Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/266

 who perfectly well understood her business, and not to leave the least advantage neglected, she let out the premises to single young gentlemen, who had: day and night, free access to her apartment. The count and I, discontented with so commodious a method of house-keeping, had already resolved to remove in the course of the ensuing week.

The baron, having visited us shortly after our arrival, was smitten with our hostess, a buxom young widow of twenty-two. He was none of those who would let an opportunity go by unprofited, and hearing of the intended change, he hired and gave earnest for the two floors, which we intended to evacuate, on condition of being put previously in possession of the charms of his future landlady. He this very night paid her one of his gallant visits, when both of them were discovered in the situation I am about to state.

The count, who contrary to custom, had withdrawn to his own apartment, in deep meditation on the occurrences of the night, after being undrest thought it still too soon to go to rest. He therefore threw himself