He hated me,
and was beginning to hate you, I fancy. We were neither of us his
friends, at any rate. We do not rejoice at his death; we merely regard it
in the light of an event which modifies our immediate future. He is dead,
and his wife is free. So long as he was alive, the fact of your loving
her was exceedingly unfortunate: it was injuring you and doing a wrong to
her. Now, on the contrary, the greatest good fortune that can happen to
you both is that you should marry each other."

"That is true," returned Giovanni. In the suddenness of the news, it had
not struck him that his father would ever look favourably upon the match,
although the immediate possibility of the marriage had burst upon him as
a great light suddenly rising in a thick darkness. But his nature, as
strong as his father's, was a little more delicate, a shade less rough;
and even in the midst of his great joy, it struck him as heartless to be
discussing the chances of marrying a woman whose husband was not yet
buried. No such scruple disturbed the geniality of the old Prince. He was
an honest and straightforward man--a man easily possessed by a single
idea--and he was capable of profound affections. He had loved his Spanish
wife strongly in his own fashion, and she had loved him, but there was no
one left to him now but his son, whom he delighted in, and he regarded
the rest of the world merely as pawns to be moved into position for the
honour and glory of the Saracinesca. He thought no more of a man's life
than of the end of a cigar, smoked out and fit to be thrown away.
Astrardente had been nothing to him but an obstacle. It had not struck
him that he could ever be removed; but since it had pleased Providence
to take him out of the way, there was no earthly reason for mourning his
death. All men must die--it was better that death should come to those
who stood in the way of their fellow-creatures.

"I am not at all sure that she will consent," said Giovanni, beginning to
walk up and down the room.

"Bah!" ejaculated his father. "You are the best match in Italy. Why
should any woman refuse you?"

"I am not so sure. She is not like other women. Let us not talk of it
now. It will not be possible to do anything for a year, I suppose. A year
is a long time. Meanwhile I will go to that poor man's funeral."

"Of course. So will I."

And they both went, and found themselves in a vast crowd of
acquaintances. No one had believed that Astrardente coul