As soon as my only accuser was fairly locked up, I occasionally resumed
my dress and wig. I say occasionally, because in the society which I
chiefly delighted in, and in which I became the connoisseur of good
wine, that I asserted myself to be, when your highness overheard me, I
had no occasion for it, being quite as well received when I sang and
played the guitar in my monkish dress, as I should have been in my
other. Besides which, I never had to pay when in that costume, as I was
obliged to do when I sported the other; which was only put on when I
wished to make myself agreeable to any fair one. I hardly need observe,
that I took great care to avoid the society in the one dress with which
I mixed in the other. This disguise I continued very successfully for
three years, when a circumstance occurred, which ended in my discovery,
and my eventually becoming a slave in your highness's dominions.
For some time I had taught the niece of an elderly lady, who was of
noble family and very rich. The aunt was always present at the lessons;
and, knowing that she was very devout, I rejected all songs that were of
an amorous tendency, and would only practise such as were unimpeachable.
In my demeanour I was always sedate and respectful--full of humility
and self-accusation. When I received my money from the old lady, I used
to thank her in the name of our convent, for whose use it was to be
appropriated, and call her donation a charity, for which Heaven would
reward her.
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