ed the hill, turned in at
the gate of a country house, towards which he ran.

"Who lives here?" he asked the gardener.

"Prince and Princess Colonna, and Prince and Princess Gandolphini."

"Have they not just driven in?"

"Yes, sir."

In that instant a veil fell from Rodolphe's eyes; he saw clearly the
meaning of the past.

"If only this is her last piece of trickery!" thought the thunder-struck
lover to himself.

He trembled lest he should have been the plaything of a whim, for he had
heard what a _capriccio_ might mean in an Italian. But what a crime had
he committed in the eyes of a woman--in accepting a born princess as
a citizen's wife! in believing that a daughter of one of the most
illustrious houses of the Middle Ages was the wife of a bookseller!
The consciousness of his blunders increased Rodolphe's desire to
know whether he would be ignored and repelled. He asked for Prince
Gandolphini, sending in his card, and was immediately received by the
false Lamporani, who came forward to meet him, welcomed him with the
best possible grace, and took him to walk on a terrace whence there was
a view of Geneva, the Jura, the hills covered with villas, and below
them a wide expanse of the lake.

"My wife is faithful to the lakes, you see," he remarked, after
pointing out the details to his visitor. "We have a sort of concert this
evening," he added, as they returned to the splendid Villa Jeanrenaud.
"I hope you will do me and the Princess the pleasure of seeing you. Two
months of poverty endured in intimacy are equal to years of friendship."

Though he was consumed by curiosity, Rodolphe dared not ask to see the
Princess; he slowly made his way back to Eaux-Vives, looking forward to
the evening. In a few hours his passion, great as it had already been,
was augmented by his anxiety and by suspense as to future events. He now
understood the necessity for making himself famous, that he might some
day find himself, socially speaking, on a level with his idol. In his
eyes Francesca was made really great by the simplicity and ease of her
conduct at Gersau. Princess Colonna's haughtiness, so evidently natural
to her, alarmed Rodolphe, who would find enemies in Francesca's father
and mother--at least so he might expect; and the secrecy which Princess
Gandolphini had so strictly enjoined on him now struck him as a
wonderful proof of affection. By not choosing to compromise the future,
had she not confessed that she loved