Page:The genius - Carl Grosse tr Joseph Trapp 1796.djvu/272

 On our return to Paris, the history of the duel had transpired among our friends, and our lodgings were constantly beset with enquiries, among whom the ladies were the most diligent. Caroline herself, accompanied by an old uncle, was a constant visitor, and rarely left the count's bedside.

It was on this occasion, that my love to the tender visitant increased to such a pitch as to render me superlatively wretched. As soon as my friend grew better, I changed my lodgings to try if absence would not cure me of this hapless passion. The Count had long ago perceived it, and doating himself on the beloved object, gladly consented to my removal. Caroline's conduct had so much changed since I first formed her acquaintance, that I now thought to remark in it a species of coquetry, which made it doubtful which of her two rivals she would prefer at last. She teazed me into an illness of near three weeks, occasioned by the fickleness of her deportment, and sealed her sportive cruelty, by making a determinate choice of the Count, who promised her marriage. I loved my