The Count was very much grieved at the sudden departure of the dear stranger, as he used to call him. I was already, in the beginning, strongly tempted to predict it; but cannot conceive what prevented me from doing so; and my friend was, soon after that incident, a second time obliged, by his affairs, to leave me, before I could conclude my history, and elucidate many mysterious events to him; for the various occupations in which I was engaged did not allow me, as I already have informed the reader, more leisure hours for the continuation of my memoirs than I could spare from the time of nocturnal rest.
My friend remained a long time absent, being detained by the unaccountable intricacy of his affairs. It really seemed as if they intended to exhaust his patience by juridical chicanes and petty artifices, to make him waste his precious time in the most useless manner. I very seldom received letters from him, and he alwaysconcluded
