Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/253

 business, in bounced Baron Braggart with the revived lady.

"And was the baron with you, too?" asked one of the ladies.

"To be sure," returned I, "he has acted the principal part."

This made the baron imagine I had not related the story; and feigning to receive my answer as a compliment paid to his courage, he made a bow, and with the most impudent assurance, began to relate the occurrence with various alterations and additions of his own. The company with admirable patience heard him to the last, but the marquis being returned, was shocked at the lies he hatched, and beckoning me to follow him into the garden, imparted to me a plan tending to make the baron, after an unpleasant evening, pass a most cheerless night.