When they returned, their faces were bright with ease, as if nothing had passed.
I matched their calm, determined not to risk exposing myself to the danger of their kisses.
We talked of Angela. I said I'd never see her again; she'd made her indifference too clear.
"She loves you," said the artless Marton; "I know she does, but if you do not mean to marry her, you will do well to give up all intercourse with her, for she is quite determined not to grant you even a kiss as long as you are not her acknowledged suitor. You must therefore either give up the acquaintance altogether, or make up your mind that she will refuse you everything."
"You argue very well," I said. "But how are you so sure she loves me?"
"I am quite sure of it, and as you have promised to be our brother, I can tell you why I have that conviction." At this point, Marton blushed, "When Angela is in bed with me, she embraces me lovingly and calls me her dear abbe."
Nanette burst into laughter and clapped her hand over her sister's lips, but the innocent confession had such an effect upon me that I could hardly control myself.
"Come now," Marton turned to her sister, "surely he could not possibly be ignorant of what takes place between young girls sleeping together."
"There is no doubt," I said, "that everybody knows those trifles, and I do not think, dear Nanette, that you ought to reproach your sister with indiscretion for her friendly confidence."
Nanette sighed. "It cannot be helped now, but such things ought not to be mentioned. If Angela knew it!"
"She would be vexed, of course; but Marton has given me a mark of her friendship which I never can forget. But it is all over; I hate Angela, and I do not mean to speak to her anymore! she is false, and she wishes my ruin."
"Yet, loving you, is she wrong to think of having you for her husband?"
"Granted that she is not; but she thinks only of her own self, for she knows what I suffer, and her conduct would be very different if she loved me. In the meantime, thanks to her imagination, she finds the means of satisfying her senses with the charming Marton who kindly performs the part of her husband."
Nanette laughed louder; Marton blushed deeper.
I went on, praising Marton's honesty, pretending solemnity. "And I suppose Angela repays you, taking her turn as husband?"
"She plays husband only with Nanette," Marton said, smiling now.
Nanette, cornered, couldn't deny it.
"So tell me," I asked, "what name did Nanette, in her rapture, give to her husband?"
"Nobody knows."
I turned to Nanette. "Do you love anyone, Nanette?"
"I do," she said. "But my secret is my own."
This reserve gave me the suspicion that I had something to do with her secret, and that Nanette was the rival of Angela.
Such a delightful conversation caused me to lose the wish of passing an idle night with two girls so well made for love.
"It is very lucky," I exclaimed, "that I have for you only feelings of friendship; otherwise it would be very hard to pass the night without giving way to the temptation of bestowing upon you proofs of my affection, for you are both so lovely, so bewitching, that you would turn the brains of any man."
While we talked, I let my voice slow and my eyelids droop. Nanette noticed first.
"You're sleepy," she said. "Go to bed. we will lie down on the sofa in the adjoining room."
"I would be a very poor-spirited fellow indeed, if I agreed to this; let us talk; my sleepiness will soon pass off, but I am anxious about you." I answered.
"Go to bed yourselves, my charming friends, and I will go into the next room. If you are afraid of me, lock the door, but you would do me an injustice, for I feel only a brother's yearnings towards you."
"We cannot accept such an arrangement," Nanette said. "But let me persuade you; take this bed."
"I cannot sleep with my clothes on."
"Undress yourself; we will not look at you."
"I've no fear of that," I said lightly, "but how could I find the heart to sleep, while on my account you are compelled to sit up?"
"Well," said Marton, "we can lie down, too, without undressing."
"If you distrust me so much," I said, "I'll be offended. Tell me, Nanette, do you think I am an honest man?"
"Most certainly."
"Well, then, give me a proof of your good opinion; lie down near me in the bed, undressed, and rely on my word of honour that I will not even lay a finger upon you. Besides, you are two against one, what can you fear? Will you not be free to get out of the bed in case I should not keep quiet? In short, unless you consent to give me this mark of your confidence in me, at least when I have fallen asleep, I cannot go to bed."
I said no more, and pretended to be very sleepy. They exchanged a few words, whispering to each other, and Marton told me to go to bed, that they would follow me as soon as I was asleep.
Nanette made me the same promise, I turned away, undressed quickly, and wished them good night.
The pillow was cool against my cheek. I meant to feign sleep, but the silence, their hushed voices, the warmth of wine all blurred together.
When I woke, they were beside me.
Then, turning round as if I wished to resume my slumbers, I remained very quiet until I could suppose them fast asleep.
At all events, if they did not sleep, they were at liberty to pretend to do so.
Their backs were towards me, and the light was out; so I could only act at random.
I paid my first compliments to the one who was lying on my right, not knowing whether she was Nanette or Marton.
I found her bent in two, wrapped up in the only garment she had kept on.
Taking my time, and sparing her modesty, I compelled her by degrees to acknowledge her defeat, to see that it was better to feign sleep and let me proceed.
Her natural instincts soon worked in concert with mine.
I reached the goal; and my efforts, crowned with the most complete success, left me not the shadow of a doubt.
I had gathered those first-fruits to which our prejudice attaches such importance.
Enraptured at having enjoyed my manhood completely -and for the first time- I quietly left my beauty in order to do homage to the other sister.
I found her motionless, lying on her back like a person wrapped in profound and undisturbed slumber.
Carefully managing my advance, as if afraid of waking her, I began by gently gratifying her senses.
I ascertained the delightful fact that, like her sister, she was still in possession of her maidenhood.
As soon as a natural movement proved that love accepted the offering, I took my measures to consummate the sacrifice.
At that moment, giving way suddenly to the violence of her feelings -tired of her assumed dissimulation- she warmly locked me in her arms at the very instant of the voluptuous crisis.
She smothered me with kisses, shared my raptures, and love blended our souls in the most ecstatic enjoyment.
Guessing her to be Nanette, I whispered her name.
"Yes, I am Nanette," she answered. "And I declare myself happy, as well as my sister, if you prove yourself true and faithful."
"Until death, my beloved ones. And since everything we have done is the work of love, let us never mention the name of Angela again."
After this, I begged that she would give us a light.
But Marton, always kind and obliging, got out of bed, leaving us alone.
When I saw Nanette in my arms, beaming with love, and Marton near the bed holding a candle -her eyes reproaching us with ingratitude for not speaking to her, when it was she who, by accepting my first caresses, had encouraged her sister to follow- I realized all my happiness.
"Let us get up, my darlings," said I, "and swear to each other eternal affection."
When we had risen, we performed, all three together, ablutions which made them laugh a good deal and gave new impetus to the ardour of our feelings.
Sitting up in the simple costume of nature, we ate the remains of our supper, exchanging those thousand trifling words which love alone can understand.
Then we retired again to our bed, where we spent a most delightful night giving each other mutual and oft-repeated proofs of our passionate ardour.
Nanette was the recipient of my last bounties.
Madame Orio having left the house to go to church, I had to hasten my departure after assuring the two lovely sisters that they had effectually extinguished whatever flame might still have flickered in my heart for Angela.
I went home and slept soundly until dinner-time.