CHAPTER IX.
The Beautiful O-Morphi--The Deceitful Painter--I Practice Cabalism for the Duchess de Chartres I Leave Paris--My Stay in Dresden and My Departure from that City I went to St.Lawrence's Fair with my friend Patu, who, taking it into his head to sup with a Flemish actress known by the name of Morphi, invited me to go with him.

I felt no inclination for the girl, but what can we refuse to a friend?
I did as he wished.

After we had supped with the actress, Patu fancied a night devoted to a more agreeable occupation, and as I did not want to leave him I asked for a sofa on which I could sleep quietly during the night.
Morphi had a sister, a slovenly girl of thirteen, who told me that if I would give her a crown she would abandon her bed to me.

I agreed to her proposal, and she took me to a small closet where I found a straw palliasse on four pieces of wood.
"Do you call this a bed, my child ?" "I have no other, sir." "Then I do not want it, and you shall not have the crown." "Did you intend undressing yourself ?" "Of course." "What an idea! There are no sheets." "Do you sleep with your clothes on ?" "Oh, no!" "Well, then, go to bed as usual, and you shall have the crown." "Why ?" "I want to see you undressed." "But you won't do anything to me ?" "Not the slightest thing." She undressed, laid herself on her miserable straw bed, and covered herself with an old curtain.

In that state, the impression made by her dirty tatters disappeared, and I only saw a perfect beauty.