to be expected. Whom have you seen?"

"In the first place, I have seen Madame Mayer. She is in a state of anger
against you which borders on madness--not because you have wounded Del
Ferice, but because you forgot to dance with her. I cannot conceive
how you could be so foolish."

"Nor I. It was idiotic in the last degree," replied Giovanni, annoyed
that his father should have learned the story.

"You must go and see her at once--as soon as you can go out. It is a
disagreeable business."

"Of course. What else did she say?"

"She thought that Del Ferice had challenged you on her account, because
you had not danced with her."

"How silly! As if I should fight duels about her."

"Since there was probably a woman in the case, she might have been the
one," remarked his father.

"There was no woman in the case, practically speaking," said Giovanni,
shortly.

"Oh, I supposed there was. However, I told Donna Tullia that I advised
her not to think anything more of the matter until the whole story came
out."

"When is that likely to occur?" asked Giovanni, laughing. "No one alive
knows the cause of the quarrel but Del Ferice and I myself. He will
certainly not tell the world, as the thing was even more disgraceful to
him than his behaviour this morning. There is no reason why I should
speak of it either."

"How reticent you are, Giovanni!" exclaimed the old gentleman.

"Believe me, if I could tell you the whole story without injuring any one
but Del Ferice, I would."

"Then there was really a woman in the case?"

"There was a woman outside the case, who caused us to be in it," returned
Giovanni.

"Always your detestable riddles," cried the old man, petulantly; and
presently, seeing that his son was obstinately silent, he left the room
to dress for dinner.

CHAPTER XV.

It may be that when Astrardente spoke so tenderly to his wife after the
Frangipani ball, he felt some warning that told him his strength was
failing. His heart was in a dangerous condition, the family doctor had
said, and it was necessary that he should take care of himself. He had
been very tired after that long evening, and perhaps some sudden sinking
had shaken his courage. He awoke from an unusually heavy sleep with a
strange sense of astonishment, as though he had not expected to awake
again in life. He felt weaker than he had felt for a long time, and even
his accustomed beverage of chocolate mixed with coffee failed to give h