To him
that he ought not to betray a secret of that nature, tho' confided in
him by an ill woman. - Her baseness, cried he to himself, would be no
excuse for mine; and it is better for me to risque whatever her malice
may inflict, than forfeit my character, by exposing a woman who pretends
to love me.
These thoughts kept him waking the whole night; and his restlessness
being observed by an old Swedish officer who by with him, he was very
much importuned by him to discover to him the occasion. - Horatio
defended himself for a good while by the considerations before recited;
but at length reflecting; that the person who was so desirous of being
let into the secret, had a great deal of discretion, he at length
suffered himself to be prevailed upon, and told him what Mattakesa had
wrote to him, for he did not understand a word of French, so could not
read the letter.
This officer no sooner heard the story, than he laughed heartily at the
scruples of Horatio, in thinking himself bound to conceal an affair of
this nature with a woman of the character Mattakesa must needs be: - he
also rallied his delicacy, as he termed it, in hesitating one moment
whether he should gratify the lady's inclinations.
