Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/198

 my pardonable neglect, were become irretrievable.

Having prepared every thing for my departure to the French metropolis, I sent off a letter to my friends, apologizing in the strongest terms for my involuntary breach of promise, and informing them, that I would be at the Spanish Ambassador's in Paris, three weeks at farthest from the date of my notice, requesting, at the same time, an immediate answer by return of post.

Having myself put this letter into the post office at Marseilles, gotten every thing ready to set out, and taken an affectionate leave of the small circle of neighbours and friends, what was my surprise,—when I received the following answer from the Spanish Ambassador himself:

",

"YOUR friends are returned to Spain, where news of the most important nature await you. Without entering into fuller particulars, which would doubtless prove afflicting, I have only to request, that on