and spent most of the day with him, and in the intervals
of his kindly talk, marched up and down the room, swearing that Giovanni
was no more ill than he was himself, and that he had acquired his
accursed habit of staying in bed upon his travels. As Giovanni had never
before been known to spend twenty-four hours in bed for any reason
whatsoever, the accusation was unjust; but he only smiled and pretended
to argue the case for the sake of pleasing the old prince. He really
felt exceedingly uncomfortable, and would have been glad to be left alone
at any price; but there was nothing for it but to pretend to be ill in
body, when he was really sick at heart, and he remained obstinately in
bed the whole day. On the following morning he declared his intention of
going out of town, and by an early train he left the city. No one saw
Giovanni again until the evening of the Frangipani ball.

Meanwhile it would have surprised him greatly to know that Corona looked
for him in vain wherever she went, and that, not seeing him, she grew
silent and pale, and gave short answers to the pleasant speeches men made
her. Every one missed Giovanni. He wrote to Valdarno to say that he had
been suddenly obliged to visit Saracinesca in order to see to some
details connected with the timber question; but everybody wondered why he
should have taken himself away in the height of the season for so trivial
a matter. He had last been seen in the Astrardente box at the opera,
where he had only stayed a few minutes, as Del Ferice was able to
testify, having sat immediately opposite in the box of Madame Mayer. Del
Ferice swore secretly that he would find out what was the matter; and
Donna Tullia abused Giovanni in unmeasured terms to a circle of intimate
friends and admirers, because he had been engaged to dance with her at
the Valdarno cotillon, and had not even sent word that he could not come.
Thereupon all the men present immediately offered themselves for the
vacant dance, and Donna Tullia made them draw lots by tossing a copper
sou in the corner of the ball-room. The man who won the toss recklessly
threw over the partner he had already engaged, and almost had to fight a
duel in consequence; all of which was intensely amusing to Donna Tullia.
Nevertheless, in her heart, she was very angry at Giovanni's departure.

But Corona sought him everywhere, and at last heard that he had left
town, two days after everybody else in Rome had known it. She would