her
comfortable sitting room at the hotel, or even in her own luxurious
boudoir in her Sicilian home. The attempt was fairly successful, and the
result was a passing taste of that self-satisfied beatitude which is
the peculiar and enviable lot of very lazy people after dinner. She
cared for nothing and she cared for nobody. San Miniato and Beatrice
might sit over there by the water's edge, in the moonlight, and talk in
low tones as long as they pleased. There were no tiresome people from
the hotel to watch their proceedings, and nothing better could happen
than that they should fall in love, be engaged and married forthwith.
That was certainly not the way the Marchesa could have wished the
courtship and marriage to develop and come to maturity, if there had
been witnesses of the facts from amongst her near acquaintance. But
since there was nobody to see, and since it was quite impossible that
she should run after the pair when they chose to leave her side,
resignation was the best policy, resignation without effort, without
fatigue and without qualms. Moreover, San Miniato himself had told her
that in some of the best families in the north of Italy it was
considered permissible for a man to offer himself directly to a young
lady, and San Miniato was undoubtedly familiar with the usages of the
very best society. It was quite safe to trust to him.

San Miniato himself would have greatly preferred to leave the
negotiations in the hands of the Marchesa and would have done so had he
not known that she possessed no power whatever over Beatrice. But he saw
that the Marchesa, however much she might desire the marriage, would
never exert herself to influence her daughter. She was far too indolent,
and at heart, perhaps, too indifferent, and she knew the value of money
and especially of her own. San Miniato made up his mind that if he won
at all, it must be upon his own merits and by his own efforts.

He had not found it hard to lead Beatrice away from the lamp when dinner
was over, and after walking about on the rocks for a few minutes he
proposed that they should sit down near the water, facing the moonlit
sea. Beatrice sat upon a smooth projection and San Miniato placed
himself at her feet, in such a position that he could look up into her
face and talk to her without raising his voice.

"So you are glad you came here, Donna Beatrice," he said.

"Very glad," she answered. "It is something I have never seen
before--somethi