The Art of Seduction (50 page)

Keep Them in SuspenseWhat Comes Next?

The moment people feel they know what to expect from

you, your spell on them is broken. More: you have ceded

them power. The only way to lead the seduced along and

keep the upper hand is to create suspense, a calculated sur-

prise. People love a mystery, and this is the key to luring

them further into your web. Behave in a way that leaves

them wondering, What are you up to? Doing something

they do not expect from you will give them a delightful

sense of spontaneity
—
they will not be able to fore-

see what comes next. You are always one step

ahead and in control. Give the victim a

thrill with a sudden change of

direction.

The Calculated Surprise

In 1753, the twenty-eight-old Giovanni Casanova met a young girl

named Caterina with whom he fell in love. Her father knew what kind of man Casanova was, and to prevent some mishap before he could marry her off, he sent her away to a convent on the Venetian island of Murano, where she was to remain for four years.

Casanova, however, was not one to be daunted. He smuggled letters to
I count upon taking
[
the
Caterina. He began to attend Mass at the convent several times a week,
French people
]
by surprise.
A bold deed upsets people's

catching glimpses of her. The nuns began to talk among themselves: who
equanimity, and they are
was this handsome young man who appeared so often? One morning, as
dumbfounded by a great
Casanova, leaving Mass, was about to board a gondola, a servant girl from
novelty.
the convent passed by and dropped a letter at his feet. Thinking it might be —NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, from Caterina, he picked it up. It was indeed intended for him, but it was QUOTED IN EMIL LUDWIG,
NAPOLEON,
TRANSLATED BY

not from Caterina; its author was a nun at the convent, who had noticed EDEN AND CEDAR PAUL

him on his many visits and wanted to make his acquaintance. Was he interested? If so, he should come to the convent's parlor at a particular time, when the nun would be receiving a visitor from the outside world, a friend
The first care of any dandy
of hers who was a countess. He could stand at a distance, observe her, and
is to never do what one
decide whether she was to his liking.

expects them to do, to

always go beyond. . .
.

Casanova was most intrigued by the letter: its style was dignified, but
The unexpected can be
there was something naughty about it as well—particularly from a nun. He
nothing more than a
had to find out more. At the appointed day and time, he stood to the side
gesture, but a gesture that
is totally uncommon.

in the convent parlor and saw an elegantly dressed woman talking with a
Alcibiades cut off the tail of
nun seated behind a grating. He heard the nun's name mentioned, and was
his dog in order to surprise
astonished: it was Mathilde M., a well-known Venetian in her early twen-
people. When he saw the
looks on his friends as they

ties, whose decision to enter a convent had surprised the whole city. But
gazed upon the mutilated
what astonished him most was that beneath her nun's habit, he could see
animal, he said: "Ah, that
that she was a beautiful young woman, particularly in her eyes, which were
is precisely what I wanted
to happen: as long as the

a brilliant blue. Perhaps she needed a favor done, and intended that he
Athenians gossip about
would serve as her cat's-paw.

this, they will not say

His curiosity got the better of him. A few days later he returned to the
anything worse about me."
convent and asked to see her. As he waited for her, his heart was beating a •
Attracting attention is
not the only goal of a

mile a minute—he did not know what to expect. She finally appeared and
dandy, he wants to hold it
sat down behind the grating. They were alone in the room, and she said
by unexpected, even
that she could arrange for them to have supper together at a little villa
ridiculous means. After
Alcibiades, how many

nearby. Casanova was delighted, but wondered what kind of nun he was
apprentice dandies cut off
dealing with. "And—have you no lover but me?" he asked. "I have a
the tails of their dogs! The
243

244 • The Art of Seduction

baron of Saint-Cricq, for

friend, who is also absolutely my master," she replied. "It is to him I owe
example, with his ice cream

my wealth." She asked if he had a lover. Yes, he replied. She then said, in a
boots: one very hot day, he

mysterious tone, "I warn you that if you once allow me to take her place in
ordered at Tortonis two ice

creams, the vanilla served

your heart, no power on earth can tear me from it." She then gave him the
in his right boot, the

key to the villa and told him to meet her there in two nights. He kissed her
strawberry in his left

through the grating and left in a daze. "I passed the next two days in a state
boot. . . . The Count

Saint-Germain loved to

of feverish impatience," he wrote, "which prevented me from sleeping or
bring his friends to the

eating. Over and above birth, beauty, and wit, my new conquest possessed
theater, in his voluptuous

an additional charm: she was forbidden fruit. I was about to become a rival
carriage lined in pink satin

of the Church." He imagined her in her habit, and with her shaven head.
and drawn by two black

horses with enormous tails;

He arrived at the villa at the appointed hour. Mathilde was waiting for
he asked his friends in that

him. To his surprise, she wore an elegant dress, and somehow she had
inimitable tone of his:

avoided having her head shaved, for her hair was in a magnificent chignon.

"Which piece of

entertainment did you wish

Casanova began to kiss her. She resisted, but only slightly, and then pulled
to see? Vaudeville, the

back, saying a meal was ready for them. Over dinner she filled in a few
Variety show, the Palais-

more of the gaps: her money allowed her to bribe certain people, so that
Royal theater? I took the

liberty of purchasing a box

she could escape from the convent every so often. She had mentioned
for all three of them."

Casanova to her friend and master, and he had approved their liaison. He
Once the choice was made,

must be old? Casanova asked. No, she replied, a glint in her eye, he is in his
with a look of great

forties, and quite handsome. After supper, a bell rang—her signal to hurry
disdain, he would take the

unused tickets, roll them

back to the convent, or she would be caught. She changed back into her
up, and use them to light

habit and left.

his cigar.

A beautiful vista now seemed to stretch before Casanova, of months

— M A U D D E BELLEROCHE,

spent in the villa with this delightful creature, all of it courtesy of the mys
DU DANDY AU PLAY-BOY

terious master who paid for it all. He soon returned to the convent to arrange the next meeting. They would rendezvous in a square in Venice, then retire to the villa. At the appointed time and place, Casanova saw a
While Shahzaman sat at

man approach him. Fearing it was her mysterious friend, or some other
one of the windows

man sent to kill him, he recoiled. The man circled behind him, then came
overlooking the king's

garden, he saw a door open

up close: it was Mathilde, wearing a mask and men's clothes. She laughed at
in the palace, through

the fright she had given him. What a devilish nun. He had to admit that
which came twenty slave

dressed as a man she excited him even more.

girls and twenty negroes.

In their midst was his

Casanova began to suspect that all was not as it seemed. For one, he
brother's
[
King

found a collection of libertine novels and pamphlets in Mathilde's house.
Shahriyar's
]
queen, a

Then she made blasphemous comments, for example about the joy they

woman of surpassing

beauty. They made their

would have together during Lent, "mortifying their flesh." Now she re
way to the fountain, where
ferred to her mysterious friend as her lover. A plan evolved in his mind to
they all undressed and sat

take her away from this man and from the convent, eloping with her and
on the grass. The king's

wife then called out:

possessing her himself.

"Come Mass'ood!" and

A few days later he received a letter from her, in which she made a con
there promptly came to her
fession: during one of their more passionate trysts at the villa, her lover
a black slave, who mounted

had hidden in a closet, watching the whole thing. The lover, she told him,
her after smothering her

with embraces and kisses.

was the French ambassador to Venice, and Casanova had impressed him.
So also did the negroes

Casanova was not one to be fooled with like this, yet the next day he was
with the slave girls, reveling

back at the convent, submissively arranging for another tryst. This time she
together till the approach of

night.
. . .
•
. . .
And s o

showed up at the hour they had named, and he embraced her—only to

Keep Them in Suspense
—
What Comes Next? • 245

find that he was embracing Caterina, dressed up in Mathilde's clothes.
Shahzaman related to
[
his
Mathilde had befriended Caterina and learned her story. Apparently taking
brother King Shahriyar
]
all
that he had seen in the

pity on her, she had arranged it so that Caterina could leave the convent for
king's garden that day. . . .
the evening, and meet up with Casanova. Only a few months before •
Upon this Shahriyar
Casanova had been in love with this girl, but he had forgotten about her.
announced his intention to
Compared to the ingenious Mathilde, Caterina was a simpering bore. He
set forth on another
expedition. The troops

could not conceal his disappointment. He burned to see Mathilde.

went out of the city with

Casanova was angry at the trick Mathilde had played. But a few days
the tents, and King
later, when he saw her again, all was forgiven. As she had predicted during
Shahriyar followed them.
And after he had stayed a

their first interview, her power over him was complete. He had become her
while in the camp, he gave
slave, addicted to her whims, and to the dangerous pleasures she offered.
orders to his slaves that no
Who knows what rash act he might have committed on her behalf had
one was to be admitted to
the king's tent. He then

their affair not been cut short by circumstance.

disguised himself and

returned unnoticed to the

palace, where his brother

was waiting for him. They

Interpretation.
Casanova was almost always in control in his seductions.
both sat at one of the
He was the one who led, taking his victim on a trip to an unknown desti-
windows overlooking the
nation, luring her into his web. In all of his memoirs the story of Mathilde
garden; and when they had
is the only seduction in which the tables are happily turned: he is the se-
been there a short time, the
queen and her women

duced, the bewildered victim.

appeared with the black

What made Casanova Mathilde's slave was the same tactic he had used
slaves, and behaved as
on countless girls: the irresistible lure of being led by another person, the
Shahzaman had
described. . . .
•
As soon

thrill of being surprised, the power of mystery. Each time he left Mathilde
as they entered the palace,
his head was spinning with questions. Her ability to go on surprising him
King Shahriyar put his
kept her always in his mind, deepening her spell and blotting Caterina out.
wife to death, together with
her women and the black