Chapter 18
If I gained a full conquest in what was to occur, I also gained a fervent admirer in Selina with whom I had up to this time been the passive rather than the active companion. How carefully my steps were taken shall be seen, for I first needed to make acquaintance with the uncle. He, being under the watchful eyes of his wife as much as his nieces were, I chose to represent myself first as a charity worker and so inveigled myself into the house by way of inviting donations, receipts of blankets and old clothing-all such as one normally collects in doing good works.
The pious are ever anxious to please, believing perhaps that in so doing they encourage to themselves the greater admiration of their Creator - a philosophy I take to be a nonsense. For though I bow as all do to our C
