“There can be no greater extravagance in my opinion,” added Velvet-Paw, “than to enter into a woman’s chamber by stealth, for nothing at all; for people thought nothing more of his visits than what was really fact, and madam was already in full enjoyment of that reputation of virtue, which she has so well supported since that time.”

“But that is an age ago,” says Fadaes. “It was pretty much about that same time that Zulica made a slip from the Selictar, who was her humble servant, to take possession of Grifgrif, whom she drop’d six months after; she is now got as far as Fortimbek. I am not sorry for my friend’s little stroke of good luck; I see her, I admire her, but entirely without any pretensions.”

“Yet Zulica,” says the favorite, “is very amiable. She has wit, taste, and something, I know not how, engaging in her countenance, which I should prefer to charms.”

“I grant that, madam,” answer’d Fadaes: “but she is maigre , has no neck, and her thigh is so skinny, that it raises one’s pity.”