, who was some years older than myself. She was a pretty little fair complexioned girl, with one of those open countenances that you might be ready to think silly because they appear indolent. Her eyes were beautifully blue, full of a melting softness, and seemed to look at you without meaning it. They produced quite as much effect on one as the bright eyes of a brunette with their piercing glance. How was that? I don't know; for I have always been satisfied with feeling it to be so, without investigating the cause. May it not be that the delicate fair one with her languishing looks, seems to entreat you to give her your heart, and that the brunette threatens to take it by storm? The one only asks your compassion in this seductive manner, and in granting that you give her your love: the other, on the contrary, wishes to make you yield without promising a return, and at this your heart rebels; is it not so? What do you think, reader?

I am ashamed to say that it had never yet come into my head to cast a lascivious eye on Susan; rather an extraordinary thing for me who lusted after all the girls I saw. It is true that as she was the goddaughter of the lady of the village, who was greatly attached to her and brought her up, I had few opportunities of seeing her.

She had, indeed, been a year at a convent, and had only left it about a week before this epoch; and her godmother, who was coming to spend some time in the country, had promised her a visit to Ambrose. I suddenly became anxious to initiate my dear sister, and to partake with her the same pleasures that I had just seen enjoyed by Farther Polycarp and Annette. With respect to her, I was no longer the same person. I now saw in her a thousand charms that had hitherto escaped me. Her breasts, white as lilies, were firm and globe-like. In imagination, I already sucked the two little strawberries that I saw at the extremity of her bubbles: but, above all, in my picture of her charms I did not omit that centre, that abyss of pleasures of which I made myself such ravishing images. Excited by the burning ardor which these ideas diffused throughout my body, I went to seek Susan. The sun had just set, and it was getting dusk; I flattered myself that under the favor of the darkness, I should soon be at the very pinnacle of my wishes, if I could find her. I saw her at a distance, gathering flowers. Little did she think that I meditated gathering the choicest flower of her nosegay. I flew towards her, but seeing her so entirely occupied in such an innocent manner, I hesitated a moment whether or not I should communicate my design to her. As I approached her I felt my eagerness abate; and a sudden shiver seemed to reproach me with my intention. I thought it was my duty to respect her innocence, but was deterred from my attempt only by the uncertainty of success. I accosted her, but in such an agitation that I could not utter two words without taking breath.

“What are you doing there, Susan?” said I; and as I offered to embrace her, she ran away, laughing and saying: “What! do you not see I am gathering flowers? Yes, indeed, don't you know that tomorrow is the birthday of my godmother?”

At this name I trembled, as if in fear that Susan might escape me. My heart had (if I may so say) already accustomed itself to look on her as a sure conquest; and the idea of her going further away seemed to menace me with the loss of a pleasure that I regarded as certain, although I had no experience in those affairs.

“I shall never see you again, Susan,” said I to her with a sorrowful air.

“Why not,” answered she; “shall I not still come here? But,” she continued with a charming expression of countenance, “help me make my nosegay.”

I only answered her by throwing some flowers in her face, which she immediately returned in like manner.

“Hold, Susan,” said I, “if you throw any more, I'll… you shall pay for it.”-To show that she cared nothing for my threats, she threw a handful at me. In a moment my timidity left me; I was no more afraid of being seen.

My impudence was favored by the darkness, which prevented anything being visible at a distance. I threw myself upon her and she pushed me away. I embraced her and she cuffed me; I laid her down on the grass, and when she tried to rise I hindered her. I held her closely pressed in my arms, kissing her bosom, while she kept struggling to release herself. I put my hand up under her clothes, but she cried out like a little devil, and so well defended herself that I despaired of success, and was afraid somebody would come to us. I got up laughing, and I did not think that she had more mischief in her than myself. How much was I deceived!

“Come, then, Susan,” said I, “to show that I intended no harm I will indeed help you.”

“Yes, yes,” she replied, as much agitated as I was; “come, see yonder is mother coming, and I…”

“Oh Susan,” said I hastily, to prevent her saying more, “do not tell her anything; and I will give you… anything, whatever you like.” I pledged my word with another kiss at which she laughed. Annette came up to us. I was afraid Susan would tell her; but she did not say a word, and we all went home together to supper as if nothing had happened.

Since Father Polycarp had been at the house, he had given fresh proofs of the kindness of the convent for the supposed son of Ambrose, in the shape of a complete suit of new clothes.

In truth, in that matter, his Reverence had less consulted monarchal charity, which is rather limited, than paternal affection, which is much more liberal, and sometimes unbounded. The good Father by such prodigality exposed the legitimacy of my birth to violent suspicions; but our rustics were a good sort of people, and looked no further into things than one would wish.

Besides, who could have the audacity to scrutinize with an evil eye the motives of the reverend Fathers' generosity? They were such respectable persons, such worthy characters, who did good to all men and revered the honor of prudent women, that everybody was content. But I return to my own person, for I am about to enter on a glorious adventure.

Apropos of that said person, I had rather a conceited air, but not to a degree to prejudice any one against me. I was well dressed, my eyes had a wicked look; and my long black hair, which fell in curls on my shoulders, set off to advantage the blooming color of my face, which, though not exactly fair, could not be found fault with. This is a most authentic testimony that I am obliged to bear to the judgment of several very respectable and virtuous dames to whom I have paid my homage.

Susan, as I have before related, had made a nosegay for Madame Dinville, (for that was the name of her godmother), the wife of a counsellor of the neighboring town, who came to reside at her country house for the purpose of taking a milk diet to repair a stomach damaged by champagne and other causes.

Susan had decked herself out in her best, which made her still more lovely in my eyes, and I was invited to accompany her. We went to the chateau, and there we found the lady enjoying the cool air of a summer apartment. Figure to yourself a woman of the middle size, with dark hair, a white skin, a face, on the whole rather ugly, reddened by drinking champagne; dark eyes, full breasts, and as amorously inclined as any woman in the world. This at first appeared to me her only good quality; those two globes have always been my weak side. Oh, 'tis something so nice, when you put your hands on them, when you… But every one to his own taste, give me these.

As soon as the lady saw us, she gave us a kind look without changing her posture. She was reclining on a sofa, with one leg up and the other on the floor; she had on merely a single white petticoat, short enough to show you her knee, which was not so much covered as to make you think it would be very difficult to see the rest; a short corset of the same color, and a jacket of rose-colored taffetas negligently put on; her hand was under her petticoat-guess for what purpose. My imagination was up in a moment, and my heart was not far behind; henceforward it became my fate to fall in love with every woman I saw; the discovery of the last evening had awakened in me all these laudable propensities.

“Ah! good day, my dear child,” said Madame Dinville to Susan; “and so you have come to see me. What! Have you brought me a nosegay? Truly I am very much obliged to you, my dear girl. Come and embrace me.”

Susan did so. “But,” continued she, looking at me, “who is that fine big boy there? What, my little dear, you have brought a boy to accompany you; that is pretty.” I looked on the ground, but Susan said that I was her brother, at which I bowed.

“Your brother,” replied Madame Dinville, “come then,” she continued, looking at me as she spoke, “kiss me, my son; we must be acquainted.” She gave me a kiss on the mouth, and I felt a little tongue slip between my lips, and a hand playing with the curls of my hair. I was rather confused, for I was not used to this way of kissing. I looked at her timidly, and met her shining and animated eyes, which made me turn mine down. Another and similar kiss succeeded, after which I was able to stir; for previously she held me so close that I could not. But I did not care for that, as it seemed to be cutting short the ceremonial of making acquaintance. I was no doubt indebted for my liberty to the reflections she made of the bad effect that such unbounded caresses at a first interview might produce. But these reflections were not of long duration, for she again began talking to Susan, and the burden of every period was “Come and kiss me.”

At first I kept a respectful distance.

“So,” said she, addressing me, “that big boy there won't come and…?”

I advanced and kissed her cheek, not yet daring to venture on the mouth, but still I was rather bolder than at first. She thus divided her caresses between me and my sister for some time; and at last I had made such progress, that I did not wait to be told when it was my turn. By degrees my sister desisted, and I had the exclusive privilege of enjoying the lady's kisses, while Susan was content with words.

We sat on the sofa and chatted, for Madame Dinville was a precious gossip, Susan on her right, myself on her left. Susan looked in the garden, Madame looked at me, and amused herself with uncurling my hair, pinching my cheek, and gently patting me; I also amused myself with looking at her, and her easy manners soon emboldened me. I became quite impudent, yet she said nothing, only looked at me, laughed, and let me continue my sport. My hand descended insensibly from her neck to her bosom, and pressed with delight upon a breast whose elastic firmness rebounded to the touch.

My heart swam in pleasure, as I grasped one of those charming globes, which I handled as I pleased. I was going to put my lips to it; for by pushing forwards we reach the goal. I do believe I should have followed up my fortune to its proper conclusion, had not a cursed marplot, in the person of the bailiff of the village, an old ape sent by some demon jealous of my happiness, made his entry into the antechamber.

Madame Dinville, roused by the noise the old booby made, said to me: “What are you about, you little rogue!” I withdrew my hand hastily; my effrontery was not yet proof against censure; I blushed, and thought myself lost; but the kind lady saw my embarrassment, and gave me to understand by a gentle slap accompanied with a charming smile, that her anger was only a formality, and her looks convinced me that my boldness was less disagreeable to her than the arrival of the bailiff.

He came in-a tiresome blockhead!-After coughing, spitting, sneezing and blowing his nose, he made his harangue, which was more disagreeable than his personal appearance.

Had we escaped with that, it had not been far amiss; but it appeared as if the old knave had ordered the whole village to follow his example; for clown after clown came to pay their respects, until I grew almost mad. When Madame Dinville had replied to a great many foolish compliments, she turned towards us and said:

“Well, my children, you must come and dine with me tomorrow, and we shall be alone.”

It seemed to me that she meant to cast her eyes on me as she said the last word. My heart rejoiced in this assurance, and I felt that, without doing my inclinations any wrong, my little self-love had no dislike to be flattered.

“You will come, Susan,” continued Madame, “and will bring Silas with you” (for such is the appellation of your humble servant). “Silas, adieu,” said she embracing me, which I was no way backward in returning.

I certainly was in a condition to do myself honor in the eyes of Madame Dinville, had it not been for the unexpected visit of those stupid people with their still more stupid compliments: but what I felt towards her was not love, it was only a violent desire to do with some woman as I had seen Father Polycarp do with Annette, and the delay of a day imposed on me by Madame D. seemed an eternity. I attempted, as we went home, to get round Susan, by calling to her mind the occurrence of the previous evening.

“What a simpleton you were, Susan,” said I, “did you think I wished to hurt you yesterday?”

“What did you mean then?” said she.

“To please you much.”

“What!” said she, appearing to be surprised “by putting your hand under my petticoat, could you give me pleasure?”

“Certainly, and if you like I will prove it to you directly,” said I: “come aside with me here.” I anxiously read her countenance, to ascertain what effect my words had produced, but I saw nothing more usual. “Will you now, my dear,” continued I, caressing her.

“But,” replied she, without seeming to notice what I had proposed, “what is the pleasure of which you speak so highly?”

“It is,” I answered, “the union of a man and woman who embrace, closely pressing each other, and who finish by swooning while so locked together.” I kept my eyes on my sister's face, and concealed the emotions which agitated me. I perceived, by the heaving of her bosom, that she was becoming gradually excited.

“But,” said she, with a simplicity which seemed to augur well for my designs, “my father has held me as you say many times, and I never felt any such pleasure as you promise me.”

“That is,” I replied, “because he did not serve you exactly as I should.”

“Indeed, what would you do then?” inquired she, with a tremulous accent.

“I would put something between your legs,” returned I boldly, “something which he dare not put.” She blushed, and her confusion gave me an opportunity of continuing in the following terms: “You know, Susan, that you have a little slit here,” and I pointed to the part where I had seen Annette's slit.

“Ah, who told you that?” asked she, without raising her eyes.

“Who told me!” I replied, somewhat embarrassed by her question; “why all women have one.”

“And the men…?”

“The men,” I answered, “have an instrument at the place where you have a slit. This instrument is put into the slit, and thus produces the pleasure that a woman has with a man. Shall I show you mine? I will, if you will let me touch your little slit: we will tickle each other, it will be so delightful.”

Susan blushed red as fire. My discourse seemed to surprise her; and she looked as if she could hardly believe me. She said that she dare not let me put my hand under her clothes, for fear I should deceive her, and go and tell all about it. I assured her that nothing in the world would induce me to disclose it; and to convince her of the difference that I said existed between us, I laid hold of her hand, which she withdrew, and we continued our colloquy till we reached home.

I saw very well that the little slut had a taste for my lessons, and that if I should again catch her gathering flowers, there would be no difficulty in preventing her from crying out. I burned with desire to put the last hand to my instructions, and to add thereto a practical illustration.

We had scarcely entered the house, when we saw Father Polycarp come in, the object of whose visit I could easily divine; and all my doubts were removed when his Reverence announced that he was come to take a family dinner with us. They thought Ambrose was far enough off, and it is true he rarely disturbed them; but women are generally pleased to be rid of their husbands, however easy they may be, those creatures being always ill-omened animals.

I had no hesitation in believing that I should have the same exhibition as the day before, and I instantly resolved to tell Susan of it. I rightly thought that such a sight would be an excellent means of advancing my own little affair with her. I however said nothing at present, but put off the trial till after dinner, not meaning to have recourse to this expedient but as a decisive maneuvre in case of extremity.

The monk and Annette were under no restraint from our presence, thinking no harm could arise from us. I saw the Father's left hand slip mysteriously under the table, and she agitated to open her thighs, to make a free passage for the fingers of the fornicating old monk.

Annette, for her part, had one hand upon the table, and the other under, most likely returning the holy Father's compliment. I was up to it; the most trifling things strike a mind already prepossessed. The reverend gentleman tippled with a good grace, and she followed his example; so that her inclinations began to be a little constrained by our presence, and she told us to go and take a turn in the garden; I understood what she wanted. We arose directly and by our departure gave them liberty to do something more than put their hands under the table. Jealous of the happiness that our absence gave them an opportunity of enjoying, I wanted to make a further attempt to get over Susan, without showing her the picture that I meant otherwise to place before her eyes. I led her towards an alley of trees, whose thick foliage produced an obscurity very well suited to my purpose. She perceived my design, and refused to follow me so far.

“Stop, Silas,” said she ingenuously, “I see that you want to talk to me again about that… very well, let us do so.”

“What, do I please you then by speaking on that subject?” She replied in the affirmative.

“You may judge, my dear Susan, from the pleasure that conversation has given you of what you would…” I said no more; but looked at her, as I pressed her hand against my heart.

“But, Silas, if harm should come of it?”

“What harm can it do?” I answered, delighted at having only so feeble an obstacle to surmount; “none whatever; on the contrary…”

“What,” retorted she, blushing and looking down; “and if I should become with child?” The objection strangely surprised me. I little thought Susan so learned, and I own that it was not in my power to answer her satisfactorily.

“How, with child?” said I; “and is it by that means that women are with child, Susan?”

“No doubt,” replied she, with an air of certainty which alarmed me.

“And where did you learn that?” said I, for I saw that it was her turn to instruct me. She answered that she was ready to tell me, on condition that I should never speak of it to any one.

“I think you have discretion, Silas, but if ever you should open your mouth on this subject, I shall hate you to my dying day.” I swore that I never would. “Let us sit down here,” she continued, pointing to a turf seat, the only convenience of which was that we could talk without being overheard. I should have preferred the alley where we should be both out of sight and hearing, and I again proposed it, but she would not go.

We then went to the seat, to my sorrow; and to increase my misery I saw Ambrose coming.

All hope for this time having fled, I took my resolution accordingly; and my curiosity to hear what Susan had to say somewhat diminished my chagrin.

Before she began, Susan exacted fresh assurances on my part, which I gave. She hesitated, and durst not yet commence, but I so closely pressed her that she at last proceeded.

“That is enough, Silas, I believe you,” said she; “listen, and you will be astonished at my knowledge I assure you. You thought of teaching me something a little while ago; I am better informed than you, as you will see; but don't think that on that account I was less pleased by your conversation: we always like to hear those things spoken that flatter us.”

“Bless me! you speak like an oracle! One easily sees you have been to a convent; how that forms a girl!”

“Ah, truly,” she answered, “if I had never gone there I should be ignorant of many things I now know.”

“For heaven's sake, tell me, then; I am dying to know.”

CHAPTER TWO

“Not long ago,” began Susan, “during one very dark night when fast asleep I was awakened by feeling some one naked creep into my bed; I would have cried, but the person put her hand on my mouth and said:-“Be still, I won't hurt you; do you not know Sister Agatha?”-This Sister, a short time previous, had entered on her novitiate, and was my best friend. “Jesus!” said I, “my friend, but why do you come to bed to me?”-“Because I love you,” replied she, embracing me.-“Yet, why are you naked?”-“Because it is hot and my shift is too thick. It does rain so fast, and I have heard the rumbling of the thunder; I am so frightened. Do you hear it? How loud it is! O squeeze me hard, my sweet, and pull the sheet over our heads so as not to see that horrid lightning.”-“There, that's right; my dear Susan, I am so frightened!” As I was by no means afraid of the thunder, I tried to comfort the Sister, who, in the meantime, had put her right thigh between mine, and the left under; while in this posture she rubbed herself against my right thigh, thrusting her tongue into my mouth and smacking my buttocks with her hand. After she had done this for some time, I thought I felt my thigh wetted. She gave several deep sighs, which I imagined arose from her fear of the thunder. I pitied her, but she soon resumed her natural posture; and I thought she was going to sleep and prepared to do the same, when she said:-“Are you asleep, Susan?” I answered in the negative, but said I was just about to be so.-“Will you then,” said she, “let me be frightened to death? Yes, I shall die if you go to sleep; give me your hand my little dear, do.” I let her take my hand, which she directly placed upon her slit, and told me to tickle the top of it with my finger, which I did, out of pure friendship. I expected she would tell me to leave off, yet she did not say a word, but merely opened her thighs and breathed rather quicker than usual, sometimes sighing, and wriggling her backside about. I thought she was ill, and kept my finger still: “O Susan,” she said in a broken voice, “keep on!” which I accordingly did.

“Oh!” exclaimed she, violently agitating herself, and pressing me closer-“quicker, quicker!” “Oh! oh! quick, oh! I shall die!” Just as she said that, her body stretched out, and I felt my hand all wet; finally she fetched a deep sigh, and remained motionless.

“I assure you, brother, I was astonished at this, and as I was convinced that I had procured her no little pleasure, I eagerly desired to experience a return of the favor; but I dared not say so. I again placed one hand on her slit; and with the other laid hold of hers and put it to several parts of my body, but durst not venture to conduct it to the only part where it was really wanted. The Sister, who knew very well what I wished for, was malicious enough to leave me in this embarrassment for some tune. But at last she took pity on me, and said, as she embraced me:-“You little jade, I see what you would be at;” and she immediately got upon me, and I locked her in my arms.-“Open your thighs a little,” said she. I obeyed her. She then slipped her finger into the place where mine had given her so much pleasure; and repeated the lessons herself that she had previously given me. I felt a pleasant excitement, which increased with every shove of her finger. I did the same thing for her at the same time; she had her hands joined under my buttocks, and advised me to wriggle my rump a little, according as she pushed. Oh! what charming sensations did this amusement afford, but they were only a foretaste of greater to come. The ecstasy made me insensible, I remained in a swoon in the arms of Agatha and she was in the same condition.

“After a while I came to myself again, and discovered that I was as wet as the Sister; and not knowing what caused it, I was simple enough to think it was blood; still I was anything but frightened: it was as if the prodigy I had experienced had made me mad, so eager was I to recommence. I communicated my wish to my bed-fellow; she replied that she was tired, and that I must wait a little. I was too impatient for that, so got on her as she had been on me just before. I interlaced my thighs with hers, and rubbed myself as she had done, till I fell off in a transport of delight.- “Well now, Susan,” said the Sister on seeing how much I enjoyed it, “are you sorry that I came into your bed? I'll wager that you wish me no good for having wakened you?”-“Pooh!” answered I, “you know the contrary very well. How can I requite you for such a charming night?”-“You little slut,” said she, kissing me; “I ask you for nothing. Have I not had as much pleasure as you?-Tell me, dear Susan,” she continued, “do not conceal anything; have you never before thought of what we have been amusing ourselves with?” I said that I had not. “What!” retorted she, “have you never put your finger in your little cunny?”-I asked her the meaning of that word.-“It is,” said she, “this slit where we have just been tickling each other. Do you pretend not to know that yet? At your age I was wiser than you.”-“Indeed,” I answered, “I have always abstained from that pleasure. You know Father Jerome, our confessor; he has prevented me; he makes me tremble when I go to confess; for he always asks if I never commit impurities with my companions, and he especially forbids me to do it on myself. I have always been simple enough to believe him, but I now know how to treat his prohibitions.”- “And how,” asked Agatha, “did he explain what he meant by impurities?”-“He said it was to put your finger you know where, or to look at one's thighs or bubbies. And he asked me if I do not make use of a glass to examine other things as well as my face, and a thousand such like questions.”-“Ah! the old rascal,” cried Agatha.-“You make me,” said I to the Sister, “remember how he acts while I am at his confessional, and I have foolishly thought he was showing his friendship for me. An old villain! I now know his motive.”-“What does he do?” asked the Sister.- “Oh! he kisses my mouth, and tells me to come nearer that he may hear better; he stares at my bosom while I am speaking, lays his hand on it, tells me I must not let it be seen, for that is coquettish; but notwithstanding his sermons, he does not withdraw his hand, but pushes it further and further. When he takes it away, it is to put it under his gown, which I perceive to move up and down. He then squeezes me between his knees, holding me with his left arm; he sighs, his eyes stare, and he kisses me harder than common; his words are incoherent, and he chides and praises me at the same time.”

“I remember very well that one day, when he drew his hand from beneath his gown to give me absolution, he covered my bosom with something warm. I wiped it off directly with my handkerchief. The Father was stupefied, and said it was the sweat which ran off his fingers. What think you of it, my dear Agatha?”-“I will tell you presently; what an old sinner! Do you know, Susan, that just the same thing happened to me with him.”-“What,” said I, “did he want to do something with you?”-“That he never shall!” answered she; “I hate him beyond every thing. I never go to him now I am become more instructed.”-“And how did you get to know what he did?”-“I will tell you,” said the Sister; “but you must be discreet, or you will ruin me.”

– “I do not know, Silas,” continued my sister after a moment's silence, “if I can reveal all she told me.” My anxiety to know a story whose prelude so delighted me, furnished me with arguments to overcome Susan's hesitation. I mixed kisses with my assurances, and ultimately succeeded; and I give the Sister's relation exactly as she addressed it to Susan.

SISTER AGATHA'S STORY

I was very young when my mother, after the decease of her fourth husband, came to live as a boarder in this convent; nevertheless I was always fearful that her residing there would make me miserable. As I grew older and wiser, my aversion to the cloister increased, I ' felt something was wanting, and that was the sight of a man. From merely regretting this privation, I passed to the consideration of what made it so deeply felt. “What is a man?” said I. “Is he a creature different from ourselves? What is the cause of the emotions the sight of him produces in my heart? It certainly cannot be the charms of his person; for Father Jerome, disagreeable as he is, excites me when I am near him. Is it the mere emotions, but why?” I felt the reason, but could not explain it.

Sometimes I retired to my chamber and gave way to reflection, which stood me in the stead of society. For what was society? Women only; and in my solitude I thought of men alone. I fathomed my heart, and asked the reason of what it felt; I undressed myself, and contemplated my person in a voluptuous manner; I was on fire, I opened my thighs and sighed; my heated imagination presented me with a man-I extended my arms to embrace him; my cunny was devoured with a burning heat; but I never had the address to put my finger in it. Always restrained by the fear of hurting myself, I suffered the most excessive itching, without daring to allay it. Sometimes I was ready to give way; but scared from my design, I put my finger towards it, and hastily withdrew it; I covered it with the hollow of my hand, and pressed it; at last, I yielded to the violence of my passion, and thrust in my finger; I cared not for the pain, but highly relished the pleasure, which was so great that I thought I should die. This I did as many times as my strength permitted.

I was enraptured with the discovery I had made, which threw some light into my mind; I concluded that since my finger could procure me such delicious moments, the men must do with us what I had been doing for myself, and that they had a kind of finger to fit the place where I had put mine, for I no longer doubted that this was the high road to pleasure. Having learned much, I was eager to see in a man the reality of that whose mere shadow had given me so much pleasure.

I knew by instinct that men must experience feelings similar to mine on beholding persons of the opposite sex; so I began to exert my ingenuity in showing off to the best of my skill the attractions with which nature had favored me, by all the little artifices which my imagination suggested. I studied the language of the eyes, till I fancied I had acquired some proficiency therein, and then I longed for an opportunity of trying my skill upon a proper subject.

I was always in the apartment to which persons visiting the inmates of the convent are admitted, whenever I could find an excuse for being there; this appearing to me the most likely way of finding what I wanted. To this end I made the acquaintance of all the boarders who had brothers come to see them; and whenever any of them were asked for, I generally found means of going to see who was there.

I was one day examining very minutely a fine lad, whose black sparkling eyes returned my looks with interest. A feeling more delicate and exquisite than the sight of men in general procured me, fixed my attention upon him.

The pertinacity with which my eyes remained set upon him dissipated the indifference he at first exhibited; his eyes became animated, and he no longer turned them from me. He was by no means bashful, but of a forward bearing, which, well backed by a good looking countenance, was a warrant for his success with all the women he pleased to attack.

While his sister's attention was otherwise engaged, he made signs to me which I could not comprehend, but which my vanity induced me to pretend I did; and he was so far emboldened by my smiling that he began to make gestures which I well understood. He put his hand between his thighs; I blushed but did not the less follow the movement through the corner of my eye. He then raised it, making a sign with his left hand with which he grasped the other above the wrist; it did not require one very learned to perceive that he meant what he had just touched was of the length indicated.

His proceedings had set me all in a flame; modesty required me to go away, but one can offer only a feeble resistance when the heart is bent on betraying her. Love made me remain where I was, though I continued to look bashfully on the ground. I soon, however, gave a glance at Verland (for that was his name) by which I meant to show my displeasure, but my excitement gave different expression. He felt it, and perceived that I understood him, and also that I was too weak to disapprove of it. He took advantage of this, and in order to leave me nothing further to guess as to the ardor which animated him, he joined the forefinger and thumb of his left hand, and thrust one of the fingers of the other hand backwards and forwards in the opening between them, sighing at the same time. The rogue in doing thus recalled to my mind circumstances too agreeable to allow me to appear so offended as this want of respect deserved. How much should I have liked to be alone with him! But, alas, an impassable grating would then have arrested our pleasures!

At this moment my companion was called away, and, on leaving us, she said that she was going to see why they called her, and should return in a moment. Her brother profited by her absence to explain himself more clearly; he certainly did not make use of many words, but they were full of meaning. Although the compliment was not very polite, it appeared to me so natural that I always remember it with pleasure. “We have no time to lose,” said he; “my rod is as stiff as a poker, and I am dying to give it to you. Tell me how I” can get into your convent.” I was so stupefied by his words and the action which accompanied them that I remained motionless; so that he had tune to pass his hand through the grating, thrust it into my bosom, and make still more compliments of a like nature. And when I recovered my self-possession, I was so little inclined to stop his transports, that his sister returned and surprised us thus occupied. She scolded finely, and abused me as well as her brother, whom I never saw afterwards.

The whole convent soon knew my adventure and it was the cause of not a little chuckling, gossiping, joking, and quizzing. I made myself pretty easy about it, hoping it would not go further than the boarders. I was sure that the pretty ones would not betray me, but the ugly ones were by no means to be relied on.

The latter, who were quite secure from any temptation of the kind, cried scandal upon me; at first in a whisper, then aloud, and so loud that the old ones heard it. I laughed about it at first; I afterwards trembled, and had good reason so to do. The sage old ladies called a council, to deliberate as to what punishment ought to be inflicted upon one who suffered her bubbies to be touched by a man,-a crime quite unpardonable in the eyes of a set of old mummies who had nothing but leather bags which could be thrown over their shoulders. They found the case so grave that any one but myself would have been sent away. O how I wished they might do it! But I was expected to bring them a good dowry; for my mother had assured them that I should take the veil; so I was to be kept, and the council determined that I should be flogged. They came to execute the sentence, but I forestalled them, and had barricaded myself in my chamber; they broke open, the door and fell upon me. I bit one, scratched another, kicked a third, tore their dress, snatched off their caps, in short, defended myself so well that they gave up the business; gaming nothing by their exertions but the shame of having proved that six old women were not able to master a young girl. Indeed on this occasion I fought like a lioness.

My wrath and the care of defending myself had fully occupied me till then; and I only thought how I might get the better of the old hags; but soon after I became as feeble as I had been strong and courageous. Despair succeeded to rage. The glory of having vanquished did not equal in my mind the disgrace they had attempted to inflict, and I became very sad.

“How shall I appear again in the convent? Everybody will laugh at me,” said I; “but I will go and see my mother; she will upbraid me, but perhaps she will also forgive me. A man has… well, what harm is there in that? Did I consent? And supposing I did, what great harm in it? I will go to her;” and I rose from my bed with this intent, and should certainly have gone, if in stepping to open the door I had not trod upon something round which threw me down.

I looked to ascertain what had occasioned my fall. Imagine what was my surprise at beholding an instrument representing to the life what my imagination had often figured-a penis!

I had heard talk of a dildo many times; I knew that it was an instrument with which our mothers consoled themselves for the rigors of celibacy. It is in the shape of a man's member, and is intended to serve in its stead. To render the resemblance more perfect, it is hollow, and the cavity is filled with milk to supply the place of the liquid which flows from the tool of a man. When those who use it have, by continued friction, put themselves in a condition which requires something more, they touch the spring, and the milk is forced out and inundates them. Thus they cheat their desires by an imposition which affords them sufficient enjoyment to make them forget that of the reality.

I guessed that some of the good mothers who had come to attack me, had dropped it during the scuffle. I was not however, quite sure that it was a dildo, but my heart told me so. The sight of it dissipated my grief; I thought of nothing but what I held in my hand, and was eager to make a trial of its virtue,-Its thickness certainly frightened me; but all my fears gave way to the ardor with which I burned to make the experiment. A grateful warmth, the forerunner of the pleasure I was about to taste, diffused itself throughout my body, which trembled from the excess of my excitement.

To prevent any interruption, I first shut the door; and without once taking my eyes off the dildo, I undressed myself with all the trepidation of a bride about to enter the nuptial bed. The idea of the secrecy which would envelop the pleasure I was going to indulge in made the enjoyment still more piquant. I threw myself on the bed, my dear dildo in hand; but how great was my disappointment when I found it was too big to enter. I became desperate, and made several thrusts hard enough to split my poor little cunny. I opened it with my fingers, and placing the dildo against it, pushed so hard as to hurt myself insufferably. I could not succeed, but I did not yet give it up. I thought that if I rubbed myself with pomatum, the passage would be easier. I did so, and exerted myself so that I was all blood; and I do think that I should have succeeded had not the instrument been of a prodigious size. I saw the enjoyment near me but I could not seize it, for all my efforts were in vain. “Ah,” I cried, “if Verland were here, and he had one still thicker than this, I feel that I could very well bear any pain he might cause me. Yes, I would bear it, I would help him, though he split me-though he should kill me; I should die happy, if I had but that. If he hurt me,” continued I, “how would the pain be sweetened by the pleasure he gave me! I should closely press him to my bosom and he would do the same to me. I would cover him with kisses, while he thus held me-how exquisite! But alas! I am all alone, and to increase my misery I hold in my hand the shadow, the semblance of pleasure, only to aggravate my despair and provoke my desires without being able to satisfy them. You cursed contrivance!” cried I, apostrophising the dildo and throwing it down in a rage; “go, and be the comforter of some unhappy one for whom you are better adapted, you are useless to me, my finger is a hundred times better.” I accordingly had recourse to it, and forgot in the delightful sensations it procured me the loss of those I had promised myself from the worthless dildo. I fell backwards exhausted, and went to sleep to dream of Verland.

It was very late in the morning when I awoke. Sleep had somewhat dulled my amorous transports, but nothing changed my resolution of leaving the convent. The same reasons which determined me to decide on this step made me more strongly feel the necessity of putting it in execution. From that moment I looked on myself as free, and the first use I made of this imaginary liberty was to remain in bed till ten o'clock. The bell rang in vain for me, I did not appear; and I rejoiced in the vexation that my disobedience must cause the old ladies. At last, however, I got up and dressed myself; and to place myself in the necessity of following up my design, I began by tearing my veil to pieces, as I looked on that as a mark of slavery. I felt free at heart, and it seemed as if I had just burst through a barrier which had hitherto opposed my liberty.

But as I walked up and down my chamber, that cursed dildo caught my eye. I took it up, and sat down on my bed to comtemplate upon it. “It is very fine,” said I, taking it up complaisantly in my hand, “what a length! and how thick! what a pity it is so big, I can hardly grasp it. But it's of no use to me… no, it never can be,” said I, lifting up my clothes, and again trying to put it into a place which still pained me exceedingly from the violent efforts of the night before. I still found the same obstacles, and was forced to be content with my finger. I worked away with all the courage that the sight of the instrument inspired, and to such an extent that my strength failed me; so that I remained insensible to the pleasure; and though my hand kept on mechanically, my heart felt nothing of it. “I am going away,” said I, “and as I have no reason for being particular, I will do so with eclat. I will take this concern to the Superior, and we will see how she will support the sight of it.”

As I went to her apartment, I anticipated the confusion the old lady would be in when I gave her the dildo. I found her alone, and I boldly accosted her in the following terms: “You must know very well, madam, that after the events of yesterday, and the insult you wished to inflict, that I can no longer remain in your convent.” She looked at me with an air of surprise and made no answer, and I continued: “But, madam, without going to such extremities, if I was in fault-which I do not acknowledge, since the audacity of Verland made me unable to defend myself-you might have been content with giving me a reprimand; which, though undeserved, I should have borne patiently, since appearances were against me.”

“A reprimand, Miss,” replied she drily; “a reprimand, for conduct like yours! You deserve exemplary punishment; and, had it not been for the respect we have for your excellent mother, you…”

“You do not punish all the guilty ones,” interrupted I hastily; “and there are some in the convent who indulge in curious recreations!”

“Curious recreations!” replied she; “what, and who?”

“I shall not name them,” said I-“but they are some of those who treated me so shamefully yesterday. -“Ha!” exclaimed she, “You are now carrying your effrontery to a high pitch indeed! This is pushing depravity of heart and perversity of mind to the utmost extent! Good heavens! To add calumny to crime, and accuse the most holy of our mothers! Those models of virtue, chastity, and piety! What an abomination!”

I let her complete her eulogium without offering any interruption, but when she ceased, I coolly drew the dildo from my pocket, and gave it to her.

“There,” said I, “is a proof of sanctity, virtue, and chastity-at least for one of them.”-All this time I scrutinized the countenance of the Superior; she looked at me, blushed, and was quite confounded; from which I immediately concluded that the article belonged to herself, and I was further confirmed in my opinion by the eagerness with which she almost snatched it from me.

“Ah! My dear child,” said she, greatly softened in her manner towards me after I had thus restored the lost jewel; “is it possible that, in a house where there are so many persons of exemplary worth, souls can be found so abandoned as to have recourse to such filthiness! O God! I am almost beside myself. But, my dear girl, never say a word about your having found such a thing; for then I should be obliged to use severity, to make open investigation, and I wish to proceed gently. But, my dear, why do you wish to leave us? Go, return to your chamber, I will arrange everything to your satisfaction. I will say that it must be all a mistake, as regards the late affair about you; rely on my affection, for I love you much. Rest assured, in spite of what has occurred, that you shall no more be looked on with an evil eye. I perceive that in reality we had no cause for behaving thus to you, as you were not to be blamed, since you could not help yourself. I shall speak in a proper manner to Miss Verland upon this subject. Good God!” continued she, looking at the dildo, “How malicious the devil is. God help me! I do think it is a… Ah! The hateful thing!”

As the Superior uttered these words, my mother entered. “What's this that I have heard?” said she to the Superior. And turning short round to me:-“And you, Miss, why are you here?”-An answer was necessary, but quite disconcerted, I blushed and looked down; and when the question was repeated, I began to stammer out some excuse. The Superior, however, spoke for me, and to the point. If she did not absolutely take my part in her account of the late disturbance, she was so favorable that I did not appear to have been much to blame. My fault was merely a want of prudence without any intention to do wrong; and the impudent fellow who had taken advantage of me, was not to come again to the convent. The chief blame was cast on Miss Verland, who, if not for the sake of her brother's reputation, at least for mine, ought not to have mentioned the circumstance. But the Superior said that she would take care I should not suffer any injury from the insult put on me. This was all I could desire, and thus got out of the adventure without a stain. My mother lamented my misfortune, and spoke to me in the most affecting language.

Souls zealous for the glory of God can make the best of everything. It was determined between my mother and the Superior, that, as I had unluckily given cause me to that course, they made a long sermon, which, as for scandal, I must reconcile myself to the Father of mercies by the sacrament of penance; and to persuade it was not very interesting, I shall not repeat here.

My mother's discourse had almost converted me. However, the reluctance I felt to acknowledge my faults might well have made me doubt the reality of my conversion, and Father Jerome, instead of receiving my confession of my own free will, was obliged to draw it from me by a multitude of questions. God knows how it pleased the old sinner! I had never said so much before, though I had not said all; for I do not think it a very great crime for a poor girl to relieve herself when in a strait.-She did not make herself; can it be her fault if she has sensual desires? Is it her fault that she has no husband to satisfy her? She only seeks to appease the desires that consume her like an internal fire; and she has recourse to the means nature has furnished her; what can be less criminal?

Notwithstanding the little secrets I had kept from Father Jerome, I was somewhat affected. Was it penitence? No. The real cause was that he had refused me absolution; and, fearing that it might give rise to further calumny, I could not refrain from tears. I dreaded to show myself to my enemies, lest my confusion should give them a new cause to triumph, so I went and placed myself at a desk before the altar; and my grief soon sent me to sleep. I fell into the most agreeable dream imaginable. I thought I was with Verland, who held me in his arms and pressed me with his thighs. I opened mine, and yielded to all his motions. With what transport he handled and kissed my bubbles! I wakened with the very excess of pleasure, and… I found myself actually in a man's arms. Still all occupied with my delightful dream, I thought my good fortune had changed the illusion into reality. I believed myself with my lover, but it was not he who held me so closely embraced from behind.

When I opened my eyes I was so overcome with pleasure that I had not strength enough to look round to see who held me; but I felt myself wetted with a warm liquor, and something hard and hot was every moment pushed against me, accompanied with sighs. I also sighed and felt a similar liquor escape from myself with inexpressible pleasure, till I fell motionless on the hassock. This pleasure, if durable, would be a thousand times more exquisite than that of heaven; but alas! It is soon over! I was seized with terror at the thought of being alone at night in the church with a person I did not know. I dared not ask his name, nor even stir, but trembled excessively. And my fright was increased when he took my hand and kissed it. I was too much alarmed to withdraw it, but was somewhat assured on hearing the words: “Don't be afraid; it is me.” As I had some recollection of having heard the voice before, I gradually recovered my self-possession, and asked, who it was without attempting to look.- “Oh it's Martin, Father Jerome's servant,” was the reply. When I heard this, all my apprehensions were removed, and I looked up and recognized him. Martin was a lively handsome young man, of rather a fair complexion, and not a little amorous. Trembling in his turn, he waited for my answer to decide whether he should kiss me again or leave me. I did not reply, but looked at him with a smiling countenance, my eyes still sparkling with the pleasure I had so recently experienced. Seeing very well that I was far from angry, he passionately threw himself into my arms; I received him in like manner, without once thinking that, if my absence was observed in the convent, somebody might come and find us thus together… Must I tell you? Love is an excuse for everything. Without respecting the altar, on the steps of which we then were, Martin made me lean backwards a little, lifted up my clothes, and felt all over me with his hand. I was not less backward than he, but immediately laid hold of his engine-the first time in my life I had the happiness of handling one. Oh! How pretty was his! Little, but long, just such as I required. What a flame, what a piquant voluptuousness instantly shot through my body! I could not speak, but I squeezed the dear tool in my hand; I looked at it, fondled it, put it against my bosom, then to my mouth; I sucked, and would fain have swallowed it. Martin had his finger in my slit, and moved it gently backwards and forwards, increasing my pleasure every moment. He kissed me all over, face, belly, and thighs, not forgetting the grand centre of attraction. I could no longer resist the attacks of passion; I fell gently backwards, drawing him after me with my right arm, with which I closely embraced him. I kissed his mouth, and, at the same time, holding the object of my heart's desire in my left hand, endeavored to introduce it into its proper place, so as to procure a more solid pleasure.-Equally transported, he lay down on me, and began to push.

“Stop,” said I to him, in a voice interrupted by sighs; “stop, my dear Martin, not so fast; wait a moment.” I then immediately slipped my legs from under him, and threw them over his back, holding him between my thighs. Thus we lay belly to belly, breast to breast, mouth to mouth, and mingled our sighs together. Oh! what a delightful situation! I thought of nothing in the world, not even of the pleasure I felt; it was quite enough to feel it without reflecting thereon. Impatience prevented me enjoying it longer; I moved, Martin did so too, and our happiness vanished, but before losing it, we felt how great it was; it seemed to have collected all its most exquisite charms to overwhelm us at once. We remained in a state of insensibility, only at intervals pressing each other closer-but it was all over with us for that time.

It is now time, my dear Susan, to inform you what the holy water was with which Father Jerome one day sprinkled your bosom.

My first action, after Martin left my arms, was to put my hand where I had received such a powerful attack. Inside and out. it was covered with that liquor, the emission of which had given us so great pleasure, but it was quite cold when I felt of it. It was spunk; for that is the name of the thick white matter which escapes from the organs of love when we spend. This discharge is the consequence of the voluptuous frictions which precede it.

“What!” said Susan to the Sister, “was that spunk that you discharged just now?”-“Yes, indeed it was,” said she; “and you, little slut that you are, gave me some also. Did not you feel your little cunny all wet?- that was the same. But, my darling, the enjoyment you experienced is incomparably less than what one has with a man; for that which he gives, mixing with ours, creates such delicious sensations-that I cannot describe them. So I will continue my story.”

I was finely crumpled, as you may imagine, after the amorous exercise I had just gone through; however, I arranged all my things as well as I could, and asked Martin what o'clock it was.-“Oh, 'tis not late,” said he, “I heard the supper bell a minute ago.”-“I can do very well without supper,” said I, “and will go to bed directly. But, before we part, tell me, dear Martin, by what chance you came here and how you dared to come.”

“Oh, I am not over timid, and care little for consequences; but the cause of my presence here was this-I came to dress out the church, (tomorrow, you know, is a holy day). I saw you; and said to myself: There's a good girl that says her prayers well. By jingo! She must be confoundedly devout to come to the church at this time of night while all the rest are eating! But when I saw that you stirred neither hand nor foot, I thought you must be asleep; and when I came nearer I found that you were so. I stood a minute or two looking at you, and my heart began to go tick-a-tick. The devil is wondrous cunning: 'Martin,' whispered he in my ear, 'don't you see that she is very pretty? What a glorious chance for you! If you neglect it, you'll never find such another: bethink yourself, Martin!'-I took his hint without waiting a moment. I lifted up your collar very gently, and saw two beautiful white bubbies, which I touched with my hands and, what is more, kissed them. Seeing then that you continued to sleep like a top, I had a good mind to do something else-and I boldly proceeded to turn up your petticoats behind, and began to push and-you know the rest.”

Although he told me all this in the coarse language of his village, I was delighted with his candor and simplicity.-“Very good, my dear friend.” said I; “and how have you enjoyed it?”-“Oh, by Jupiter, so much that I am ready to begin again, if you are willing.”-“No, not now,” said I; “perhaps we may be discovered; but as you have the key to the church, you can come again tomorrow night; leave the door open, and I will join you. Do you understand?”-“Yes, perfectly; and then we will amuse ourselves to our heart's content, without any fear of being interrupted at that hour.”-I assured him that I would be there. Reflection made me oppose my own inclination and the entreaties of Martin, who was very anxious to have another little go before were separated. My refusal would have sadly grieved him, had it not been for the hopes of the morrow. After we had embraced each other, I entered the convent, and succeeded in reaching my chamber without being perceived.

You will readily suppose that I was impatient to examine myself to see what effects the violent assaults of Martin had produced; as I felt a sharp pricking sensation, and could not walk without difficulty. I procured a light, and drew the curtains very carefully to prevent my being seen; then sitting down in a chair, I placed one foot on the bed and the other on the floor, and began my scrutiny. What was my surprise on discovering that the lips, which before were so firm and plump, had become soft and wrinkled. The hair which covered them, though not yet quite dry, was in a thousand little curls. The inside was of a bright red, inflamed, and excessively tender. It itched, but when I touched it with my finger, the pain compelled me to desist. I rubbed myself against the arms of my chair, and covered them with the proofs of Martin's vigor. Pleasure contested with fatigue, but my eyes became gradually heavier till I was obliged to undress and lie down; when I soon fell into a sound sleep accompanied with agreeable dreams, in which I retasted the pleasures of the evening.

The next day, no remark was made on my absence, which was thought to proceed from a remnant of resentment at the treatment of the previous day, and my bold air confirmed that opinion. I attended mass like the others, but did not communicate, though they did; for, to speak truth, I was above being ashamed of not following their example. Love had dispelled all my prejudices, and the presence of my lover, whom I could see lounging about the church, compensated for all. Many of my companions would have gladly quitted the spiritual food for a like alternative. My eyes threw more glances of love on my Martin than of devotion on the altar. In the eyes of a woman of the world, he would have appeared but a clown, in mine he was a very Cupid, with all his youth and graces. His secret worth made me pass lightly over the meanness of his outward appearance. I could perceive, however, that he had trimmed himself up that day, and assumed an air of greater importance. I was gratified by this change, which I attributed rather to a desire to please me than to honor the saint whose feast it was that day. I saw him look at the boarders with an endeavor to distinguish me; I did not wish him to succeed in so doing, so I took care to hide my face; but I should have been vexed if he had not made the attempt. I was now over head and ears in love, and awaited the night with the utmost impatience, in order to redeem the word I had pledged.

That night, so ardently desired, at last came. It struck twelve! Oh! In what agitation I was! I trembled as I passed along the corridor, and though everybody was asleep, I felt as if they were all looking at me. I had no other light to guide me than that of love; and, as I walked in the darkness, I thought that, if Martin failed in being at the rendezvous, I should expire with vexation. However he was there, as amorous and impatient as I was punctual. I had but few clothes on, for I found the evening before that petticoats, stays, collars, etc. were only so many hindrances to love. As soon as I found the door open, a transport of joy made me abruptly finish my reverie; and I called Martin in a low voice. He heard me, rushed into my arms, caressed, and kissed me. We were some time closely locked in a mutual embrace, but when the first joy of meeting was past, we set about finding another greater and more solid. I carried my hand to the source of my pleasures, and he did not delay putting his where I so very much wanted it. He was soon in a condition to satisfy me, and undressing himself, made a bed for me of his clothes, on which I laid down. Our pleasures succeeded each other for two hours with such rapidity and force, that it seemed almost as if we had not yet tasted them, or were enjoying them for the first time. In the heat of passion, we think little of husbanding our strength, and the ardor of my lover no longer equalled mine; so it became necessary to force ourselves from each other's arms and retire to our respective dormitories.

Our happiness lasted only a month, including the period that repose was absolutely necessary; during those three or four days, the thought of Martin supplied the place of his personal presence. How happily passed the nights when I was in his embrace! Alas, I have had many a long and disagreeable one since I lost him.

But I had reason to tremble at the consequence of our pleasures, for I perceived that my courses did not appear at the proper time. I was at first surprised at the circumstance, having often heard say that it was a sign of breeding. I often had pains in my stomach, and fits of weakness. “Oh!” cried I, “what an unhappy wretch I am-it is indeed true that I am pregnant!” And a torrent of tears followed my exclamation.

One night, after receiving from Martin the usual testimonial of his unabating love for me, he perceived that I sighed sorrowfully, and that the hand which he held trembled; for when my passion was satisfied, uneasiness took the place in my heart that love had before occupied. He asked me eagerly the cause of my agitation, and gently remonstrated with me for making a mystery of my troubles.-“Alas! Martin,” I said to him, “you have ruined me! Do not suppose that my love for you is not the same; I have within me a distressing proof of it-I am pregnant.”-This news was altogether unexpected by him. But his surprise was followed by a profound reverie, which I knew not what to make of. Martin was my only hope in this dreadful crisis, and as he seemed to hesitate, what could I think!-“Perhaps,” thought I, quite depressed by his silence, “perhaps he intends to run away, and abandon me to my despair.” My tears began to flow, and he perceived them. Kind and faithful, as I feared he might be unfeeling and perfidious, while I was supposing him occupied with the thought of deserting me, he was in reality devising means to dry up my tears by removing their cause. He embraced me, and said that he knew a way of relieving me from my embarrassment. I was less delighted to hear this than to ascertain that my suspicions of his love were groundless. His assurance of affording me assistance restored my spirits, and I was curious to know what must be done to deliver me of my burden.

He Said he would give me something to take which was in his master's closet, and of which mother Angelica had made experience before me. I wanted to know what particular connection Father Jerome had with her; as I hated her mortally, because she appeared the most violent against me in the affair with Verland. She was so exceedingly rigid in her external conduct, for the purpose of more securely veiling the vices and corruptions of her privacy, as she had a regular intrigue with Father Jerome. Martin told me all about it, and said that he had found among his master's papers a letter of hers, in which she communicated to him the fact of her being in precisely the same condition as myself; and from another he learned that the Father had sent her a bottle of the liquor I was to use, which had done wonders in removing the inconvenience under which she labored.-“My dear Martin,” said I, “pray bring me some of this liquor tomorrow, and you will save me a world of troubles.” And, looking still farther, I thought that by means of these letters, I might take vengeance on Mother Angelica; so I asked Martin to bring them. He, not knowing what such imprudence was to cost us, promised to bring them with the phial of medicine.

The next night he fulfilled his promise; and, though very eager to read the letters I postponed so doing till morning, that suspicion might not be excited by a light being seen in my room at that hour. When the morning dawned I began to peruse them. They were written in passionate language, and were but little in conformity with the apparently austere manners and life of the parties concerned. She there painted her amorous frenzy in expressions of which I had never thought her capable; in short, she wrote powerfully and without restraint, supposing that the Father would follow her advice in burning her letters as soon as he had read them.-He omitted this precaution, and thus ensured my triumph. I mused for a long time on what method I should adopt for ruining my enemy. To give them myself to the Superior would have been a dangerous step: as I must then have explained how they came into my possession, to have employed another person might possibly prove equally injurious to my honor. I chose therefore to leave them myself at the door of the Superior at the moment that I was sure she was going in. What a fool I was! I ought rather to have burned them and thus have saved myself all the misery consequent on losing my lover; and this reflexion, had it occurred to me, would certainly have extinguished my resentment. What gratification could revenge afford me to be compared with the loss of Martin? No; he was a thousand times more precious than what occupied me at that moment. I did not put off the execution of my project any longer than was requisite to get myself out of the danger now pressing me. I had asked Martin for a” truce of eight days, which had not yet expired. I executed the scheme as above detailed, and it had the effect I expected. The Superior found the letters, sent for Mother Angelica, and convicted her. It is possible that she might have obtained her pardon had not another and greater crime, which women never forgive, rendered her punishment “necessary for the repose of the Superior, whose rival she was with the fornicating old monk. The Superior, indeed, had an artificial succour to relieve the violence of her longings, but it is not easy to content oneself with such a paltry alternative when the real thing is to be had.

The Superior was in this case. A woman who has acquired some insight of the mysteries of love is wondrous sharp-sighted in all that concerns her passion. I had no doubt that the Father shared his spiritual consolations in secret between the two, and the prompt punishment of Mother Angelica confirmed my suspicions; and she expiated in a secluded chamber her offense against me as well as that of having rivalled her Superior in the heart of a lover to whom she was passionately attached.

I soon repented of my folly; I had always fancied that Angelica alone would be exposed to the storm, but it overwhelmed another beside. The monk, outraged at the loss of his mistress, suspected that Martin was the cause of it, and accordingly sacrificed him to his resentment by discharging him, so that I never saw him again.

Such, my dear Susan is my story; I need not advise you, the partner of my pleasures to keep it a secret.- Alas! I have had but few enjoyments since the loss of my lover.

“The recollections of Martin animated her, and her recital had produced the same effect on me. We found ourselves, without thinking of it, disposed not to await the next day to celebrate the loss of this dear lover. I reminded Agatha of the pleasures she had formerly tasted in his embrace.

“Deceived by my caresses, she appeared to forget that I was but a girl, and lavished on me the same names as she did with her lover.

“I was her angel, her God. I had not then the least idea of greater good that what I then enjoyed; to have Agatha in my arms seemed the very height of my desires. Imagination always exceeds the reality. Agatha remembered the pleasure that the rubbing of Martin's hair between her thighs had produced the night of her first meeting him in the church and promised to return the favor if I would procure her something like it. I consented. She lay on her back and I was to act; we so excited each other by tickling that we found ourselves, one with the head towards the bed's foot, the other exactly the reverse. In this situation we drew closer together. One of my thighs was on Agatha's belly the other under her buttocks. My belly and my buttocks were likewise between her thighs. With them closely stuck together, we squeezed and rubbed against each other, spending all the while. The sources of our pleasures, swelled with incessant spending, which had no other issue but to pass from one into the other, were like two reservoirs of delight, in which we were dying, drowned in the exquisiteness of our sensations; and were only resuscitated by the very excess of our raptures.-Exhaustion alone put a stop to our transports.-Enchanted with each other, we agreed to sleep together again the next night. We did so, and at this second occasion, I was further instructed by Agatha in this, to me, new science. These nights were only interrupted by my leaving the convent to come here.”

CHAPTER THREE

Susan's relation had greatly excited me, acting strongly on my imagination. Although I had affected to conceal my tears from her, my impassioned looks had betrayed me, as well as other visible proofs of sensibility which the subject would naturally produce: she had observed my movements, and was delighted at having produced the effect she desired, but dissembled her satisfaction with considerable artfulness. I was equally astonished and emboldened by her conversation. These vivid and animated pictures of the feelings and proceedings of Agatha in a position very much resembling our own, could only have been produced by a person whose heart was penetrated with the sweets of love. She had concealed no part of her conduct, nor in any way avoided giving things their own names. If we had been in the shaded alley, I should have taken the occasion to represent each picture she drew in their very life. But that was not her intention; and why not? How could I make that accord with what she had been telling me? Resolved to follow up my design, but taking care not to frighten Susan, I took other measures, seeking, in her recital, for arms to carry on my attack. I first asked her whether Agatha was pretty?- “As an angel,” replied she, “and a girl possessed of such charms is sure to please.” “But, Susan,” said I, “it is to be feared that her amorous inclinations will make her miserable.”-“Do not deceive yourself,” said Susan; “as I said, she has but recently taken the veil,, out of complaisance to her mother. The period for pronouncing her vows is not yet come; her happiness depends on the death of a brother, her mother's idol. It is probable that he will not outlive his sister's novitiate. He has been wounded in a brothel at Paris…”

“A brothel! What's that?” I asked, by presentiment, I suppose, of what was to happen to me in one.

“It is a house occupied by girls of easy virtue, who receive with complaisance the homage of libertines, and accede to their wishes, for what they can get by it. Their inclination leads them to this manner of love, and pleasure induces them to continue it.”

“Ah!” I exclaimed, “I should like to be in a town where there were such houses as those. And you, Susan?” She did not reply, but I understood from her looks that this passion had as powerful dominion in her heart as with the ladies occupying the houses above mentioned.

“I dare say,” continued I, “that Agatha would go there as readily as her brother.”

“No doubt; she loves the men to madness.”

“And you, little hussy,” I replied, “you don't like them?”

“I should like them-but it is dangerous to have intercourse with them.”

“Do you think so? It is not half so much as you imagine. Women do not always breed after it. Our neighbor here has been married a long time, and has never had a child.” This instance appeared to shake her.-“Hark ye, Susan,” I continued, and as if inspired by an intelligence beyond my years, “Sister Agatha told you that when Martin put it into her she was filled up with what he gave her; no doubt it was that which begot the child.”

“Very well!” said she, looking at me to read in my eyes an explanation without exposing herself. “What do you mean by that?”

“What I mean,” said I, “is this; that if it is what the man spends that produces the child, it is easy to prevent it by withdrawing when it is coming.”

“Ah, but can one do so? Have you not seen two dogs one on the other? It is in vain that you beat them- they cry out, drag each other along, but are so united that they cannot separate. Say now, what a start it would be if any one were to surprise a man and woman similarly circumstanced!”

This objection upset me; Susan appeared to have foreseen what I meant to propose to her. She seemed to await my answer, and could I have read her heart, I should have seen how she regretted having suggested a difficulty I was unable to surmount. I was deeply interested in the removal of this prejudice, as I saw that my happiness in great measure depended on doing so. I remembered well enough that Father Polycarp had no difficulty the day before in separating himself from Annette. I should have mentioned this, but I was rather inclined to let her see it for herself. My arguments did not persuade her, but her own desires made up the defect. She still affected to insist on her objection, and wanted an example to convince her. At the moment I saw the good man Ambrose come out of the house and go down the street. His departure afforded me the best possible opportunity for effecting my purpose; as I did not in the least doubt that the Father and Annette would take advantage of his absence, to make up for the time lost while he was at home. I said to Susan, with an air of assurance, “Come along, I will show you what a mistake you lie under.” I rose and helped Susan to do so, after thrusting my hand under her clothes without meeting any serious resistance.

“Where are you going to take me?” said she, as we made for the house. The little slut thought I was going to lead her into the alley, whither she was ready enough to go, and how much more fortunate had it been for me! But I had not sufficient experience to see that she desired nothing more. I feared she would still resist, and, besides, my destiny drew me along. I answered that I was going to conduct her where she would see something to please her.

“Where's that?” said she, as we approached the house.

“In my chamber,” I replied.

“In your chamber, indeed! No, no, Silas, that will not do; you will be at something with me.”

I swore I should not meddle with her, and I observed that she was not sorry that, by promising to be on my behavior, I had given her an excuse for accompanying me. What a pleasure I feel in recalling these happy moments of childhood! The habit of gratifying all my passions, and the immoderate use of pleasures have not deadened my sensibility for these sweet moments of my life.

We reached my chamber unperceived; as I held Susan by the hand, I perceived she trembled; I walked on tiptoe, and she followed my example. I motioned to her not to speak, and made her sit down on my bed. I went gently up to the partition, but there was no one there. I told Susan that they would not be long.

“But what do you mean to show me?” said she, puzzled by my mysterious proceedings.

“You will soon see,” said I, and immediately, in advance of the privilege that I reckoned the sight would give me, I threw her backwards on the bed, and attempted to slip my hands up her thighs. I had not reached her garter, when she started up, and declared that she would cry out if I dared to touch her again. She even made me believe she would go out, and I was simple enough to think her in earnest. I was quite confounded; my heart palpitated, and I durst scarcely answer her, and though I made but a stammering business of it, she was easily induced to remain. I almost despaired of gaining my point, when I heard the door of Ambrose's chamber open.

“Here they are,” said I, making a sign for her to be still and drawing closer to her on the bed. I soon went to the partition, and drawing aside the picture which covered the hole, I saw the Father embracing Annette and giving the most unequivocal proofs of his good will towards her. There they stood, motionless, and closely locked in each other's arms, as if meditating the grandeur of the mysteries they were about to celebrate. All attention to their movements, I waited for them to proceed a little further before I beckoned Susan to approach. The good dame, tired at last of such long musing, disengaged herself from the monk's arms, and throwing off her stays, petticoat, and shift, stood before me in all the naked beauty of nature. How delighted was I thus to see her! My amorous frenzy, which had been somewhat excited by Susan's resistance to my wishes, was redoubled at the sight.

Susan, having observed how much I appeared to be interested in what was passing, had got off the bed, and come towards me, without my perceiving it.

“Let me have a look,” said she, pushing me gently aside.

This was exactly what I wanted, so I let her take my place, and eagerly watched her countenance to see what impressions the spectacle made on her. At first she colored, but I was too certain of her amorous propensities to fear that what she saw could have any other effect than the one I expected. As she kept her place, I was somewhat curious to ascertain how the example operated, and accordingly slipped my hand up her clothes. I met with but little resistance, as she only pushed down my hand, without, however, preventing it reaching her thighs, which she kept closely squeezed together. I owed the facility with which I succeeded in parting them to the transports of the combatants behind the partition. I could count every push that was made by the Father or his paramour, by the progress of my hand up her charming thighs. At last I reached the goal, and she then abandoned herself entirely to me; opening her thighs to let my hand revel at its ease amid those hidden charms. I did not omit to profit by this opportunity, and putting my finger to the very centre of sensibility, I found that there was scarcely room to admit it. On finding that the enemy had taken the citadel, she trembled, and continued to do so at every motion of my finger.

“Now, I have you, Susan,” I whispered; and raising her petticoat behind, I saw the finest, whitest, firmest little arse that can be imagined. How perfect was its shape! How exquisitely rounded! None that I have since seen can be compared with it for a moment. What heavenly buttocks, of a roseate hue more beautiful than even her face! With what rapture did I smother them with kisses! Yes, indeed, they merited my most fervent adoration, but they had a neighbor whose attractions would not let me stop to worship them long. I knelt before this charming little rump, and kissed it in an ecstasy; but Susan had a thousand other beauties that aroused my curiosity. I rose transported, and fixed my eager eyes on her lovely bubbles, which were hard, firm, and rounded by love itself. They heaved and sank alternately, and seemed to require a hand to steady their movement; so I gently pressed them with mine. Susan let me do as I pleased, and kept looking attentively through the peephole. I was delighted at this, but her attention was much too great for my impatience. I burned with a fire that nothing but enjoyment could abate. I wished to have her naked, to satisfy myself with the sight of the whole, of which I had kissed and handled such ravishing portions. I thought this would content me, but I found the contrary to be the fact when I had pulled off her clothes, to which she offered no resistance. I too was naked and sought means of gratifying my passion. Thousands on thousands of kisses, the most expressive tokens of love, were infinitely short of my feelings. I tried to make an entry, but, owing to her position, I was obliged to begin the attempt from behind. She opened her legs and thighs, but the entrance was so small that I could not get in. I put my finger in, and withdrew it covered with the dew of love. I then made fresh efforts to take possession of the place my finger had just quitted, but the same difficulty prevented my success, in spite of all my partner's assistance.

“Susan,” at last I began, enraged at the obstacle that her stupid attention to other people's matters opposed to my happiness; “come away; we will have as much pleasure as they.”

She looked at me, and I saw by her eyes how much she was excited. I took her in my arms, carried her to the bed, and laid her on her back. When she opened her thighs, my eyes were instantly arrested by the sight of a bright little rose, just beginning to bloom. Light colored hair, in a thousand little curls, was just beginning to overshade a hillock which the most delicate pencil could but feebly portray. Susan lay without stirring, and awaited impatiently for some more sensible and satisfactory tokens of my passion. I endeavored to give them, but made a sad mess of it, sometimes too high, sometimes too low, wasting my strength in vain efforts. At last she guided me and well did I know that I was in the right road then. A sharp pain, which I had no thought of finding on a road that I expected to find strewn with flowers, for a moment arrested my progress. Susan experienced a similar inconvenience, but we were not to be deterred by trifles. She tried to enlarge the passage; I pushed, and she seconded every motion. I soon reached the halfway house. Susan looked at me with languishing eyes; her face was inflamed, she breathed at long intervals, and imparted to me a prodigious heat. I swam in an ocean of pleasure, and hoping for still greater, hastened to snatch them. O Heaven! That such blissful moments were to be troubled by the most cruel misfortunes! I was pushing most vigorously, when my infernal bed gave way, and fell, making a horrible clatter. This fall might have been favorable, since it helped me to reach the end of my journey, though with grievous pain to both of us. Susan had the utmost difficulty to refrain from screaming. Dreadfully frightened, she would have torn herself from my arms, but I was mad with love and rage, and held her tighter than ever. I paid most dearly for my obstinacy.

The noise alarmed Annette, who opened the door, saw how her son and daughter were engaged, and stood staring at us, almost petrified with surprise, and was unable to approach us. She opened her mouth to speak, but the words died away on her lips. Susan had fainted; her tender eyes were shut and she had neither the courage nor strength to rise. I looked at Annette and Susan by turns; at the former with fury; at the latter with grief. Emboldened by the statue-like immobility of Annette, I wished to profit by it; I pushed, and Susan gave signs of life, she heaved a deep drawn sigh, opened her eyes, and pressed me more closely as she returned my motion. She began to spend, and her raptures delighted me. I was just on the point of partaking them, when Annette rushed upon me and tore me from the arms of my dear Susan. I was too exhausted to offer any resistance, and remained almost insensible in her grasp.

In the meantime Father Polycarp, no less curious than Annette, had entered, and was not much less astonished than she, at what he saw before him; for there lay Susan on her back, stark naked, rubbing her eyes with one hand, and covering the sinning part with the other; as if that could conceal her charms from the eyes of the lecherous monk.

Neither my surprise, rage, nor fear had made love's weapon lose its stiffness; Annette gazed on it; and the sight procured me her forgiveness. I felt that she was gently withdrawing me from the chamber. I scarcely knew what I did but I followed her. She conducted me to her chamber, shut the door, and bolted it. Fear then awoke me from my trance, and I wished to fly from her resentment; but she reassured me.

“Silas,” said she, “I don't mean to hurt you.” I did not believe her and still kept distance. She approached me, and when I saw her arm extended to seize me, I drew back, but in vain, for she caught me by the staff.

The confusion at being in statu natural did not hinder me from being surprised at seeing her quite naked; a moment before she was at least decently dressed. My tool soon regained in her hand the strength and stiffness it had partially lost. Annette pressed it, and I looked at her slit. She then lay down on the bed, and pulled me on her.

“Come along, my little stallion, put it in there, bravo.”

I did not wait for anything further, but, meeting with little opposition, I thrust it in up to the hilt. Having been predisposed by the prelude with Susan, I soon felt a glow of delight, which deprived me of my senses, and Annette received the first-fruits of my virility. Thus at the first stroke, I made a cuckold of my imputed father, but what odds!

I was going to repeat the delightful exercise, but was interrupted by a stifled noise proceeding from my chamber. Annette seemed perfectly aware of what was going on, and called to the Father to leave off. She hastily dressed herself and hastened to prevent things being pushed too far.

She had no sooner turned her back than I flew to the hole. I there saw the monk holding Susan in his arms, who had partially dressed herself, but he had lifted up her petticoat and shift, and I guessed that the noise was caused by the excessive dimensions of his Reverence's member, as he made many useless attempts to put it into a place that was never meant for him. The appearance of Annette put an end to the struggle; she snatched Susan from the monk's embraces, gave her two or three slaps on the back and sent her out of the room. It appeared that those vigorous proceedings had somewhat exhausted the good dame, and that she had not strength enough left to show Father Polycarp how much she disapproved of his conduct. It is not often that a monk is wanting in impudence; but, in this instance, the Father could hardly bear up against the shame of being caught in flagrante delicto and the reproaches that he expected Annette was preparing to shower upon him; or more probably against the disgrace a monk must incur by failing in an amorous encounter with a young girl. His color came and went without his daring to look at Annette, who, for her part, seemed agitated by similar emotions. I watched them attentively from my peep-hole, and feared that I was about to witness some fearful crisis; but I was altogether mistaken. The monk was confused, but his instrument stood forth like a poker. I suppose monks are always so. Annette was in a terrible rage, but when she saw the monk's staff her anger abated; and a reconciliation took place. He approached her, and as he put his tool into her hand I heard him say:

“Well, if I cannot have the daughter, I will the mother.”

Annette had quite forgiven his faithless behavior, and sealed his pardon on the wreck of my unlucky bed.

“Very good,” said the monk as soon as he had recovered his breath, “do you think I do it as well as Silas?”

“What do you mean by that?” said she. “Do you think I have done anything with him?

“The little rascal has hid himself under my bed, and there let him be till Ambrose comes home: I warrant him, he shall have his hide well tanned.”

“Come, come, Annette,” said the monk, “let us have no disagreement; you know very well he cannot always stay here, and he is big enough now, isn't he? I shall take him with me when I go.”

“I think you had better,” replied Annette; “for if the little scamp remains here, you and I can do nothing; I fear he has discovered us already. Most positively he has,” continued she, as she cast her eye on the hole in the partition; “good heavens! I never saw that before; no doubt the young dog has been watching us.”

I was afraid she would come to examine me on that subject, so I retreated as far as possible under the bed, and remained there, though I was very curious to hear the conclusion of a dialogue which so closely concerned me. I was not long in suspense, for I soon felt some one pulling me from my hiding place, and was fearful of its being Ambrose. If he had seen me there, I should have found myself in a rather awkward position.

It turned out however, to be Annette, who brought my clothes, and ordered me to dress immediately, which I did, quite regardless of the lecture she was giving me all the while. When she had duly arranged her own toilette, she said:

“Come, my boy, you must go with me to the rectory.”

I did not much like this news, for the good priest had rather too often given me most striking proofs of his affection, and I rather feared that I was to do penance there for my recent conduct.

We arrived, and I found my apprehensions groundless; Annette presented me to the holy man, and requested him to let me abide some few days in his family. Prom this I concluded that when Father Polycarp returned to his convent, he would take me with him.

The good priest in whose family I was thus domesticated, was one of those curious specimens of humanity that one cannot look at without laughing. He was about four feet high; and his face was enormously out of proportion with his stature, being at least a foot wide and of a rubicundity not to be produced by drinking water; a Negro-like nose, somewhat carbuncled, little black lively eyes, a narrow forehead, and a curly black beard, completed the portrait of the reverend gentleman. Though appearances were rather against him, he had not been altogether unfortunate among the ladies, if we might believe rumors afloat in the village. It is said that he had other qualities which do not meet the public eye, that rendered him a favorite with his female friends.

I must now say a word of his most respectable housekeeper. Madame Francoise was an ugly old witch, as malicious as an ape, and as wicked as the devil himself. She was about sixty, but would not own to more than forty; she had been with his Reverence some fifteen years, and had contracted the habit of always indentifying herself with him, by continually making use of the plural pronoun we. If any one came to order a mass for his dead or living relations, after receiving the cash, her answer was-“We will say it as you desire”; and if sufficient remuneration was not offered the reply was-“We cannot do it.”

Beneath the shade of the flag that united Francoise and her master, grew up a young woman, who passed as the niece of his Reverence, though she could have claimed a nearer relationship.

She was a great full-faced damsel, a little marked with the smallpox, very fair complexion, and fine neck and bosom; her nose closely resembled the rector's, barring the carbuncles, which had not yet burst forth, but promised fair at no very distant time; her eyes were small but shining. As for her hair, it might very well have passed for red, but as that is a proscribed color, and auburn is more fashionable, she called it auburn; but whether red or auburn was a matter of small importance to a certain priggish student, who often came to pass eight or ten days at the rectory, less for friendship towards the rector than his charming niece.

This young lady who passed under the name of Miss Nicole, was much liked by all the boarders of her worthy uncle's school. The day scholars, of whom I had long been one, were also eager to share in her good graces; big boys succeeded very well, but it was quite the contrary with the little ones, among whom unfortunately I was reckoned. I several times attempted to gain my point with the damsel, but my age was against me; and all my protestations that my face only was young, advanced me nothing, and to fill up the measure of my woes, Madame Francoise was made acquainted with my amorous propensities; who imparted her knowledge to the rector, who did not spare me. I was enraged at being so little, for I saw that all my sorrows sprang from it.

I grew quite disgusted with the difficulties I experienced with Miss Nicole; the repulses of the niece and the floggings of the uncle were rather too much for me; but my desires were not eradicated; they were only concealed, and the presence of Nicole served to arouse them. Nothing but an opportunity was wanting to make them burst forth, nor was it long before it arrived; but the order of things obliges me to turn to other subjects.

My reader will remember that the morrow of the eventful day which has so long occupied his attention was appointed for my second visit to Madame Dinville. I anticipated the pleasure I should enjoy from meeting my dear Susan, far more than that of visiting her godmother.

“At the chateau,” thought I, “are some sweet shady plantations, where I will induce her to go. The little jade is amorous enough, and will, no doubt, readily follow me. In that sweet solitude we shall have nothing to fear from rotten bedsteads or jealous mothers.” These agreeable ideas occupied my thoughts as I walked to the chateau. When I entered, everything appeared wondrous still, and I passed through several apartments without seeing any person. As I entered the rooms, one after the other, my heart beat high with the expectation of seeing my Susan; but I saw her not. At last I came to a chamber the door of which was shut; but as the key was outside, I had not gone thus far for nothing; so I opened the door, and was a little startled at the sight of a bed, which I thought was unoccupied. I immediately heard a woman's voice asking who was at the door, which I recognised as Madame Dinville's. I turned to go back, but she prevented me by crying out:

“What is it my little Silas? Come and embrace me, my darling.”

I was now as bold as I had been bashful, and rushed into her arms.

“I like,” said she to me, with a satisfied air, “a young lad that knows how to be punctual.”

Scarcely had she finished speaking, before I saw a foppish little personage enter the chamber from the dressing-room, singing, or more properly murdering the air of a new and popular song, marking each cadence by a pirouette that corresponded marvelously well with the singular tones of his voice. At the sudden apparition of this modern Amphion (it was an abbe), I blushed for myself and Madame Dinville, and was suspicious that I had, by coming upon them unexpectedly, somewhat inconvenienced a party that cannot be agreeably composed of more than two persons, for I had no idea that a man could desire the company of a woman for any other reason than the one which was always uppermost in my own head.

I examined him with great attention, and reflecting that he was an abbe, I sought to discover in what he differed from other people. My understanding of the word abbe was very imperfect; as I fancied that they must all resemble the rector or his curate; and could hardly reconcile their steady deportment with the singular extravagances of the gentleman before me.

This diminutive Adonis, called the Abbe Filot, was receiver of taxes at the neighboring town, and was very rich, God knows by what means. Like most of the fools of his order, his learning was very inferior to his impudence. He had followed Madame Dinville to her country-seat to contribute to her amusement.

The lady rang the bell, and I heard some one enter; it was Susan. My heart leaped for joy at thus finding my hopes realised. She did not see me at first, as the curtain of the bed on which Madame had made me sit down partially concealed me; I may observe, en passant, that the abbe was rather jealous of the liberty that the kind lady had given me, and seemed to think it very bad taste on her part.

When Susan approached the bed, she saw me, and her beautiful cheeks were instantly suffused with a blush; she cast down her eyes, and could not speak for agitation. I was in a condition very little differing from hers, excepting that instead of looking at the floor, my eyes were intently fixed on her. Though the charms of Madame Dinville were not to be condemned, I should most certainly have decided for Susan-had it not been that I felt very uncertain of success with her, while with her godmother everything promised a prompt fruition of my desires. When Susan received a message for the chambermaid, she went out, and my attention was devoted wholly to Madame Dinville. I did not at first perceive that while my thoughts were debating the question relative to Susan and Madame Dinville the abbe had disappeared. The good lady had seen him go out, but, thinking that I also was aware of his absence, she did not say a word to me about him. In a few moments she leaned towards me, and took my hand with a languid look that plainly told me that there was no obstacle on her part to my happiness, and let it fall on her thighs, which she opened and closed in a most lascivious manner. Still supposing that the abbe was in the room, I hesitated to make my advances, though I could not help observing her reproachful looks.

“Are you asleep, Silas?” she at last exclaimed.

A gallant by profession would have profited by such an occasion to vent a whole load of nonsense, but I simply replied:

“No, madam, I am not.”

Though this answer made her think me less forward than my conduct at our previous meeting implied, it did me no injury in her estimation, but rather the contrary; it suggested the idea that I was a novice in the art of love, and she would have the pleasure of giving me the first lesson. My indifference showed her that the mode of attack she had adopted was not suitable, and that something more striking was requisite to move me. Accordingly she threw herself into a posture that rendered visible a greater portion of her charms. The sight of them aroused me from my reverie, drove the idea of Susan from my mind, and made me over, body and soul, to Madame Dinville. Perceiving the effect produced upon me by this stratagem, and still further to encourage me, she asked what had become of the abbe. When I looked round and saw he was no longer there, I felt what a fool I had been.

“He is gone out!” said she, and affecting to arrange the counterpane, because she was too hot, she discovered a thigh of an extraordinary whiteness, on the top of which the corner of her chemise seemed to be laid for the express purpose of preventing me seeing further, or rather to excite my curiosity in a greater degree. I caught a glimpse, however, of something reddish, that caused an emotion of which she well knew the cause; and she adroitly reconcealed the place that had produced the very effect she desired. I took her hand without the slightest resistance on her part, and kissed it passionately; my eyes were inflamed, and hers bright and all animation. Everything seemed to be going on miraculously well, but it was written that in spite of all these fine chances I should not be successful; for a cursed chambermaid came at the very nick of time when she was not wanted. I dropped the hand in a moment, as the girl approached, laughing like a mad thing; she stopped a moment at the door to have her laugh out before she came into her lady's presence.

“What's the matter now?” said the lady rather sternly.

“O madam,” replied the wench, “the abbe…”

At this moment in came the abbe, covering his face with a handkerchief, and the servant laughed louder than before.

“What ails you, sir?” cried the lady.

“Look at my face,” said he, “and see what Susan has done.”

“Susan!” exclaimed the lady, laughing with the rest of us.

“Yes; this is what a kiss has cost me,” said he coolly; “but I do not think it is buying it too dear.”

The abbe did not seem much to mind the infliction, and joined the laugh against himself with a good grace.' Madame Dinville, after flinging a few jokes at the poor abbe, rose and went to arrange her toilette for dinner, and the little gentleman was very communicative of his advice on every particular, much to the discomfiture of the maid, who no doubt wished him to the devil. At the conclusion of this little business we all went to the dining-room.

There were four of us at dinner: Madame Dinville, Susan, the abbe, and myself. I cut rather a foolish figure, when seated opposite to Susan; but the abbe, who sat by her side, put a good face on the matter, and pretended not to mind the raillery of our hostess. Susan was rather confused, and I saw by her stolen glances at me that she wanted us to be alone. When the dinner was over, I made a sign to Susan, which she understood, and went out directly; I was going to follow her, but the lady stopped me, saying that I must be her squire, and that she was going to take a walk.

To walk at four o'clock in the afternoon appeared somewhat absurd to the abbe, but it was not for him that she proposed it. The abbe was unwilling to expose his complexion to the sun, so he decided on remaining within. I had much rather have run after Susan than follow my hostess, but I was forced to sacrifice my own wishes to one who did me so much honor.

The abbe looked after us, laughing till he almost swooned, as he saw us pacing up and down the walks beneath the broiling heat of the sun; to which the lady only opposed her fan, and I nothing, being always used to it. We made several turns with an indifference that amazed the abbe; I did not penetrate her plot, not could I conceive how she was able to bear such excessive heat. My quality of squire was becoming irksome, and I would willingly have resigned the honor; but I knew not what pleasant duties were in reserve to counterbalance the disagreeableness of the first.

When the abbe retired from his post as spectator, we were at the end of the walk, and my lady turned aside into a charming little grove which promised us a most delightful, cool walk, if we chose to enjoy it, and I made a remark to that effect.

“Very true,” said she, endeavoring to read in my eyes whether I understood the object of her promenade; but I had not the least idea of it.

She put her arm round me most affectionately, and leaning her head on my shoulder, her face came so near to mine that I should have been a fool not to kiss her. She let me do so, and I repeated it without any opposition; then I was awake to my position.

“O! This is just the thing,” said I; “here we shall be quite secure from interruption.”

I was not misunderstood; so we advanced in the labyrinth, the shelter of which was amply sufficient to seclude us from the sight of every body. She at last seated herself under a shady tree, and I followed her example, placing myself close by her side. She looked at me, pressed my hand, and laid herself down.

The lucky moment seemed come at last, and I began to prepare myself for action, when I perceived that the lady had suddenly fallen asleep. For a moment I thought it was only a drowsiness, induced by our promenade in the sun, which it would be very easy to dissipate, but seeing that it continued to increase rather than diminish, I could not tell what to make of it. I could have forgiven all this readily, if she had first allowed me to gratify my desires, but was exceedingly annoyed at being thus balked in the very instant of my triumph. My desires prompted me to awaken her, yet I dared not, lest I should displease and lose the enjoyment that I flattered myself awaited me when her nap was over. I could not refrain from putting my hand into her bosom, and I then withdrew her fan which she had stuck there. This not appearing to disturb her, I ventured on a kiss, of which she took not the least notice. I was becoming bolder every moment and wanted to descend a little lower. I put my head between her feet, with my face to the earth, and sought to explore the regions of love, but nothing could I see, for one leg was thrown over the other so as to completely cut off the prospect. Finding that I could not see, I was resolved to feel, and accordingly slipped my hand right up her thigh to the foot of the mount. When I reached the entrance of the grotto, I scarcely dared think of doing more; but I only felt more miserable for this partial success. I was eager to examine with my eyes what I touched with my hand. I then looked again at her face, not the slightest change was visible; the most imperturbable sleep seemed to reign over her; a twinkling of one eye rather disquieted me for a moment, and made me somewhat mistrustful, and had it not closely shut up almost immediately, I should have contented myself with what I had already done. I returned, however, to my lower post of observation, and began to raise the petticoat a little. The lady started, and I, trembling at my impudence, ceased all proceedings and resumed my place beside her, without daring to look towards her. I did not remain long in this constraint; I saw she was still asleep, and blessed my stars on observing that her legs were no longer crossed, the petticoat was drawn up, and all her charms lay exposed to my astonished eyes.

Her legs were most beautifully shaped, and her ivory thighs, round, soft, and firm, surmounted by a quim of bright carnation, encircled with a hedge of bushy hair, as black as jet, and exhaling an odor more exquisite than all the essences of the perfumers. I put my finger to it and tickled it a little, and afterwards, putting my head between her legs, I endeavored to thrust in my tongue. I stood with such force that nothing could arrest me. I could have poked the favorite sultana in the presence of a thousand eunuchs with drawn scimitars, ready to wash away my pleasures in my blood. Supporting myself on my hands, I touched her with nothing but my member; and a motion at once gentle and regular made me drink long draughts of pleasure, which were but the earnest of what I was to enjoy.

I gazed steadfastly in the face of my partner, and from time to time imprinted a burning kiss upon her lips. The precaution I had taken of bearing my weight on my hands in the rapture of the moment was altogether neglected. I fell on her, and could do nothing but embrace and kiss her with a frenzy amounting almost to madness. When my pleasure was over, I recovered the use of my eyes, and saw the transports of my lady without being able to participate therein.

“My dearest love,” whispered she, “give one more push! Don't leave the business but half finished!”

I put my shoulder to the wheel with an ardor that surpassed her own, and I had scarcely given four strokes before she was insensible. More animated than ever, I increased my pace, and in a moment lay motionless in her arms; both of us intoxicated with the full tide of bliss that flowed in upon us.

This ecstasy did not endure long, and when I withdrew myself from my partner, it was not without some little confusion, which was increased when I saw that she was looking hard at me. I was sitting up, and she put one arm round my neck, and made me lie down again on the grass, while with the other she was coaxing my instrument, and essaying by an abundant application of kisses to make him resume the stiffness he had lost. I was quite abashed at all this, and could not conceal it.

What would you be after,” said she; “surely you need not be afraid to show me an article that you know how to use so well! I hid nothing from you-here, you dog, kiss my bubbies; put your hand in my bosom; now the other to my slit; good! What a clever little fellow you are!”

I am not quite certain whether I ever had any modesty, but I think there would be little danger in asserting that after we had continued these amusements for some time my stock of that troublesome article was reduced to a minimum. My lance was now ready for the jousting that my antagonist so ardently desired; and to every embrace she most heartily responded by a volley of kisses. I still kept my finger in the centre of pleasure, and gradually parted her legs that I might enjoy a view of the charming locality. The approaches of pleasure are more delightful than the thing itself, nor do I think anything can be more delicious than thus to handle a woman who surrenders herself entirely to your voluptuous caprices. This amorous prelude must necessarily terminate in the grand climax, and vigorously did we carry on the lecherous conflict; she was all alive under me, and seemed to gather strength from every exertion, as she returned stroke for stroke with increasing eagerness and force. Mouth to mouth, with our tongues emulating the proceedings in the lower department, we soon attained the acme of our transports, and when the finishing stroke was made, our sensations were far beyond anything that pen can portray.

I believe some one has written that “Vigor is the gift of heaven.” It is possible that I inherited this blessing from my reverend and godly fathers as my only patrimony. I was not slow in dissipating my heritage-but I must not break the order of things in detailing my misfortunes here.

Notwithstanding all the proofs that I had given of my virility, Madame Dinville was not yet satisfied, but used every means she could imagine to make me renew the combat.

“O you rogue,” said she, giving me a kiss, “what- standing again! This dear jewel of yours, so hard, so thick, and so long, is worth a fortune to you. Bless me! So you are ready to begin again?” I answered this appeal by pulling her backwards.

“Stop a bit, my love, I want to give you a new pleasure. It is now my turn to roger you. Lie down, just as I did before.”

In a moment I was extended on my back, and she on me; she then put my staff into the proper place, and began to push away. I did not move at all, but let her work while I enjoyed the pleasure. I contemplated the charms above me, and she occasionally rested to smother me with kisses. A voluptuous sensation forewarned me of the approach of the critical moment; I then joined my exertions to hers, and we were shortly deluged with an overflow of love's peculiar distillery. After, I was in reality quite exhausted and could no longer resist the advances of sleep. My loving companion nestled my head in her bosom, that I might enjoy the sweetness of repose where I had tasted that of love.

“Sleep, my darling love, let nothing disturb you; I will content myself with looking at you.”

I followed this advice in good earnest, and slept so soundly that I did not awake till the sun was very near his evening goal. When I awoke, the first object that struck my eyes was Madame Dinville, looking at me with a sweet smile upon her countenance. She laid down her knitting, with which she had amused herself during my nap, and kissed me, slipping her tongue into my mouth. Her attempts, to arouse my enfeebled energies were, however, for some time altogether useless. Had I been allowed my own choice, I should have preferred rest rather than active service; but this was not the lady's design; she wanted to re-excite those desires that I no longer felt. Finding that her kisses and caresses produced but very trifling effects, she had recourse to another expedient; which was lying down on her back and pulling up her clothes, so as to expose all her charms to my view; at the same tune rubbing my tool till she saw that her point was pained. Then ensued another furious encounter, which was somewhat abridged by a rather premature discharge on my part. I was chagrined at having the affair thus abbreviated, but there was no remedy. When we left this sweet retreat we took a turn or two in the garden, and conversed as we went along.

“Well, my dear Silas, I am sure I feel quite satisfied with you; how did you like bur play?”

“As for me, I have no words to express the thousandth part of the pleasures I experienced.”

“Indeed,” said she; “but I fear that I have been imprudent in thus giving the rein to my desires. I trust you have some little discretion, my dear Silas?”

“Oh! I fear you love me but little, if you think I can abuse your kindness.”

She was pleased with my reply, and would have paid me with a kiss, had we not been in too exposed a situation; as it was, she pressed my hand against her heart and gave me such a loving look that it quite charmed me.

As we walked rapidly towards the house, I saw the lady cast an inquiring eye in every direction which I did not exactly understand, but I was not kept long in the dark on this point.

My capacity of esquire to the lady required me to conduct her to her apartment. I was then about to make my obeisance, and take leave of her, but she said to me-“You need not go yet, my dear Silas, it is not eight o'clock. Come, stay with me! I will make your peace with the good rector.” The idea of the parsonage was very disagreeable to me, and I was not sorry that the good lady invited me to stay. We shut the door and seated ourselves on the sofa. She took up my hand and pressed it in hers, looking at me attentively all the time. At last she broke the silence by asking me whether I did not want something more. I felt my impotence, and was silent.

“We are alone, my dear,” said she, redoubling her caresses; “nobody can see us, let us undress and get into my bed. Come here, my beloved Silas, I will soon make you stand.” We were in bed in a few moments, and I suffered her to proceed as she chose, out of complaisance rather than the anticipation of pleasure. All her attempts to restore my forces were futile, till she fetched a little bottle containing a whitish liquor, of which she took a few drops in her hand and rubbed it over my tool and its appurtenances, as the lawyers say.

“Come, my love, our pleasures are not yet over; you will very soon have something to say to me.”

Her prediction was not long in coming to pass. In a few minutes my weapon stood in a most extraordinary manner, and I became almost mad from over-excitement. I no longer saw, felt, or knew anything, but was ready to devour her-all my ideas were concentrated on her slit.

“Hold, my love,” cried she, snatching herself from my arms; “do not be so hasty; let us make the most of our pleasures; since their existence is but momentary, let it be exquisite. Put your head at my feet, and your feet to my head.” I did so. “Now put your tongue in my bower, and I will put your tool in my mouth. That's it! bravo! How delightful it is!”

And verily it was delightful! I seemed to float in an ocean of pleasures, as I thrust my tongue into her shell, and wanted to get my whole head in. Madame Dinville pressed my backside, and I her buttocks, while she tickled me with her tongue and lips. After some moments thus mutually employed, we both spent, and the pleasure which in its approach had so enraptured us became a very shadow in possession. I was now in exactly the same state of depression and exhaustion as before the application of the chemical remedy, and entreated her to have recourse to it a second time. She said it would be very injurious to me, and might perhaps cause my death. As I was now ready to dress, on parting she cautioned me to be discreet, and to come and see her again in three days- which I promised to do.

In obedience to the directions of Madame Dinville, I withdrew from her chamber as secretly as possible, and was somewhat startled when I met Susan in an antechamber. My conscience reproached me for my infidelity towards her, and I was half afraid that she knew what I had been at with her godmother. She took my hand without speaking, and I was so confused that I could not look her in the face for some moments, and when I did it was to see her eyes glistening with tears -a sight that pierced me to the heart. In a moment she had recovered the empire of my affections, which Madame had for a time deprived her of. I could never have imagined it possible that I should feel myself so utterly absorbed in love for her.

I found that she was jealous of my attentions to another, and I could not convince her that her suspicions were unfounded. She wanted me to promise that I would not visit Madame Dinville any more, and then I told her that I had received an invitation for the third day following, which I could not well avoid accepting.

“If that be the ease,” said she, “come by all means, and I will pretend to be ill, that you may pass the whole day with me in my chamber; but you have not yet seen it; come with me now, I will show it you.”

As I followed her, a most disagreeable anticipation of the misfortune about to befall me was harrowing up my very soul.

“Here,” said she, opening the door of a sweet little chamber, “this is my room; and I fancy you will have no objection to spending the evening with me.”

“O my Susan how delicious it will be! What happiness you promise me!”

“O it will be so sweet to give ourselves up entirely to love-but it strikes me that you view the matter with great indifference, if you can wait three days so easily?”

I felt the force of this reproach, and at the same time my own incapability of proving it to be unjust. How bitterly I cursed the pleasures enjoyed with Madame Dinville! “Here am I alone with Susan,” I exclaimed mentally, “without the power to prove how much I love her.” In the midst of my distress, I recollected that the lady had given me some lozenges, and I supposed they were intended to produce the same effect as the liquor she had used to invigorate me. Hoping they would be as prompt in their operation, I swallowed several of them. But all my hopes were in vain; however, I laid Susan down on the bed and placed myself upon her-but friction, frigging, and every means of excitement still left me in the same state of utter impotence: I could give her nothing but my finger. A deathlike coldness had chilled my whole frame. Susan sighed at seeing my condition, and I cursed the fatal present of Madame Dinville; for I imagined that she had foreseen what was likely to happen and had given me the lozenges to complete my exhaustion. I was just going to confess my impotence to Susan, when I was helped out of my dilemma in a totally unexpected manner; for the bedcurtains were suddenly thrown back by some invisible hand, which also inflicted a most tremendous slap on my naked posteriors. I was too frightened to scream-but I jumped up and ran off as hastily as I could, leaving poor Susan to face the spectre alone. Had I been cooler in my flight, I should easily have recognized in that devilish apparition the forbidding profile of the Abbe Pilot clad only in shirt and night cap, gesticulating wildly and swearing like a pagan. But the fear which drove every other thought from my mind also gave me wings with which to fly. I left the chateau as speedily as my legs could carry me, and had not ceased trembling when in my bed at the rector's. I slept soundly, but when I awoke in the morning was so weak as to be unable to get up. I was then convinced how necessary it is in even our highest enjoyments, to avoid going to excess. My own fears were soon gone, but I was still very uneasy about Susan.

On the night before the day appointed for my visit to the chateau I felt but little desirous to undergo the exercise that I knew awaited me there, but when I thought of the sorry figure I cut with Susan, the lozenges occurred to my memory, and I immediately ate all that remained. I soon after fell asleep, and was awakened by the violence of the erection which ensued, and I should have verily been afraid the nerves would break, had I not experienced the same when with Madame Dinville. I had nothing but my fist to have recourse to, and was amusing, myself with that poor succedaneum, when I caught a glimpse of some one at the foot of my bed who instantly retired. I was not frightened at this, thinking it might be the abbe of whom I have spoken when describing Miss Nicole. Where can he be going? thought I-to roger the said young lady, no doubt, was my answer. So I resolved he should not go alone, instantly got out of bed, and proceeded to the corridor where I knew the fair one's chamber to be. I found one with the door open, which I entered, and cautiously approached the bed. I heard a breathing, but only of one person. I was not long in determining to take the abbe's place and proceeded forthwith to slip my hands up the lady's thighs and give her a kiss.

“What a time you have made me wait!” said she; “I was just falling asleep; get in directly, pray.”

I accordingly was in bed in a moment, and upon my Venus in another; she received me rather coldly. I was up to this indifference that she imagined she was showing off to her lover, and blessed my stars for the lucky chance of being revenged on one who had so often treated me with contempt. After all the preparatory pawing and kissing, the crisis came on, and I swam in a flood of pleasure. In a few minutes I repeated the dose, to her no small surprise; and could very well have gone a third time, but withheld for prudential reasons. Two discharges are generally sufficient to diminish one's ferocity, and dissipate the illusions of love. Indeed I felt the truth of the last observation, for in passing my hands over the beauties of my nymph, I was astonished at the change that had taken place in a few minutes. Her thighs, which before were smooth, plump, and firm, had become wrinkled, shrunk, and flabby; her shell was nothing but a handful of dry shrivelled skin; her breasts merely two leather bags. But all this would not have prevented me mounting the breach a third time and I was even preparing to do so, when we heard a row in the chamber next us, which I took to be the housekeeper's. On hearing the disturbance my partner exclaimed-“Good heavens! What are they doing to our child? Are they killing her? Go and see!” I did not reply to this, being so much amazed at its purport that I did not know what I was about. While I hesitated, the noise continued, and my bedfellow had recourse to the tinder-box, and when the candle was lighted, I saw my partner was the old housekeeper! I stood petrified at the sight of this phantom, and discovered that I had mistaken the localities. It appeared that the good rector had made an appointment with his housekeeper that night, to work off the superabundance of his carnal humors, and that she, taking me for him, had reproached me for delaying so long; the good priest to avoid all scandal had waited to a late hour, and passing by his niece's chamber and finding the door open, his affection for her had induced him to approach the bed, where he found her in the arms of a man, and, horror-struck at the sight, he gave them both unequivocal proofs of his disapprobation.

The noise became louder and louder, and I feared murder would be the end, but Madame Francoise ran with her candle, and cut off my hopes of escape during the turmoil by double-locking the door. I tried to get out, but could not, so was obliged to wait my fate where I was.

At the moment I was giving way to despair, the wheel of fortune fumed in my favor. The disturbance had much increased at the appearance of Francoise, who, as soon as she beheld the rector, dropped the candlestick, thinking it must be a ghost. I wish I could give this picture as it deserves, but must let a mere sketch suffice. There stood the rector in his shirt, with a greasy cap in his head, his eyes staring, his mouth wide open, striking at the abbe and his niece; while the damsel was burying herself in the bed, and her lover covering himself with the counterpane, and making occasional attempts to put his fist in the parson's face. On the other side was my late bedfellow in her shift, the candle in hand, advancing towards them, just essaying to cry out, but, struck dumb with fear, she falls backwards into a chair.

I guessed from the sudden silence that ensued that the abbe, fearing an ecktircissement, had run away and was pursued by the rector. In a moment I heard the door of the chamber where. 1 was imprisoned opened, and shut again directly. The person made straight for the bed and got in; I concluded it must be Francoise, who would soon be joined by her master. However everything had become very quiet, and I could hear the occupant of the bed sobbing and sighing most pitifully. This was rather perplexing, and I could not tell what to make of it; but after a few moments' consideration I came to the conclusion that it was foolish to lose a chance of rendering the unknown one a service by consoling her grief-burdened spirit. I accordingly went up to the bed with all imaginable caution, and introduced myself as politely as I could; but not with sufficient address to prevent an exclamation of terror, which was instantly stifled for fear of its being heard by others. I could not suppose the person to be other than the old lady, and was somewhat surprised when I found she kept retreating as far as possible from me. I deemed that the best way of putting an end to all this nonsense would be to explain my meaning, which I did by thrusting my hand up between her thighs, and was astonished at finding them as firm and velvety as one could wish. My hand did not stay on the passage, but advanced to focus of pleasures, and there I found everything more like a young girl than an old hag of sixty. My hand did not lie idle, but stirred up the fire of excitement, so that my fair one soon ceased to sigh, and began to draw closer to me and I to her. At last I mounted and effected an entrance.

“Ah, my dear abbe,” said she, “how came you here? I fear my love will cost me dear!”

Though rather touched by this speech, our transports soon redoubled, and our sighs mingled together, as we pressed each other more closely. When the crisis was over, I recollected the words that I have given above, and was lost in conjectures as to what connection the old lady and the abbe could have. My conjectures were not of long duration, for I became eager to improve the time and snatch another morsel. When I put my hand on her thighs, I found them as charming to the touch as before, which sufficed to convince me that Nicole was my bedfellow, instead of the old housekeeper. I therefore determined to do my best.

“My dear Nicole,” said I, kissing her tenderly and counterfeiting the voice of the abbe as well as I could; “what are you thinking about? Can you give way to sorrow now a happy chance has favoured us with this unexpected opportunity of gratifying our mutual passion? Let us to business, and drown sorrow in the overflowings of our love!”

“I am glad to hear you talk so,” said she; “for your troubles made mine doubly heavy. Yes! let us profit by this sole means of comfort that remains to us. Let what will happen,” said she, taking my tool in her hand, “so long as I possess this treasure, I do not fear even death itself. Do not be uneasy at the thought of our being interrupted; I have locked the door, so that no one can come in without breaking it open.”

I was glad she had taken this precaution, and inspired by love I caressed her with increasing vehemence. My instrument under the tutelage of her fingers had assumed an extraordinary thickness, which quite enchanted my lady.

“Quick!” said I, “put it into your delicious receptacle, or I must…”

She appeared to be in no hurry, but continued to finger it, as if amazed at its size, which she fancied was produced by her caresses. I wanted to put it in myself, but she begged me to wait for it to become both bigger and longer, asking me if it was not larger than ever she had felt it before. From this I inferred that her abbe was not so well provided as myself; I could have laughed at her question, had I not been better occupied. “Oh, how delightful it will be,” said she, as she put things in train. “Push, my dear, push!” I did not need this advice; I gave way to my fury, and was soon lost in the ecstasy of love, which she appeared to share with me. However, our transports betrayed us; the bedstead was close to the partition, and we never imagined that Francoise was in the next room; this unluckily was the case, and our thoughtless eagerness made the bedposts rattle against the partition, which told her but too plainly what was going on in our chamber. The old jade ran to the door as quickly as she could, and finding it locked, she began calling out for Nicole at the top of her voice. We were greatly alarmed at this, and stopped short in our proceedings, but when the old woman became quiet, our prudence soon forsook us. Too much excited to remain long in such disagreeable inaction, we recommenced our work; it is true that we were as still as we could possibly manage, but our tormentor was evidently on the watch, and had no difficulty in explaining the stifled sounds that reached her ear. She began again to call out to Nicole, thumping the partition, and ordering her to give over that kind of amusement. This disturbed us, but not so much as you might suppose; for as I Saw we were discovered, I said to Nicole that we had no occasion to interrupt our pleasures, in which she silently acquiesced; and we accordingly went to work as hard as we could, taking no notice whatever of the incessant thundering kept up by Francoise against the wainscot. I do verily believe that the singular circumstances in which we were placed considerably heightened the pleasure that we mutually experienced. But it was now high tune for me to retire to my own bed-so after telling my fair partner to whom she was indebted for so vigorous a thumping, I left her, and retired to my apartment. When I had got into bed I could not sleep at first for thinking of the singular adventures of the night, and what would be the consequences of them in the morning. However my fatigue ultimately overcame me, and I slept till nearly noon. When I awoke, I was startled at seeing Annette at the bedfoot, apparently waiting for me to awake.

“Come, my lad,” said she; “you had better get up; Father Polycarp is going, and he means you to accompany him.”

On hearing this, I jumped out of bed, dressed myself in a few moments, and in an hour's time was riding on the crupper behind the reverend Father, on the way to his convent.

PART THE SECOND

CHAPTER FOUR

In describing the kind of life that we led at the convent, I shall have occasion to exhibit the holy occupants of those retreats in a light somewhat different from that in which they are usually viewed. This, however, is not my fault, I can only relate what I witnessed, and shall endeavor to do that as faithfully as possible.

Let me be allowed to offer a few reflections respecting our mode of life, that may serve to show to what a shameful extent corruption exists among the monarchal cloister by a variety of causes, the most general of which are laziness, profligacy, cowardice, and the utter loss of propriety and honor. It is a pity, that those simple hearted souls, who imagine that religion induces men to embrace a conventual life, cannot behold the real state of things. How deeply would they blush at the abominations practised by those whom they now so blindly reverence. Let me for a while draw back the curtain, and show up a few of my worthy companions in their proper colors.

I will begin with Father Carlos, a man who revelled in sensual pleasures and every kind of vice, until he left the world in disgust and flew to the convent, to expiate his misdeeds in a life of penitence-or to rid himself of the importunity of his creditors. It seems that the latter was the real cause of his entering the fraternity, for he is still addicted to his old tastes, and would, unaided, eat and drink the whole income of the monastery.

Then comes Father Matthew, in whom the girdle of threefold cord* has wrought but little change. He flatters himself that he is an orator of no inferior kind, and that in logic Thomas Aquinas was a fool to him; while it is clear to everybody else that he is merely a drunken, prating blockhead. Of Father Boniface I could say much, little to his credit, but I feel it necessary to shorten these preliminary observations and proceed with my history. Enough will transpire therein to satisfy my reader respecting the reverend Fathers generally without my losing time and labor in drawing their individual portraits.

From all that I had seen and could infer from what passed while I was with Ambrose, more especially the gallantries of Father Polycarp and Annette, my ideas of monarchal life were anything but gloomy. I thought the gown was the dress affording the easiest access to the temple of pleasure; and my imagination rioted in the agreeable chimeras it created. Under these feelings, I received the habit of the order with real joy, when it was offered me a few days after my arrival by the Prior, who seemed to have all a father's affection for me. * The three knots symbolized the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. (Editor's note.)

I had learned enough Latin of the rector (who, by the bye, was not overburdened with it) to pass through my novitiate with honor; and I was praised as a youth whose talents promised something beyond the common track. Alas! I have made but poor use of them, having, in my excessive zeal in the service of Venus, entirely neglected applying them to any purpose advantageous to myself or others.

I will not drag the reader through the uninteresting details of my studies and disgust while a novice, but will merely touch on an incident or two that happened before I was looked on as a regular and reverend Father. I had not been long in the convent before I discovered that though the monks might lead an agreeable life, it was quite another thing with the monkling. I repented having taken the vows, but that being irremediable, I looked forward to the priesthood as the “consummation devoutly to be wished.” Being supposed the son of a gardener, my progress in my studies beyond many of my fellows produced not a little ill-will; and I was so often reproached with my birth, that I began to feel quite ashamed of it. Annette took no notice at all of me now; nor was it likely she should, as she was always surrounded by my superiors. Susan I never heard a word of, nor of Madame Dinville, after my arrival at the convent.

My mind would often be occupied with thoughts of these two personages, and I had no relief for the excitement produced by these meditations but in the application of my hand; so to my hand I had recourse, and thus forgot my troubles for a moment.

I had one day retired to a lonely spot, and was indulging in this amusement, safe, as I thought, from every eye, when a monk, who was not of my friends, suddenly broke in upon my privacy. When I saw the malignant pleasure exhibited in his countenance, I thought myself lost, feeling certain that he would publish my shame.

“Ha, ha, Brother Silas!” said he; “I did not think you capable of such things-you, the model of the convent! the eagle of theology! the…”

“Come, come,” said I sternly; “let us have no more of your ironical eulogy; you have seen me frig myself; go and tell all the convent; bring whomever you please to see me make my tenth discharge!”

“Brother Silas,” said he coolly, “it is for your own good that I speak; why do you frig yourself?”

“That's quite enough, Father Andrew,” said I; “I neither want your advice nor your jeering. Begone, or I'll…” The anger with which I said this made him lay aside his assumed seriousness, he burst into a laugh, and held out his hand towards me.

“Come, give me your hand,” said he; “I did not think you were so good a fellow; frig yourself no more; you are worthy of better fortune, and shall have something more solid than your expedient.”

I was pleased with this frankness and gave him my hand, and said:

“I am not mistrustful when one treats me in this manner, but accept your offer at once.”

“Good!” said he; “Upon my honor, I will come for you to your chamber at twelve o'clock to-night. Button up your breeches, and do not waste good powder by firing in the air in the meantime, I must now leave you; wait a few minutes before you follow, that we may not be seen together; for it might be productive of mischief. Goodbye!”

After the monk's departure, I was lost in wonder at what all this would end in. Though I could not make out what he meant, I had some reliance on his promise, and thought no more of relieving myself by imitating Onan's invention. “What does he mean,” said I to myself, “by giving me something more solid? If it is some young novice, I will have nothing to do with him.” But here I argued like a blockhead, without knowing anything about the subject. Reader, perhaps you are as much in the dark as I was then?-Exactly so, say you: what, is it true that a novice is not such a very objectionable morsel? You must send your prejudices out to grass; taste is everything. What can be more charming than a pretty lad, with a snow white skin, well shaped shoulders, fine fall of the loins, hard buttocks, an arse of a perfect oval, narrow, close, clean and without hair? This does not resemble your leatherbag-like quims where one can enter head first. But do not reproach me with inconsistency that I sometimes praise the slit, at others the arse. You must learn that I have experience in my favor; that I take a woman whenever I can, and if they run scarce, I have no objection to a fine boy. Go to the school of the Grecian sages, or to that of respectable persons of our own days; and you will learn to live.

At midnight I heard some one knock at the door of my cell, and when I opened, I saw it was the good monk come according to his promise, and he directed me to follow him.

“But where are you going to lead me?”

“To the church.”

“You are joking; what to prayers! Your humble servant, I shall go to bed.”

“Follow me, you simpleton; do you not see that I am going up into the organ loft?” said he, as he opened the door and drew me in.

You would hardly guess what I found there! There stood in the middle a table well supplied with delicacies and wines, at which sat three monks, three novices, and a young girl of twenty, as pretty as an angel. Father Casimir was the leader of the joyous company, and he gave me a kind reception.

“Father Silas,” said he, “you are welcome. Father Andrew has told me of your good qualities, and you deserve his protection. Lovemaking, eating, drinking, and laughing, are our occupation here; are you disposed to join us?”

“Zounds! Will I not?” I replied; “if it is only to keep up the character of the cloth, I will do as much as any one; but,” continued I, turning to the rest of the company, “in so saying, I do not mean to disparage any of those present.”

“You are one of us,” said Father Casimir; “place yourself here between this pretty creature and me, and let us crack a bottle in honor of our new companion.”

While the bottle passes round, I will endeavor to amuse the reader with a sketch of the reverend Father Casimir. His Reverence was of the middle size, dark complexion, and of a right priestly corpulence. He was remarkable for his Socratic propensities, and he indulged them with but little restriction. He was an author and much reputed for his wit; as a writer, he was brutal in his satire, coarse in his humor, and indelicate when ironical. He had acquired a name by writings possessing no merit, but full of malignity; and the success of his lampoons consoled him for the horsewhipping which they occasionally procured him. It must however be confessed that it was wrong to abuse him in this manner, since, although the libels appeared under his name, he had done no more than correct what others had fabricated for him. When he discovered any young persons to be possessed of some talents, he endeavored to cultivate them, by giving them subjects to write upon, revising their work, and having it printed, which latter proceeding was often productive of very disagreeable consequences. But he did not much mind this; and as the miser consoles himself after being hooted in the streets by counting over the riches of his iron chest, so the laughter that he excited in public against others, wiped away the tears that he was at times compelled to shed in private by the wrath of individuals.

Thus while he enjoyed the pleasures of literature in his closet, he was able to gratify all his desires by having recourse to the arses of his myrmidons. As a reward for their complaisance, he gave his niece up to them, and she acquitted his debts. The porter of the convent was altogether in his interest, so that the girl, wine, meat, or whatever else he wanted, was introduced without difficulty. He preferred the organ-loft for the scene of his orgies, as it was less liable to interruption, and all were at hand to attend to the regular services in the church, which prevented any suspicion arising.

In spite of all the precautions of Father Casimir to secure his pupils for himself, he was frequently losing them; and they often used those weapons against him, which he had taught them how to handle, and distributed their pasquinades among their fellows. But now I turn to other matters.

Father Casimir's niece was a little lively brunette; her appearance at first sight was rather against her, but further scrutiny made ample amends for that disadvantage. Her neck and bosom were not exactly what they had once been, but she made the most of them. Her eyes were small, but black and sparkling, and had an expression of refined coquetry, and occasionally a spice of lasciviousness. Her conversation was remarkable for its wit and gaiety. In a word, she was all that was necessary for me; and as soon as I found myself seated beside her, those confused emotions which I experienced when I first saw Father Polycarp with Annette, took full possession of me again. Long privation of sensual enjoyments had rendered my general tone of feeling so different that I seemed to have entered upon another state of existence. I looked at my neighbor, and her laughing and easy air made me fully sensible that I should not languish with my desires unsatisfied any longer than I delayed making the proposal. I was well aware that no damsel who meant to play the vestal would be found in the midst of a band of monks, but my good fortune appeared to me so extraordinary, that I hardly knew what to make of it; I trembled and was so fearful of losing the golden opportunity that I had some difficulty in mustering up courage enough to profit by it. My hand was on her thigh, which was pressed against mine; she took my hand and put it through the pocket-hole of her petticoat; I guessed what she wanted and did not hesitate to put my hand where it was required. The touch of a place which I had been so long deprived of, gave me such a thrill of pleasure that all the company perceived it, and one of them cried out.

“Bravo, Father Silas, you are at it!”

I might probably have been somewhat disconcerted by this exclamation if she had not at the very moment given me a kiss and unbuttoned my breeches, when she seized my member with one hand and put the other arms round my neck.

“Look here, my good fathers,” said she, as she drew my weapon from its lurking place; “can any of you show me such a beauty as this?”-.'

The whole company burst into a noisy expression of their admiration, and each congratulated her on the treat she was about to have. Afterwards Father Casimir requested silence, and addressed me in the following terms:

“Father Silas, you have Marianne at your disposal; you see her, and may you excuse me the necessity of proclaiming her good qualities.

“She is accomplished, and will soon make you participate the highest pleasures imagination can conceive; but this enjoyment must be on one condition.”

“What is this condition?” I asked; “must I give my blood?”

“No; only your arse.”

“What the devil would you be at with that?”

“Oh, that's my business.”

I was so eager to kiss Marianne that I made no objections to the terms proposed. I immediately set about mounting my filly, and the old goat was on my back in a moment. Although Casimir seemed to be splitting me up behind, the pleasure I tasted with his niece diverted my attention from the pain. We were soon swimming in pleasure; and if the excess of voluptuous sensations made me desist a moment from my labor of love, the good Father stirred me up, and incited me to follow his example. Thus pushed and pushing, the strokes of the uncle re-echoed in the bower of the niece, whose vigor amazed the whole company. Father Casimir was very soon left behind in the race, and he, like the rest, surprised at the obstinacy of the combat, stood with them awaiting its issue. I wondered that Marianne was able to compete with me, for I thought I had collected all the strength that I had acquired during so long a period. She was enraged at meeting with an antagonist who was capable of vanquishing her, after all her victories over the bravest youths of the convent. We had already spent four times, when Marianne, shutting her eyes, inclining her head, awaited my fifth discharge as a finishing stroke; she received it, and when she had meditated thereon for a few moments, she quitted my embrace and candidly confessed herself beaten. I was proud enough of my victory, and immediately presented her with a bumper, and took another myself, and thus sealed our reconciliation in the generous produce of the vine.

When the diversion produced by this incident was past, every one resumed his place at the table, and Casimir began a panegyric of his favorite recreation. Being fundamentally acquainted with the subject, he acquitted himself very well. He gave a lengthy enumeration of all its most noted admirers; among whom he cited many philosophers, popes, emperors, and cardinals. He even went as far back as the adventure of Sodom, and contended that the opinion generally received respecting that event was a gross and willful perversion of the case.

The reverend Father's discourse was followed by the applause that it merited, and which it was certain of receiving from an audience so much enamored with the subject of it. Rogering backway and frontway was again begun; and after some further time spent in drinking and laughing, we parted, with a mutual promise to renew the feast that day week: these banquets were too expensive to take place every day, as the income of Father Casimir was insufficient for holding them more frequently, and none of the rest had wherewithal to help him. Marianne and I parted the best friends in the world; but the poor child soon found that it was dangerous to play with me, as in a very short time her apron-strings proved too short. Father Casimir took care to manage things secretly; it was but fair for him to take on himself to provide against the risks to which he exposed his niece. She got out of the dilemma without much difficulty, and the only inconvenience attending it was that her unexpected pregnancy interfered with the regularity of our nocturnal meetings. I took to Casimir's remedy for the evil, and soon became redoutable to the arses of all our novices; but it was not long before I fell back upon my former taste, and preferred the pleasures of the front entrance to the much boasted charms of the back door.

One day, just after the first mass, the Prior sent me an invitation to dine with him in his private apartment; accordingly I went, and found there several of the elders, who, as well as the Prior, gave me a most frank and hearty reception. We took our places at table, and partook of a truly prelatical repast. When the wine, which his Reverence had taken care to procure of the best growth, had somewhat enlivened our conversation, I was surprised to hear my superiors give full liberty to their organs of speech, and plump out b- and f- with an ease that I could not have supposed possible if I had never seen them otherwise than under the sanctified mask that always distinguished their external conduct. The Prior saw my surprise, and said to me:

“Father Silas, we shall henceforth dispense with ceremony before you, as you must also on your part; yes, my son, the time is come, you have received the holy order of priesthood, and this quality makes you now our equal, and imposes on me the obligation of disclosing to you some important secrets until this day kept from you, and which it would be dangerous to entrust to young persons who might leave us and divulge mysteries that ought to be buried in eternal silence: it is to discharge this duty that I have sent for you here.”

This pompous exordium made me listen attentively as he proceeded:

“You are not one of those weak persons whom sex frightens; the act is natural to man. We are monks, it is true; but when we made our vows, we counted neither the king member nor his appendages. Why are we to forego so natural a function? Must we, to excite the compassion of the faithful, go and frig ourselves in the streets? No; but we must find a medium between austerity and nature. This medium consists in giving ourselves up to the latter in our cloisters, and as much as possible to the former in public. To effect this, some have women in their retreats to heighten their pleasures, and to forget in their arms the disagreeable things attending their lot.”

“You astonish me, reverend Father,” said I; “but why not extend the provisions of this wise policy to us also?”

The company laughed at my question, and the Prior replied:

“We are not behind our neighbors; we have a place here that is by no means destitute of women.”

“Here!” I replied; “And do you not fear a discovery?”

“No,” said he; “that is next to impossible; the extent of our house is so great that the place cannot easily be found.”

“Ah! when will it be my happy lot to offer consolation to these amiable recluses!”

“They are not without consolations,” answered he, laughing; “and your quality of priest gives you the right to go whenever you please.”

“When I please! O Father, I call on you to prove your words this moment.”

“It is not time yet; it is only at night that we go into our fish-house (for that is where the ladies are). There are only two keys that will admit you; one of them is in my possession and the purveyor has the other. But this is not all, Father Silas,” continued the Prior; “and when I tell you that Ambrose is not your father you will be still more amazed.”

And indeed I was amazed, so much so that I could scarcely open my mouth.

“You are not the son of Ambrose, nor yet of Annette; your birth is more exalted. One of our sisters gave birth to you.”

“Then, if it is so,” I cried, when recovered from my surprise; “why have you so long withheld the satisfaction of letting me embrace my mother, if still living?”

“Father Silas,” said the Prior somewhat affected, “your reproaches are just; but believe me that it is from not want of affection for you that you have not yet been introduced to the society of our fish-house. The love that we cherish for you has long been struggling against a strict adherence to our regulations; but order is absolutely necessary; and the period is now come to silence your complaints. In a short time you will have the pleasure that you covet; you will embrace your mother.”

“I am all impatience to throw myself in her arms!”

“Be calm; your suspense will not be long. Night is fast approaching, and the hour will come before you are aware. We shall sup in the fish-house, and you are expected there. You will go to the refectory for form's sake only, and will then come to rejoin us here.”

The expectation of seeing my mother was something to move me; but the hope of being able to abandon myself to love offered my heart such an immensity of desires, that my imagination could scarcely grasp them.

At the appointed time, I returned to the prior's apartment, and found there five or six monks.

We started in silence, and went to the antique chapels which joined the fish-house on one side: when there, we went down into a cavern that appeared to have been made as horrible as possible by way of making a stronger contrast with the pleasure that was to follow. We guided ourselves along the dismal place by means of a rope fastened to the wall, and soon reached a little staircase lighted by a lamp. The Prior opened the door at the top of the stairs; and after making a few turns in a narrow crooked passage, we came into a large room, handsomely furnished, and surrounded by beds apparently well adapted to the purpose for which they were intended. In the middle stood a table laid with every requisite for a splendid supper. There was no one in the room when we entered; but when the Prior applied his hand to the bellpull, an old cook made her appearance followed by our sisters, who were six in number and seemed quite charming in my eyes. Each of them chose one of my companions, and I stood by looking on, somewhat piqued at being thus neglected; but my turn soon came, and ample amends were made for this momentary slight.

Our supper was prepared without any more regard being paid to the fasts of the church than was observed by Father Casimir in his chamber. The most exquisite viands were set before us, and each with his lady by his side, ate, drank, and talked bawdily. They railed me severely because I could not eat; and I was ill able to defend myself, being altogether absorbed in other matters: the desire of finding my mother, and of having a skirmish with one of the sisters. I endeavored to read in their eyes which of them it was that had brought me into the world; but, although engaged with the Fathers, they threw glances at me which upset my conjectures. I stupidly imagined that I should recognise my mother by instinct; but I found that I was equally inclined to them all, and that my lance was quite ready to enter the lists with any or all of them.

My disturbed air was highly diverting to the company; but when the meal was dispatched, every thing was properly disposed for the enjoyment of the pleasures of love. The eyes of our adorables began to sparkle, and as a newcomer, I was expected to lead off in the dance.

“Come, Father Silas,” said the Prior; “you must make a beginning with your neighbor, Sister Gabrielle.”

I had already given and received several kisses, and her hand had even strayed as far as my breeches; she appeared to be the oldest of the six, but I was so far content with her charms as not to envy the lot of any one else. She was a bouncing dame, of a fair complexion and had no personal defect, but rather a superfluity of fat, indeed that was her only fault, if it be one at all. Her skin was of the most dazzling whiteness; her head exceedingly fine, and her eyes large and full of expression. Love made them tender and languishing, but they still exhibited a voluptuous brilliancy.

My desires had not waited for the Prior's exhortation; Gabrielle had excited them, and she gallantly gave herself to the task of satisfying them.

“Come, my king,” said she to me; “I want to have your maidenhead; come and lose it in the place where you commenced your existence.”

I was all of a tremble at hearing this. Without being more virtuous, I had acquired so much knowledge from the monks, that I could not do the same thing with Gabrielle that I had done with Annette. I was just on the point of doing what she requested, but was prevented by a remnant of shame, and retreated from the enterprise.

“Good heavens!” cried Gabrielle, “is it possible that this can be my son? How ever could I bring such a slink-away into the world! He is afraid to have sex With his mother!”

“My dear,” said I embracing her; “be satisfied with my love; if you were not my mother, I should be overjoyed to possess you. I entreat you to respect a weakness that I cannot help,”

The mere semblance of virtue is respectable in the sight of corruption itself; my conduct was praised by the monks, who acknowledged that they were in the wrong, except one who wanted to argue the matter with me.

“Poor simpleton!” said he, “Why do you shrink from an action so indifferent? Is not sex the joining together of a man and a woman? Is this natural or contrary to nature? It is evidently natural, since they both have an irresistible propensity to indulge in it; and it is equally clear that nature intends them to enjoy it as their feelings impel them. If God said to our first fathers, 'Increase and multiply,' how did he mean the multiplication to be effected? Adam had daughters, and he laid them. Eve had sons, who did with her what their father had done with their sisters. Let us come down to the deluge. The only person left in the world were Noah and his family; it was consequently necessary for the brother to lie with the sister, the son with the mother, and the father with the daughter, that the earth might be repeopled. Some ages after, when Lot fled from Sodom, his two daughters, who kept in view the intention of the Creator, and had just seen their good mother turned into a statue for being a little curious, cried out in the bitterness of their hearts: 'Alas! alas! The end of the world is near.' They would have been highly culpable in the eyes of God, had they not contributed to re-establish what he had just destroyed; and Lot, convinced of this truth, contributed thereto with all his might. In this instance you see Nature in her primitive simplicity. Men, subjected from the beginning to her laws, thought it a duty to follow them, but were soon led astray by their passions and forgot the ordinances of their bountiful mother; they would not continue in the happy state in which she had placed them; they turned every thing topsy-turvy, invented divers chimeras which they denominated vices, and framed laws, which, instead of promoting the cause of virtue, were abundantly productive of vice. These laws have engendered many prejudices, which have been patronised by blockheads and ridiculed by sages, and have taken root more deeply from age to age. When these meddling lawmakers overthrew the laws of nature, they ought to have modified the hearts which she gave us, and also to have regulated our desires and fixed some limits to their extravagances. Nature, speaking from the bottom of our hearts, continually protests against the injustice of their laws. In a word, poking without any distinction of persons is a divine institution, and the limited system is a human scheme. The former is as much above the latter as the heavens are above the earth. Is it possible, indeed, for any one without criminality to listen to man rather than to God? Certainly not; and St. Paul, the sacred interpreter of the will of heaven, has said: 'Rather than burn in Hell, give yourself to sexual indulgence, my children!' It is true that to avoid giving scandal to narrow minds, he somewhat veils the idea, and makes use of the expressive saying, 'It is better to marry than to bum'; but it is still the same thing in reality, for one only marries to have the pleasure of poking at discretion. How much more could I speak to you of this matter, if I did not feel the urgent necessity of following St. Paul's wise recommendation!”

He had a hearty laugh at his sally; the old rip rose from his seat, and spear in hand menaced all the slits in the room.

“Wait a moment,” said Sister Madelon; “I have thought of a plan to punish Silas.”

“What is it?” exclaimed they all.

“To make him lie down upon a bed; Gabrielle shall place herself along his back, and the Father who has just been speaking like an oracle, shall give her a good strumming in that position.”

The whole company laughed at this proposal, and I said that I readily consented, on the condition that while the Father rogered Gabrielle, I should be at work on the inventor of this precious punishment.

“Oh, if that's all, I am quite agreeable to it!” said she.

The scheme was applauded, and we all began to take our positions. Just imagine what an exhibition that must be. The Father did not make a single stroke at my mother without having it instantly repaid threefold; and her arse, in falling again on mine, drove me into Madelon to admiration, this one-on-the-other poking was diverting enough for the bystanders, but we were too seriously occupied to laugh. I could, had I so pleased, have easily revenged myself on Madelon by letting the weight of three bodies fall on her; but she was too loving, and labored away with too much good will to let me think of doing any such thing. Although I eased her as much as I could, it was rather hard upon her, for as my discharge came on before our upper partners were in the same condition, the excess of pleasure made me almost motionless. Gabrielle perceived this, and several spirited heaves of her arse did for me that which I had not the power to do for myself, and at the same time increased her own pleasures by making her spend also.

The elogium that we made of this fashion of stroking excited the monks and the sisters, who all began to make arrangements for poking a le quatuor, which is the name we gave to this posture, and we again showed them how to do it. The best discoveries are generally due to nature.

Gabrielle was so charmed with this manner of proceeding, that she said she never before knew to what an extent the pleasures of nature may be heightened by a proper mixture of art, and she had experienced more ecstasy than when she did me the honor of laying the foundation for my own individual person. We were curious to know the circumstances to which she alluded and entreated her to detail them.

CHAPTER FIVE

“I have no objection,” said she, “and shall do it the more willingly, as Silas knows nothing of his mother more than he has learned this evening, and has still to learn whence she came and how she happens to be here. Allow me, Fathers, to give him this information, and to go back somewhat farther in my history than the day you wish me to speak of.-My friend,” continued she, addressing me, “you will not hear any tale of illustrious ancestors, for I have never heard that I had any. I am the daughter of a woman who used to let chairs in the church of this convent and who took her pleasures from the Fathers of that time, for she was too good a friend of the convent for me to suppose that I am indebted for my existence to the honest man, her husband.

“At ten years of age I did not belie my extraction, for I knew what it was to love before I knew myself, and the Fathers did not omit to cultivate my inclinations. A young monk gave me such excellent lessons, that I should have thought myself guilty of ingratitude towards the others if I had not let them know that I was also in a condition to give lessons myself. I had already acquitted myself with each of them, when they made a proposal to put me into a place where I should renew my payments as often as I pleased. Till then I had only been able to do it secretly, sometimes behind the altar, at others before, or in a confessional, but very rarely in a chamber. The idea of being without restraint flattered my taste; I accepted their offers, and entered here.

“On entering I was dressed like a young girl about to go to the altar, and the anticipation of my good fortune threw an air of serenity over my countenance which delighted all the Fathers. They were all on tiptoe to get into my good graces, as being the high-road to getting somewhere else. I foresaw that my nuptials would closely resemble those of the Lapithae, in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

“'My good Fathers,' said I to them, 'your numbers do not frighten me, but I may perhaps have formed an exaggerated estimate of my strength: I fear you will be too many for me; you are twenty, and the match is not even; I beg leave to propose an arrangement. You must all strip naked!' I myself began to set the example, and my gown, stays, and shift were off in a moment. I saw them all in the same condition, and my eyes revelled for a moment in the charming exhibition of twenty tools, stiff, thick, long, and hard as iron bars, all ready for the combat.

“'Come along,' said I; 'it is time to begin. I am going to lie down on this bed; I will open my thighs wide enough for you to effect an entrance by running at me weapon in hand; in this manner shall it be decided; the bunglers will have no one but themselves to blame and if they miss me they will find others at hand ready to supply the means of reducing their members to submission. That is what I propose, gentlemen!'

“They all praised this happy freak of my fancy, and drew lots for the first attack; I prepared the ring, and three passed without entering, and fell upon the sisters, who soon made them forget the mishap in all sorts of pleasures. A fourth came; it was yourself, Father Prior. With what lively transports did I repay your skill! And if the ecstasy produced by a mutual discharge causes conception, you share the honor of having begotten Silas with four or five who followed you. -Yes, my friend,” continued she addressing me; “you have the advantage of most men, who may perhaps be able to say when they were born, but not when they were begotten.”

Such were our conversations, and such were the pleasures that we had in the fish-house. I was never the last to arrive. Every night I visited the Prior or the steward; I was indefatigable, and became the leader of the band. In short I was the very soul of our meetings, and my tool passed into the hands of all, old and young.

Reflection would, however, sometimes arise in the very midst of our voluptuousness; all the sisters appeared delighted with their lot. I could not conceive how women of a gay and dissipated turn could voluntarily pass their life in such seclusion, live there without disgust, and relish pleasures which were purchased at the price of little less than absolute slavery. When I expressed my opinion to this effect they laughed at my surprise, and could not imagine how I came by such absurd ideas.

“You know very little of our temperament,” said one of the prettiest to me one day, “and that libertinism, the deceitful fruit of a cultivated education, has thrown us into the arms of our monks; is it not true, that it is more natural to be more sensible to good than ill?” I assented.

“Should you make any difficulty,” continued she, “of enduring one disagreeable hour of the day, if you were certain of great happiness in the following hour?”

“No, certainly not,” said I.

“Very well then,” said she, “instead of an hour say a day; of two, one shall be for dullness, the other for pleasure; and I think you too prudent to refuse such a chance if you had the offer of it. I will even go further and say, that the most indifferent of men would not refuse it, and the cause is very clear. Pleasure is the 'primum mobile' of all human actions, though disguised under a thousand different names, according to the characters of men, and in this particular there is as great a variety among our sex; but in them the love of pleasure is an overwhelming passion; even their most indifferent actions as well as their most serious thoughts spring from this common source, and always bear, however they be disguised, the mark or stamp of their origin. Nature has given us stronger desires, and consequently much more difficult to satisfy than yours. A few strums are sufficient to exhaust a man, while they only animate us; say six, but a woman can stand above twice than number. The sentiment of pleasure is then twice as powerful in a woman as in a man; and if you should think yourself fortunate could you purchase one day of joy by a day of anxiety, do you think it strange that I am content with a double portion. Should you be surprised at my passing two-thirds of my life in pain that I might pass the other in pleasure? I have supposed an equality between us; when you see us continually occupied with what composes the sovereign happiness of woman, when we are continually in your arms, tell me, do you think it possible for us to think of the pain, or that it can have any influence over us? Shall you not find our condition a thousand times more agreeable than that of those unfortunate girls, who, though born with passions as violent as other women, linger in solitude under pressure of desires that no man might satisfy. Here we fear nothing; free from all the inquietudes of life, we have only its charms; we have the delights of love without anything to counterbalance them, and we only perceive the difference of the days by the variety of pleasures they bring us. You are wrong. Father Silas, if you think us unhappy.”

I did not expect to hear such just reasoning from a girl that I deemed to be only capable of sensual pleasure. She seemed born for the occupation she had adopted; I profited by her propensity to love, and we gratified our passions at leisure.

Man is not always happy; I became melancholy; I was in sexual desire what Alexander was in ambition; I wanted to lie with every woman in all the world, and then to find a new one for the same purpose. I had always borne off the prize in our amorous combats, but from being the bravest, I soon sunk into the most backward. The continual enjoyment of pleasure had destroyed its piquancy, and I was with the sisters what a husband is to his wife. The indisposition of my mind soon affected my body; they reproached me bitterly with my indifference without any effect, and it required all the Prior's affection to induce me to go to the fish-house. He entreated our sisters to set about curing me, and they neglected nothing that might effect it. One who voluptuously reclined on a bed showed me her bosom; a little well formed leg, and thighs as white as snow, promised me a beautiful bower; another in the attitude of a woman who presents herself for the combat, showed how eager she was to be at it; and others, in different postures, tickling their slits, expressed by their sighs the pleasures they felt. Some stripped themselves, and exhibited everything without a veil. One leaning on a sofa would show me the reverse of the medal; another lying on a bed of black satin exposed the front; a third made me lie down on the floor between two chairs; and in this position I saw her work away with a dildo, while another was rogering stark naked close before me with a monk in the same condition; in short, they offered to my view the most lecherous images, sometimes all together, at others successively.

On some occasions they laid me down on a settee; one sister placed herself astride over my neck so that my chin was enveloped in her hair; another placed herself on my belly; a third on my thighs tried to introduce my instrument; two others were placed at my side, so that I held a quim in each hand; and one a my head leaned over and pressed my face between her bubbles; all were naked, all frigged, and all spent; my hands, my thighs, my belly, my neck, my staff, were perfectly inundated; I swam in spunk, but had none of my own to mix with it. This last ceremony, called the question extraordinary, was just as useless as the preceding ones: I was entirely given up, and my cure was left to nature.

Such was my condition, when one day as I was walking in the garden alone, and meditating on my unhappy destiny, I met Father Simeon, a profound character, who had grown grey in the service of Venus and Bacchus, and, like the ancient Nestor, had seen the inmates of the convent several times changed. He came up to me, and, embracing me, said:

“O my son, your grief is heavy, but do not be alarmed, I will cure you. Unlimited dissipation, my friend, has caused your indisposition; your diseased appetite must be stimulated by succulent dishes; a devotee is also necessary for you.”

I could not refrain from laughing at the phlegmatic manner with which the Father recommended such a course of treatment.

“You laugh,” said he; “but I speak seriously. You do not know these devotees, and are ignorant of their resources for rekindling fires when almost extinguished. I have experienced them myself. O happy days, whither have ye fled! No one speaks now of the vigorous Father Simeon.”

I could scarcely avoid a loud laugh, but the fear of offending him made me refrain.

“O my son,” continued he, “take advantage of your youth; the only means of arousing you from this lethargy is to put you on a regular diet; you must have a devotee: but for this purpose, you must have the liberty of confessing, and I will take on myself to obtain that for you of my lord Bishop.”

I thanked the Father, and without having much faith in his plan, I begged him to put it in execution, which he promised to do.

“But that is not all,” said he; “you must have a guide before you enter on this business, and I will take that duty on myself. You know, my son, that confession is a tradition of our ancestors, that is, of the priests and monks. I have always admired the profound genius of those eminent men who established the confessional. From that time the appearance of everything has changed; riches have been showered down upon us; and our wealth has increased under the shade of this august tribunal. Blessed be God. Amen.

“I will not dilate upon the excellence of a confessor's office; only be discreet, condescending, and indulgent to human weaknesses, and the women will adore you. I need not say what advantages you may draw from their favorable disposition towards you as regards your own fortune; that is your affair. I advise you to pluck without mercy those old bigots who come to your confessional less to reconcile themselves to God than to see a handsome monk. Be favorable to the pretty ones; I have always been so, and they paid me differently.

“A young girl, for instance, cannot make presents; although she can give her precious maidenhead: but it requires some address to obtain this jewel. Adhere to these young devotees, and they will cure you; but do not give way without moderation to the eagerness that the hope of your cure may inspire. There is less risk to take to a woman somewhat experienced, than to one whose passions have not triumphed over the prejudices of education. A woman understands you by half a word; her heart has already advanced half way to meet you. It is otherwise with a young girl; but if it is more difficult to conquer, the victory is more delightful. I will tell you how to proceed. You will find a natural propensity to love in all of them; the grand art is to know how to manage their inclinations. Many a one of very modest mien, with eyes always cast downwards and a demure air, has a heart full of love and ready to take fire at the slightest breath of Cupid. Speak to such a one and she will oppose but a feeble resistance to your first attacks; press on, and your victory is secure.

“There are others of a temperament less sprightly, less impetuous, who will give you more trouble. With these, you must make a judicious mixture of the caresses of the lover with the remonstrances of the director; stimulate their torpid feelings by proper conversation; and get all the information your position enables you to acquire respecting their advancement in the art of love; remove the veil which concealed from their view pleasures hitherto unknown to them; make known to them all the mysteries of love, and awaken their sensual passions by vivid pictures thereof; in short, use every available means to exhibit pleasure to them in the most seductive attitudes, and to excite their desires.

“You will perhaps object that it is difficult to succeed in so dangerous a career; but you will find it otherwise, nothing but address is requisite to ensure success. I confess it would be dangerous to inflame their passions, but have you not a thousand ways of conciliating their hearts and turning their heads? When you describe the pleasures of love, you must appear to do it with a design to prevent them from falling into the snares to which their youth exposes them; but you must be lengthy in your description of the evils and pass lightly over the consequences, and their reason will offer but a weak opposition to their impressions your descriptions make in their hearts. Assure them of being right with respect to the world. Make them sensible how foolish it is to keep too long a flower that will fade, that it is sweet to let it be plucked, and that its loss is imaginary. Add to all this that there are a thousand ways of preventing pregnancy-then examine their countenance, and you will find it inflamed. Let your hand fall on their bubbles; press them, and you will soon hear sighs, those faithful interpreters of the heart. Join your sighs with theirs, apply a kiss to the lips, and offer yourself to console their troubles. The avowal of what is passing in the heart begets confidence, and they no longer blush at being weak with the weak, but readily accept your offers.”

The discourse of Father Simeon had heated my imagination, and so much moved me that I no longer doubted of the feasibility of what I had at first taken for a joke, and I urged the good man to exert himself to obtain the requisite authority for me.

I was eager to see myself set up as a mediator between crime and pardon; I already anticipated the answer that some timorous girl might make me on the point of having eased herself, by means of her own fingers, from the lascivious itchings of an ardent temperament.

It was not long before I received the requisite authority from the bishop, thanks to the friendly zeal of Father Simeon. I have heard say of a great philosopher, that if he met an old woman in the street on first going out in the morning, he immediately returned and stayed within all day. I should have renounced my new vocation the very first day, had I followed this worthy's example; I kept my post however, and summoned up my courage to get through the wearisome task of hearing the tale of an old woman's peccadillos.

The old lady bored me with a deluge of gossip, which I returned by some few moral maxims so consoling that the old jade was quite delighted and would have given me some proofs of her satisfaction on the spot, if the grating had not been between us. As an indemnity, she vowed to me an attachment full proof against all the attempts of other directors to deprive me of her. I forgave her transports, for the advantage I thought it possible might accrue from her good will. This may lead to something, thought I, but soundings must first be taken. As I found she was a dreadful gabbler, I put her on the chapter of her family: at first she uttered strong invectives against a traitor of a husband, who carried elsewhere what he ought to have given her. She was wounded in the tenderest part. Then she railed at her son, who followed his father's example; but she had nothing but what was good to say of her daughter, whose sole occupation was work and prayer.

“Ah! My sister,” said I; “you are indeed blessed thus to see yourself live again in your daughter! Does she come to our church? How edified should I be to see her!”

“You see her here every day; she is as pretty as devout, but why talk of beauty to you who are saints? You despise all such trumpery.”

“My sister, do you think us so dull and wicked as not to admire the beautiful works of God, above all, when what they have of earthly is purified by such heavenly virtues?”

The good dame, all enthusiasm at the turn I had given my curiosity, described this saint to me, and I recognised in her sketch a lovely brunette who attended our services. Father Simeon, said I to myself, here is one of your devotees; let me take care of this one, she may perhaps make you a prophet. For fear of arousing the old dame's suspicions I did not ask her to use her influence to place her daughter among the number of my penitents, leaving it for another chance; I gave her absolution for the past and present, and should not have refused it for the future, had she asked it, as it is not a very expensive article. I engaged her, however, to come and refresh herself often in the waters of penitence. Thus ended my first confessional adventure.

I imagine, my dear reader, that I hear you exclaim, “Well done, lascivious monk, you are now on the right road, and will soon effect a perfect cure, if all goes on well.” Yes, yes; the sanctity of the character I have just assumed begins already to operate. Blessed be God! How powerful is his grace! I stand enough now to convince me that I shall soon stand more.

I did not fail to attend prayers next day: you may easily divine the reason. I saw my brunette praying with all her might. There she is! said I, a charming girl, a model of all the virtues. What a pleasure to crack such a delicious morsel! How ravishing the thought of giving her the first lesson in love! The confessional for ever! I am cured! I stand like a Carmelite friar: (why not say a Celestine, are not they as good as the rest?) But I see my devout one looks at me; can her mother have spoken to her about me? Quick, quick! Let us relieve the burning of the internal fire by a little rubbing! The rolling of the eyes produced by this occupation was taken for excess of devotion. The pleasure that I had in frigging myself while contemplating my devotee was the earnest of what would be mine if I could have something more of her than the mere sight. I taxed my address for means to procure this happiness, which in a few days' time fell into my power by chance.

One day I went out of the convent, and when I returned, at nightfall, the porter told me, as he opened the door, that a young lady was waiting for me in the parlor. I instantly went thither, and how great was my rapture and surprise on recognising my devotee! As soon as she saw me, she fell at my feet.

“Take pity on me!” said she weeping.

“What is the matter?” said I, lifting her up. “Speak: the Lord is merciful, he sees your tears; open your heart to his minister.”

As she tried to speak, she fell into my arms in a swoon. What was I to do! I thought of calling for help, but reflection prevented me, by suggesting that I might never have a better opportunity. I laid her on a sofa and unlaced her corset, which gave me a sight of her bosom, and a finer I had never seen; as I lifted up her gown and shift, it seemed like the entrance of paradise: I soon fastened my mouth on hers, and took a blissful kiss. I proceeded to put my arms round her and press her to my breast; a sudden palpitation seized me, I let go of her and stood a moment to contemplate. I then blew out the light, and taking her in my arms, gained my chamber unperceived with the beautiful burden.

Heavens! How light it seemed! When I had laid her down on the bed, I relighted the candle, and gazed on her again. I uncovered her bosom, drew up her petticoats, opened her thighs, examining and admiring her secret charms. What a spectacle! Love and the graces embellished her person. Fair, fat, and firm, everything was there to charm the eye. Tired of admiring without enjoying, I put my mouth and my hands upon the beauties I had been so earnestly gazing on; but I had scarcely touched her, when she sighed, and put her hand where she felt mine. I kissed her on the mouth, and she tried to pull away my hand, and make an entry with her finger. My ardor produced the same effect on me, and I kept my hold. She tried to break from my embrace, which I opposed, and she fell backwards; but raised herself up in a passion, and tried to scratch my face, beside biting and kicking, but nothing stopped me. I extended myself on her person, and left her hands free to do whatever her fury inspired, employing mine to part her thighs, which she so obstinately pressed together as to make me despair. Fury increased her strength, passion lessened mine; a decisive struggle was necessary, so I summoned all my energies and succeeded in opening her thighs; in a moment my tool had found its destined lodgings; I pushed in; it went, and all the rage of my devotee vanished away; she hugged me, kissed me, shut her eyes and swooned. I no longer knew what I was doing, but kept pushing away, till I spent and flooded my lady. She also discharged, and there we both lay insensible, quite absorbed in pleasure.

My companion had no sooner recovered her senses that she invited me by her caresses to replunge her in that sweet delirium from which she had just escaped. When we had drained the cup of pleasure to the very dregs, I went down into the kitchen to fetch something to repair the forces of a sick person, which I pretended was myself. When I returned to my chamber I found my devotee very low-spirited! I soon partially raised her spirits by kind attentions, and determined after our repast to learn the cause of her sadness. We supped without making any noise, for fear of a discovery, and lest my treasure should be confiscated to the profit of the fish-house, agreeably to the rules of the order.

As we were fatigued, we felt more inclined to go to bed than to sit up and talk. We immediately did so, but as soon as we found ourselves naked in bed, repose fled far from us, I put my hand to her bower, and she did me a like service; admiring the size and firmness of my tool, she exclaimed:

“Ah! I am no longer surprised that you have reconciled me to the pleasure I had resolved to hate.”

I was less eager to ask why she had come to such an extraordinary resolution, than by giving her another taste of it, to prove how foolish it was ever to have formed it. She received me into her arms with inexpressible eagerness, and we hugged each other so closely that we could hardly breathe. The bed was scarcely able to bear the impression made on it by exertions, but began to crack horribly: an exquisite intoxication succeeded our efforts, and we fell asleep without changing position.

The dawn found us still asleep in this manner; and whether our imagination had caused an efflux of the delicious fluid which announces the internal fire, or whether we had discharged mechanically, we were inundated when we. awoke. We soon renewed our amusement, and I found myself in a condition to acquit myself like a monk. I will not detail to you how many times we indulged in these exercises, but will pass on to explain the circumstances that had thrown her into my arms.

She had an air of disquietude and sorrow that quite affected me; and I entreated her to open her heart to me, and be persuaded that I would remove her grief if it could by any possibility be done.

“Shall I lose your heart, my dear Silas, if I avow that you are not the first who had made me taste the joys of love? Satisfy me against a fear which oppresses my very soul, and which, in spite of myself, gives my countenance an air of sorrow I cannot conceal. Yes, that is the only fear that disturbs me at present; my own fate occupies me not, now I have you.”

“Can you then,” said I, “distrust the charms that you offer to my eyes? Little do you know their value if you doubt their power! Yes, the ardor with which they inspire me is too strong not to feel indignant at such a fear. Ah! Little do you know me! If a ridiculous prejudice had made a difference between a girl that has been poked and one that is to be poked, I have not adopted it. Ought the beauty which has charmed others to lose its right to please us also? Had you done it with all the Earth, are you not still the same? Are you not a lovely girl, and all precious in my eyes? Have the pleasures that you conferred on others diminished the piquancy of those I have enjoyed?”

“Your words console me,” said she; “and I will now proceed to lay before you the troubles from which you have so unexpectedly and so agreeably relieved me.”

She then began her relation as follows:

CHAPTER SIX

My misfortunes originate in my heart, which has an irresistible penchant for the sweets of love, and allows me to think of nothing else. An unjust and cruel mother devoted me to the cloister, and as I had no means of opposing her will, I could only show how much I dreaded the fate she had fixed for me by sighs and tears; she looked on my distress without being moved thereby, and the time was appointed for me to take the veil. As the fatal moment of sealing my death-warrant drew near, I trembled at the thought of the vow I was about to make. The horror of my prison, and the despair consequent on being deprived of my only good, threw me into an illness which would have soon terminated my sufferings, if my mother, touched at my unhappy condition, had not relented from her design. She was a boarder in the convent where she intended me to take the veil. A desire for retirement and seclusion had induced her to go there, but on reflection she thought proper to withdraw. It is not without chagrin that women can renounce pleasure or see old age approaching! It is a natural feeling that they may struggle to conceal but which they cannot entirely subdue. My mother, judging my feelings by her own, delivered me from my dungeon and reappeared in the world on the footing of a lady who had no objection to console herself for the loss of her departed lord in the arms of a fifth husband.

From my mother's disposition it was easy to see that it might be dangerous for me ever to appear as her rival, and it was very likely any lover who might present himself would prefer the younger. I imagined that the pleasures of love when snatched by stealth became more piquant, and that I could obtain my object as well in retirement as in the bustle of the world. I adopted this system, and soon was thought a devotee. I was delighted at the success of my stratagem, and set my wits to work to scheme some intrigue which I could easily carry on under cover of my assumed virtue.

A young man that I had seen at the convent suspected that I was less religious than appearances bespoke; indeed I had had a little adventure with him at the grating when he came one day to see his sister.

I here interrupted my companion, recollecting what Susan had told me of Sister Agatha, whom I compared with her, and found that they corresponded exactly. I remembered that Susan had told me Agatha had a rather long clitoris, so I proceeded to examine her as to the similarity in that respect. I laid her on her back, and when I examined her slit, I saw a rosy clitoris, somewhat long, and which seemed to be placed there for pleasure only. I no longer doubted that it was she, and embraced her in an ecstasy of delight.

“My dear Agatha,” said I “is it indeed you that heaven has sent me?”

She released herself from my arms, stared at me with surprise, and asked who had told me the name she went by in the convent.

“A young girl, the loss of whom I mourn, and who was the confident of your secrets.”

“Ah! that's Susan; then she has betrayed me.”

“It is indeed she; but no one except myself knows your secret, and I am possessed of it only through my urgent importunity.”

“What, are you Susan's brother! If so, I no more complain of her; if I did so, I should impose on myself the necessity of defending her against your censure, for she did not conceal from me what paused between you two.” We gave a tear or two to Susan's fate, and then Agatha resumed her narrative.

She has told you my adventure with Verland, and it is of him that I am going to speak. My metamorphosis surprised him; when he saw me at the convent I was gay and coquettish, and a long absence had not effaced me from his memory. At his return he heard what a reputation for devoutness I had acquired, but he could not believe it without further proof; he came to church for the purpose of seeing me and love followed him there.

As I was looking round at my neighbors, I perceived Verland; the sight of him made the color fly into my face, and my heart languished to fall into the same fault with him again. The few years that had elapsed had only exalted the character of his attractions and rendered them more effective; they were sufficient to revive my desires and drew me every day to the spot where I had seen them. I was not pleased to see him so slow in his advances; it appears that he saw this, and only waited an opportunity of addressing me, which I took care should be soon. He approached with a timid air, and said:

“May a person, who in bygone days has had the happiness to meet you, again presume to present himself before you without giving offence? If the most sincere repentance can wipe away the memory of a fault, you may now look on me without indignation.”

As he thus spoke his voice trembled, and I replied that the politeness of the man was sufficient atonement for the imprudence of the boy.

“You do not know all my faults; your goodness has just pardoned one crime, but I have more need than ever of your generosity.”

After saying this, he remained silent, and although I knew very well what he meant, I answered that I was not aware of the new imprudence of which he spoke.

“It is that of adoring you,” said he, kissing my hand.

He very well understood by my silence that his new crime was excused; and fearing to discover my feelings too far, I left him.

I had no doubt that Verland, if sincere, would find an early opportunity of proving it; he saw the motive of my retiring, and smiled as I went on. I heard his sighs, and my own responded thereto internally. What shall I say? A second interview procured him the avowal of my love, and permission to ask me in marriage of my mother. She refused; and I was almost in despair about it. Her opposition irritated our love and was almost too much for Verland. The imprudent step we had taken banished every hope, and to make matters still worse I found that my mother was my rival. This fact was easily seen by her lavishing praises on Verland.

A miserable victim of my devotion to love, I dared not ask my mother why she refused to marry me to a man whom she thought perfect. At length I could not bear up against my grief; I was equally enraged against my mother and my passion was at its height. I saw Verland every day, and we became inseparable. Would you believe that I had not yet yielded to his entreaties, though it was the only means of bringing my mother to her senses? However, the tears of my lover, his exceeding love, and my own inclination so far wrought upon me that I listened to his proposal to elope with him, and we fixed on the day, the hour, and the manner of carrying it into effect.

I was so far in love that I could think of nothing but the pleasure I anticipated with Verland. The most horrid place appeared to me a paradise if he were there. The day appointed came; as I was going out, an invisible hand arrested me. I now stood on the edge of the precipice, and as I measured its depth, I shuddered and retreated. Surprised at my weakness, I tried to smother the voice of reason, but it triumphed. I went back, and my tears began to flow. Provoked at my cowardice, I endeavored to summon courage, but all in vain. In the meantime the hour was drawing nigh, and what was I to do? Alas! I knew not what to think. At last a ray of light burst in upon me, and I became easy; I saw the means of possessing my lover and taking vengeance oh my mother. But what has all this prudence profited me? To plunge me in the abyss. I might perhaps have been happier in a foreign land, in the society of a lover that adored me; at least I should not have been the slave of those appearances that have ruined me? But why do I deceive myself? Another country would have seen my heart the same, and my love also; and I should have been as effectually destroyed there by the same causes.

I made the signal to Verland that had been agreed upon in case of the non-execution of our project, Postponing till the next day my explanation of the reasons. We were both at church, and he approached without speaking a word; his countenance expressed his grief, and I felt alarmed.

“Do you love me?” said I.

“I love you!” said he.

“Verland, I read your distress in your eyes, and it rends my heart. Lament with me a want of courage that might have snatched us from the enjoyment of our love, if despair itself has not suggested the means of consoling us both. I do not doubt your love, but I want a proof of it, as there is a cruel mother opposed to our wishes. Ah, Verland, does not the blush which suffuses my face tell you what means I wish you to employ?”

“Dear Agatha” said he as he squeezed my hand, “your love makes you feel the necessity of a thing that I have often proposed to you?”

“Yes!” I answered; “you shall no longer mourn; but to ensure our happiness I only want one word from your mouth.”

“Speak! What must I do?”

“Marry my mother!”

He stood speechless with surprise, and stared at me as if he had lost his senses.

“Marry your mother, Agatha! What is it you propose?”

“Something,” said I, “of which I repent. Your coldness proves your love; and your indifference opens my eyes to my own passion. Good heavens! Have I then given a thought to such a coward!”

“Agatha,” said he, “what do you wish to reduce me to?”

“Ungrateful wretch! When I surmount the horror of seeing you in the arms of my rival-when, to deceive her, to give myself up to you, to have the happiness of seeing you, and to enjoy your caresses, I sacrifice for you all that I hold most dear-you tremble; am I stronger than you? No; but you have not so much love.”

“Enough! enough!” said he; “you triumph; I am ashamed of myself, and our hearts shall soon be at ease.”

Delighted at his decision, I promised to recompense him on his wedding day; perhaps I should not have been able to wait, if my mother's impatience had not been as great as mine. Verland offered her his hand, and she consented too become his wife. In raptures at the conquest that she imagined to be effected by her charms, she was eager to reap the fruits of it, but they were not destined for her. The wedding day came, and my joy procured me from my mother most affectionate caresses, which I repaid by others not less sincere. My heart revelled in anticipation of pleasure and vengeance. Verland came; he was adorable; a thousand new graces animated his every action; his slightest smile enchanted me, and the most unmeaning of is words was able to inflame me! I could hardly keep my feelings under due control. In the midst of the tumult he came up to me, and said:

“I have done everything for love, will love do nothing for me?”

A glance of the eye was my only answer. I quitted the company, and he followed my example. I retired to my chamber, and he was with me in a minute. I threw myself down on the bed and he was on me instantaneously. I must beg to be excused the detail of the pleasures we enjoyed. “O mother,” cried I in the midst of our transports, “how dearly have you paid for your injustice!”

My lover was a prodigy; we remained an hour together without being idle a minute. His strength never failed him; but as Antaeus, when wrestling with Hercules, gained fresh strength every time he touched the earth, so my lover by coming in contact with me was so invigorated as to come to the charge every time with increased ability.

During his time they were looking for both of us in every direction, and had even knocked at my door. For fear of exciting suspicion, we then separated. Verland went into the garden, where they found him, as he intended they should. He was most unmercifully railed at by all the party and a regular war of jokes was carried on against him. A pretended headache came to his relief; and he said that having felt indisposed, and not wishing to disturb the amusement of others, he had retired for a few minutes without speaking. His cast-down looks, occasioned by the fatigue he had undergone, made them believe the excuse to be true.

Feeling certain that they would come to seek me in my chamber, I raised the slide that covered the keyhole, and laid myself prostrate before a crucifix. This succeeded admirably; it was thought that the rejoicings were not sufficient to withdraw me from my religious duties, and this extraordinary devotion created a kind of veneration for me.

As soon, however, as I had sufficiently recovered myself I rejoined the company, and to prevent all possibility of suspicion, I pretended that I only joined in the festivity out of complaisance to others.

After the execution of this scheme of marrying my mother with my lover, I made every arrangement to have as much as possible of his society, and to prevent discovery, I affected a greater devotion, and would not be interrupted in my prayers; I gave orders to our people not to knock at my door unless the key was outside. Verland, on his side, accustomed my mother to his absence, pretending to have business abroad, and then came to my chamber. Although somewhat constrained, we were not disgusted with our pleasures; I could have imagined they would last for ever, but was undeceived in a moment. I happened one day to meet a young person whose features I recollected, and I asked her what she was doing in the town. She said that as yet she had not situation, so I asked her if she would be my chambermaid, to which she consented.-But my dear Father, there is no need for me to conceal anything from you. This pretended maiden was no other than my Martin, of whom your sister must have spoken in telling you my story. I had not seen him since our separation, and he was still as pretty and lovely as then; his chin was scarcely covered with a slight down, and this I cut off very carefully, so that he appeared to everybody a very pretty girl, but to me he was a man of inestimable value.

I told Martin of my intrigue with Verland, and he was too happy in having found me again to be jealous about it. His docility and vigor were alike charming to me. I so managed my affairs; that the day was devoted to Verland; the night to Martin; and the day only disappeared to give place to a voluptuous night. Never did a mortal enjoy more perfect felicity; but pleasure is ever of short duration, and is followed by pain in proportion to its extent.

In his clothes, Martin could very well pass for a handsome girl. The ungrateful Verland-but why call him ungrateful? Was not I at fault, and had not my heart gone astray from him?-Verland was caught with the charms of my maid; and began to neglect his mistress. As the night always made up for any deficiency of the day, I had not perceived the indifference of Verland; he was so far master of the art of persuasion that the motives he alleged for his absence seemed to me satisfactory. If I scolded, a smile or a kiss appeased my anger. A day's repose made him more vigorous for the morrow: at last he proceeded so far as to make believe that the interest of our pleasure rendered his occasional absence necessary. I consented, and Martin supplied his place.

Yesterday! Oh unhappy day! Which I shall always recall with horror; yesterday was a day of repose for Verland. I was shut in my room with Martin my only companion; and our love assuming its usual dominion over us; we gave way to its dictates. I was laid on my bed; with my bosom naked; my clothes turned up, and my thighs parted, waiting for Martin to recover his strength. He was also naked; and putting his right thigh between mine; had one hand on my bubbies and the other on my left thigh. Whilst his eyes and his mouth sought to revive his ardor, Verland unexpectedly entered and surprised us in this position. He had time to shut the door and to come up to us before our fright allowed us to alter our attitude.

“Agatha,” said he, “I do not blame your pleasures, but you ought to have some consideration for me; I love Javote (that was the name Martin had assumed), and I have vigor enough to satisfy you both.”

As he finished speaking he wanted to embrace Martin, he drew him from my arms, put down his hand and found… How great was his astonishment!-Without leaving hold of Martin, he gave me a look of indignation, and as he dared not vent his rage on me, all the force of it fell on the innocent cause of it. His love was changed into madness; he beat Martin most brutally, and in so doing wounded me in my most sensible part. I threw myself between the rivals.

“Hold!” said I to Verland, embracing him, “respect his youth for God's sake, for our love's sake! Verland take pity on his weakness, be sensible to my tears.”

He stood still; but Martin, who had time to recover his presence of mind, had become furious in this turn. He seized Verland's sword, and rushed upon him. At seeing this, I took to flight, and escaped by a private staircase and ran here; you know the rest.

Agatha burst into tears as she finished her story, and exclaimed, “Alas! What destiny awaits me?”

“The happiest,” said I; “take courage, Agatha; it is very probable that you have no real cause to lament. If you bemoan the loss of your pleasures, still greater attend you.”

It was impossible for me to keep her any longer in my chamber without discovery, and I thought my best plan would be to turn her over to our seraglio. I had no fear of promising her too much, in assuring her that the pleasures she had hitherto known were but a faint image of those that were reserved for her. The fish house must be a heavenly abode for a temperament like hers.

“My dear friend,” said she, “do not abandon me; can I remain with you? Your answer must decide my fate; if I lose you, I shall be wretched.” I assured her that I would not abandon her.

“Then I have now but one thing that disturbs me; your love is strong enough to overlook my weakness.”

I perceived what she alluded to, and offered to go and obtain information of the condition of her lovers, and respecting the effect produced by her own flight, for which she thanked me fervently. I left her alone, and went out with a promise to return speedily.

I went into the town and made inquiries whether there was any news; I then proceeded to the neighbourhood of Verland's residence, but could not learn that anything had transpired; so I supposed that the incident had no other consequences than the elopement of Agatha. I was returning to the convent, when I saw a servant running to meet me. He told me that Father Andrew had charged him to give me a letter and a purse containing a hundred pistoles. I at first thought the Father wished me to execute some commission for him. I opened the letter and read as follows:

Your precautions have betrayed you: they have opened your chamber and found the treasure which you wished to secrete from your brethren, have seized it, and consigned it to the fish-house. You know the nature of monks, my dear Silas; fly, fly, and save yourself the horrors of an eternal prison.

Father Andrew

I was completely thunderstruck on reading this letter which in a manner, deprived me of my senses.

“O heaven!” I cried, “what will become of me! Shall I expose myself to monkish vengeance, or fly? Unhappy man! I must not hesitate, but hasten far away. But whither! Where can I secrete myself?”

It suddenly struck me that Ambrose might afford me an asylum in the present emergency; so I took courage and resolved to go thither, thinking myself fortunate at being preserved from the resentment of the monks by the generous interference of Father Andrew.

I could not without grief exile myself from a place where I left all that was most dear to me. My mind writhing under the lashings of remorse and oppressed by despair, I arrived at the cottage of Ambrose. Annette was alone, she wept over my misfortunes, and what was still better, offered to aid me as far as lay in her power. In the first place she gave me some of her husband's clothes to conceal my priestly estate. The next day, I started for Paris, hoping to find there some mode of life that might compensate for my recent loss.

As I left my native province, I shook off the dust of my feet, in imitation of the apostles, as a testimony against its ingratitude, and on foot, staff in hand, I pursued my journey to Paris. When I reached the metropolis, I thought myself safe from the monks, and the purse sent me by Father Andrew and some addition made to it by Annette, would very well support me for some months. My first intention was to look out for a situation as a teacher, and await a chance of getting something better. I had acquaintances in Paris who could have been of service to me in that way, but I thought it might be dangerous to discover myself to them. I changed my peasant's dress for one much more respectable by giving a moderate sum into the bargain; and happy should I have been, had I changed my nature as completely as my personal appearance. The dreadful situation into which my amorous propensity had brought me made me hope that I should henceforward be able to keep it in due subjection. I had even sworn to do so; foolishly thinking to enchain by a voluntary oath what the most sacred bonds had failed to restrain. What a bundle of weaknesses is man!

One day, when walking in the street, I was pushed down; the push was not very violent, as it proceeded from the elbow of a coquettish young woman, who, on applying it, exclaimed: “Well, Abbe, won't you treat me to a salad?”

“To two, if you like,” said I, stimulated by my natural character. I instantly reflected that this was rather imprudent but I was too far engaged to draw back. We proceeded into a dark, narrow passage, and I thought a thousand times that I must break my neck in the twisting staircase, for the steps were so unlevel and slippery that I stumbled every moment, though my lass kept hold of my hand. I will acknowledge that having never been in similar circumstances I could not avoid feeling a kind of timidity at which my conductress would have laughed heartily, had she known my quality. At last after much trouble we reached the door of my companion's abode. When we knocked, an old hag, apparently more ancient than the Cumean sibyl, opened to us, or rather only half-opened.

“My little king,” said she, “you must wait a moment, for there is company; go up a little higher.”

To go up higher was rather difficult, unless one went up into the sky; I felt a door near me, and as it gave way to my hand, I went in, I soon found by the odor of the place where I had got to.

As I stood thus alone, in a horrid place, at the extremity of the world, in a bad neighborhood, among people altogether unknown to me, I could not avoid a feeling of terror thrilling through my frame. The danger that I had incurred presented itself to my mind; and I had determined to effect my escape. Something, however, more powerful than my own resolution arrested my steps; it seemed as if an immense expanse of ocean spread out before my eyes and prevented my gaining the opposite shore. Has not heaven engraved in our hearts the presentiment of what is to befall us? There can be no doubt of it; I experienced it. At this instant the fatal door opened, and some one called me. I was then rushing on my destruction, but how great was the joy that preceded it.

I entered the room with a timid bashful air, and sat down without speaking, supporting my elbow upon a rickety table, and covering my eyes with my hand as if to seek shelter from the reflections that oppressed me. The infernal old hag came to ask me to pay the usual fee of admission; I gave her a liberal present and she thanked me. My sorrowful appearance astonished the priestesses of the temple, and the old woman again approached to ask me the cause of it. I repulsed her sternly, and she said I was uncivil.

“Let him alone, Madame,” said the youngest to her; “perhaps the gentlemen is in distress.”

The sound of this voice smote my heart. I trembled, and fearing to look towards the place whence it proceeded, I closed my eyes, and remained occupied with the feeling that it had awakened in me. But in a few minutes, I reproached myself for being thus indifferent, and wished to ascertain the truth of my suspicions, so I rose and went towards the person, and, O heavens! It was Susan. Her features, though changed by the lapse of time, were too deeply engraved on my heart for me to forget them. I fell into her arms, and my tears flowed abundantly.

“My dear sister,” said I, in a broken voice, “do you recognize your brother?”

She uttered a piercing cry and fell in a swoon. The old woman, in amazement, ran and wanted to aid her; gently put her away and pressed my lips on those of my Susan, that the fire of my kisses might restore her sensibilities. I pressed her against my bosom, and bathed her face with my tears. She soon opened her eyes, and said to me:

“Leave me, Silas; leave a wretched woman.”

“My dear sister, is the sight of your brother so disagreeable to you? Can you refuse his caresses?”

Feeling the justice of my reproaches, she gave me the most lively marks of her love. She resumed her usual gaiety of demeanor, and even the old hag seemed to share her good humor; I gave the latter some money to prepare us a supper. I could freely have given all I had; for in finding Susan, I thought myself rich indeed.

While supper was preparing, I kept Susan in my arms; we neither of us had sufficient courage to make inquiries what adventures could have thus brought us together in a place so distant from our common home. We continued to gaze at each other, and our eyes were the only interpreters of our souls; they shed tears of joy and of sorrow at the same time; our mutual passions had swallowed up every other sentiment in our bosoms. The heart was so full, the mind so occupied, that we were tongue-tied, and could only sigh; if we opened our mouths, we pronounced nothing but words without connection; every feeling seemed centered in the reflection how happy it was to be together. At last I broke the silence.

“Susan, my dear Susan, is it indeed you that I have found? By what hazard art thou restored to me? But in what a place!”

“Oh God! You see in me a wretched creature who has experienced all the vicissitudes of fortune, nearly always exposed to her frowns, and forced to live in a condition that reason condemns, that the heart detests, but that necessity has rendered inevitable. I see you are impatient to hear the recital of my misfortunes? Can I give any other name to the life I have led since I lost you? Less sensible to the shame of pouring my sorrows into your ear, I will tell you without reserve all I have gone through. Shall I tell you the truth? You are in a great measure the cause of them; but my heart shares therein, and has indeed dug the pit into which I have fallen. Do you remember those happy days when you described to me your youthful passion? From that time, I have adored you; in telling you the adventures of Agatha, and laying before you our most secret mysteries, I meant to inflame you, to instruct you, and saw with pleasure the pleasant effect of my discourse. I was witness to your transports with Madame Dinville and your caresses were so many daggers thrust into my heart. When I took you to my chamber, I was devoured by a fire that you had not the power of quenching. That is the first epoch of my misfortunes. You never knew what caused the horrible noise that we heard; it was the Abbe Pilot, that miscreant vomited out of hell, and destined for the scourge of my existence.

“He had conceived a love for me that he was resolved to gratify at any cost. He had chosen that night for the execution of his purpose, and was concealed behind the bed. Alas! he had an easy victory over an unhappy girl that had fainted through fright; he did as he pleased. Revived by the pleasure, and deceived by my passion, I thought I was indebted to you for it, and did my utmost to increase the pleasure of a monster whom I overwhelmed with reproaches as soon as I recognized him. He tried to appease me by caresses, which I refused with loathing; he then threatened to reveal to Madame Dinville what I had been doing with you. The rascal employed those arms against me that I ought to have used against him; however he gained by his menaces what I had denied to his transports. In this manner I granted everything to a man whom I abhorred, and fate snatched me from the arms of the one I adored.

“I soon experienced the bitter fruits of my imprudence. I concealed my shame as much as I could, but I should have betrayed myself by a too obstinate seclusion. I had driven away the abbe, and he consoled himself in the arms of Madame Dinville. I was compelled to recall him; I told him how I was situated, and he pretended to sympathize with me. He offered to take me to Paris, promising to establish me there in the most comfortable manner, and added that he desired nothing for his service than that I would permit him to return them, I only cared for being in a place where I might get rid of my burden, not expecting anything further from him, excepting his influence to place me in a situation with some lady. His promises prevailed on me to accompany him, and I accordingly stared, having assumed the costume of an abbe as my traveling dress. “His attentions towards me on the road were the kindest possible, and little did I suspect what coldness of heart they were intended to conceal. The jolting of the carriage deceived my calculations, and I brought into the world at a village about a league from Paris the unhappy pledge of my miserable love. Everybody was astonished at the circumstance, and some not a little amused. My infamous fellow traveller disappeared, and left me to my grief and misery. A charitable lady took pity on my wretched condition, put me in a carriage, and brought me to Paris, and left me at an hospital. She only saved me from the arms of death to leave me in those of indigence. I should very shortly have felt the utmost horrors that awaited my hapless lot, if chance had not made me acquainted with a girl of the town, and my distress forced me to give way to my natural propensity.

“You need not ask anything further. My subsequent life has been nothing but a succession of pleasure and chagrin. If I have sometimes felt my heart enjoy a temporary happiness, it only served to show me in stronger colors the load of sorrow that overwhelmed me. Will this sorrow ever leave me? But now I have regained you, I ought not to complain. My dear brother, do not let me remain in suspense; have you left your convent? What chance brought you hither to Paris!”

“A misfortune, like your own,” answered I, “caused by your best friend.”

“My best friend!” cried she with a sigh; “have I one still left in the world? Ah, it can be no other than Agatha.”

“Exactly so,” I replied; “but let us now sup, my story will occupy too much time.”

Sitting by Susan's side, I made a most delicious repast. My desire to be alone with her, and her own anxiety to hear my story, made us rise from table immediately the meal was over. We retired to her chamber, where without witnesses, upon a bed worthy of the place where we were, and which had never before served for two such tender lovers, with Susan on my knees and my face pressed against her, I related my adventures from the day I first left the cottage of my supposed parents.

“Well, I am no longer your sister,” cried she when I had finished.

“Do not regret that; it is a quality that the blood confers but which the heart does not always sanction. If you are no more my dear sister, you will always be my idol. My dearest friend, let us forget our woes, and begin to reckon our existence from the day that has reunited us.”

As I uttered these words, I kissed her bosom, and was going to lay her down, having my hand already between her thighs, when she sprung from my arms and exclaimed, “Hold, hold!”

“Cruel one! What thanks have I to render to fortune if you thus repulse the proofs of my love?”

“You must overcome your passion,” said she; “I cannot listen to it without being criminal. Make an effort to suppress your desires, and I will set you the example.”

“Alas! Susan, you have but little love left if you advise me to suppress mine. And for what cause am I to do this, when nothing obstructs our happiness?”

“Nothing to oppose our happiness! How I wish you spoke the truth in saying so!” and she burst into tears, of which I asked the cause.

“Would you,” said she, “partake with me the sad consequences of my debauchery? And if you would, could I have the cruelty to consent to it?”

“Do you think to restrain me by so weak a reason? I would readily die with my Susan, and shall I shrink from sharing her misfortunes?” So saying I threw her down on the bed and prepared to prove by acts that I feared no dangers.

“Ah, Silas! You will destroy yourself.”

“If I do, it will be in your arms,” said I in a transport of passion.

She gave way to me, and I effected an entry: let me be permitted here to imitate the sagacious Greek, who, in his picture of the sacrifice of Iphigenia, after having exhausted on the countenances of the assistants every trait characteristic of the deepest grief, threw a veil over the face of Agamemmon, leaving it for the imagination of others to conceive what must be the immolation of an adored daughter. I leave you, dear reader, the pleasure of imagining; but I address myself to you only who have experienced all the crosses of love, and after long years of waiting, have seen your passion crowned by the beloved object of it. Recall your transports, stretch your imagination still farther, if possible, and still you will fall short of my ecstasies. But what demon, jealous of my tranquility, is continually holding up to my view the recollection which can almost make me shed tears of blood?

The day came before we were aware that the night had fled. I had forgotten my griefs, and everything else in the embraces of Susan.

“We will never part, my dear brother,” said she; “where can you find one to love you more; one whose passion for you can be more ardent?”

I swore to live with her always; I swore it, alas! And we were that moment on the point of an eternal separation. The storm burst over our heads, but we saw it not till too late to save ourselves from its violence.

“Fly, Susan, fly!” cried a terrified girl as she burst into our room. “Fly by the back staircase.”

All amazed, we hastened to get up; but it was too late: a fierce-looking officer entered the moment we were out of bed. Susan, trembling and bewildered, threw herself into my arms, but he tore her from me in spite of my efforts, and was going off with her. This sight made me furious; rage increased my strength, and despair made me invincible. A dog-iron that I snatched up from the fire-place became a deadly weapon in my hands. I flew at the officer, and in a moment Susan's ravisher was stretched on the floor at my feet. His comrades rushed forwards upon me; I could no longer defend myself, but surrendered, and was made prisoner. They bound me,” and would scarcely permit me to take the half of my clothes.

“Adieu! My dear sister, adieu!” I cried, stretching out my hands as well as I could.

They dragged me down the staircase by my legs; and the pain caused by my head thumping against the steps soon made me insensible.

I ought here to close the recital of my misfortunes. Ah, reader! if you have a tender heart, suspend your curiosity, and be content to bemoan my lot. But why must the sense of sorrow always prevail? Have I not wept enough? I have reached my port, and I regret still the dangers of the sea. Read, and you will see the sad termination of debauchery; lucky will you be if you do not pay dearer for it than myself.

When I recovered my sense, it was to find myself on a miserable bed in the middle of a hospital. I asked where I was, and was told at Bicetre. Good heavens, at Bicetre! My grief petrified me, a fever seized me, and I only recovered from that to fall into a still worse malady, the pox. I received this additional chastisement from the hand of Providence without a murmur, saying to myself that I would not lament my own fate while Susan was suffering from the same disease.

I gradually became so much worse that the doctors were compelled to have recourse to the most violent remedy to save me from the death that threatened me. I will spare my readers the pain of reading a detail of my sufferings during and after the operation to which I owed my life, though I was reduced to so weak a state that my life was despaired of. How much happier for me if I had never recovered from the fit of insensibility that followed the anguish of that awful moment! But I recovered, and the first thing I did on regaining my senses was to put my hand to the part where I felt the most acute pain. I shrieked with terror on finding that I was no longer a man, and fell into a swoon. When I came to myself I felt like Job on his dung-hill, overwhelmed with grief but resigned to the will of heaven, and in the bitterness of my heart I exclaimed: The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord!

I now had no wish but to die; I had lost all power of enjoying life, and the grave was the end of my every hope. I was desirous of hiding even from myself what I had been, and I could not without horror think of my present condition.

“Here then am I,” said I to myself, “the unfortunate Father Silas, the man once so cherished by the women; but the better part of me is no more; a cruel blow has struck off what I prized more than mere existence. I was a hero, and am now nothing but… Die unhappy one, die; is it possible to survive this loss? You are but an eunuch.”

But Death was deaf to my supplications; my health returned, and I was well again. The Superior of the hospital came and told me that I was free.

“Free,” cried I; “Alas! Of what use to me is the liberty that you give me. To one situated as I am, it is the most disagreeable favor you can confer. But, sir, may I venture to ask after a young woman that was brought here the same day as myself.”

“She is happier in her fate than yourself,” he replied; “she died under the treatment.”

“Died!” cried I, quite prostrated by this last stroke; “Susan is dead! Oh, heavens! And I still live.”

Such was my despair that I should have instantly put an end to my miserable existence, had not the attendants prevented me. They saved me from my own fury, and put me in the way to take advantage of the liberty I had recovered, that is to say, they turned me out of doors.

For a moment I was as if annihilated; the tears that flowed from my eyes were the only signs of life. My despair was extreme. Covered with a miserable coat, having scarcely anything to live on, and not knowing where to go, I threw myself on the care of Providence. I took the road to Paris, and on arriving there the walls of a convent of the Carthusians struck my eye, and a hope arose in my mind that I might there find a refuge from the pranks of fortune among its inmates. I went and asked permission to see the Superior, and it was granted. When introduced to him I threw myself down at his feet, and told him the sad tale of my woes.

“O my son,” said he, embracing me with kindness, “praise the Lord, who has reserved this port for you to repose in after so many troubles. Come and live here, and, if possible, be happy.”

I accepted the invitation of the pious old man and was formally received. I was in the convent some time before I had any employment, but at last a trifling office was given to me. I rose by degrees to the rank of door porter, and have retained the situation to the present moment.

Here the hatred of the world that had been engendered by my difficulties and trials in passing through its sweet and thorny paths, gained deep hold of my heart, and I await death without fearing its approach or wishing to hasten the moment of its coming; and come when it may, I hope to meet it with the same collectedness of spirit with which I can now contemplate the enjoyment of its imperturbable repose.

Content

Beauregard de Farniente
The Adventures of Father Silas

PART THE FIRST CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

PART THE SECOND CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX