She concluded her letter by saying that, in case I entertained honest intentions towards her, I had only to speak to her mother, Jeanne Marchetti, who resided in Lusia, a city thirty miles distant from Venice.
This letter piqued my curiosity, and I even imagined that she had written it in concert with the abbe.

Thinking that they wanted to dupe me, and besides, finding the proposal of marriage ridiculous, I determined on having my revenge.

But I wanted to get to the bottom of it, and I made up my mind to see the girl's mother.

She felt honoured by my visit, and greatly pleased when, after I had shewn her her daughter's letter, I told her that I wished to marry her, but that I should never think of it as long as she resided with the abbe.
"That abbe," she said, "is a distant relative.

He used to live alone in his house in Venice, and two years ago he told me that he was in want of a housekeeper.