Besides, young as I was, having no experience yet of misfortune, and still less of the wickedness of society, it was very difficult for me to have that prudence which a man gains only by long intercourse with the world.
"Where shall I go ?" This was the question which seemed to me impossible of solution.

I thought of it all through the night, and through the morning, but I thought in vain; after Rome, I was indifferent where I went to! In the evening, not caring for any supper, I had gone to my room; the Abbe Gama came to me with a request from the cardinal not to accept any invitation to dinner for the next day, as he wanted to speak to me.

I therefore waited upon his eminence the next day at the Villa Negroni; he was walking with his secretary, whom he dismissed the moment he saw me.
As soon as we were alone, I gave him all the particulars of the intrigue of the two lovers, and I expressed in the most vivid manner the sorrow I felt at leaving his service.
"I have no hope of success," I added, "for I am certain that Fortune will smile upon me only as long as I am near your eminence." For nearly an hour I told him all the grief with which my heart was bursting, weeping bitterly; yet I could not move him from his decision.
Kindly, but firmly he pressed me to tell him to what part of Europe I wanted to go, and despair as much as vexation made me name Constantinople.
"Constantinople!" he exclaimed, moving back a step or two.
"Yes, monsignor, Constantinople," I repeated, wiping away my tears.
The prelate, a man of great wit, but a Spaniard to the very back-bone, after remaining silent a few minutes, said, with a smile, "I am glad you have not chosen Ispahan, as I should have felt rather embarrassed.

When do you wish to go ?" "This day week, as your eminence has ordered me." "Do you intend to sail from Naples or from Venice ?" "From Venice." "I will give you such a passport as will be needed, for you will find two armies in winter-quarters in the Romagna.

It strikes me that you may tell everybody that I sent you to Constantinople, for nobody will believe you." This diplomatic suggestion nearly made me smile.