to welcome him home, when he entered, so great haste had he
made. Without observing that she was not alone, he advanced, and,
throwing his arms round her, drew aside her fair golden curls, and
kissed her repeatedly, like many a man possessed of a lovely wife will
kiss, though his love may be far away from her. But she shrank from his
embrace, the glowing crimson overspreading her face; and then the count
turned and saw they were not alone. At the extreme end of the apartment,
out of hearing, but within sight, were the damsels seated over their
embroidery. "Gina," murmured one of the girls, still pursuing her work,
"what has made you turn so pale? You are as white as Juliette's dress."

"Is the Signora Montani ill?" demanded Lucrezia, sharply, for she liked
not Gina.

"A sudden pain--a spasm in my side," gasped Gina. "It is over now."

"Is he not an attractive man?" whispered another of the ladies in Gina's
ear.

"He?"

"The Count di Visinara: _you_ never saw him before. They are well
matched for beauty, he and the Lady Adelaide."

"Pray attend to your work, and let this gossiping cease," exclaimed
Lucrezia, angrily.

Giovanni and his wife remained at the window, with their backs towards
the damsels. She suffered her hand to remain in his--they could not see
_that_--and conversed with him in a confidential tone. Then she began
chattering to him of her new attendant, telling how lovely she was, when
a servant entered and announced the mid-day meal.

"Now you shall see my favorite," she exclaimed, as he took her hand to
conduct her to the banquet-hall. "I will stop as I pass them, to look at
their work, and you shall tell me if you do not think her very
beautiful."

"Scarcely, Adelaide, when beside you."

"She is about my age," ran on Adelaide, whose spirits were raised to
exuberance. But it had never entered the mind of that haughty lady to
imagine the possibility of the Lord of Visinara, _her husband_, looking
upon an attendant of hers with an eye of real admiration; or she might
not have discussed their personal merits.

"How do you get on with the work, Lucrezia?" demanded the Lady Adelaide,
stopping close to her attendants.

"Favorably, madam," answered the signora, rising from her seat.

"That is a beautiful part that you are engaged upon, Gina. Bring it
forward, that we may exhibit our handiwork."

Gina Montani, without raising her eyes, and trembling inwardly and
outwardly, rose, and advanced wit