alace, and to restore her dowry and jewels. These latter terms
were evidently to be credited to Gabriel Zimandy's generalship; for his
client might have found herself left with neither home nor annuity. So
the lawyer's conversion had met with its reward even in this world.

But Blanka's enjoyment of house and home and yearly income was made
dependent on a certain condition: she was never to leave Rome. The
nature of the decree rendered this provision necessary. As she was
forbidden to contract a second marriage, her judge found himself obliged
to keep her under his eye, to make sure that his mandate was obeyed; and
no more delicate and at the same time effective way to do this could
have been devised than to offer her a palace in Rome and bid her enjoy
its possession for the rest of her life. This was surely kinder than
shutting her up in a convent.

After the rendering of this decree Blanka lost no time in taking
possession of that half of the Cagliari palace assigned to her, and in
engaging a retinue of servants befitting her changed surroundings. Her
own property yielded her an income equal to that which she received from
the prince, and thus she was enabled to allow herself every comfort and
even luxury that she could desire. Of the two wings of the palace,
Blanka's faced the Tiber, while the other fronted upon the public
square. Each wing had a separate garden, divided from its neighbour by a
high wall of masonry, and the only connection between the two parts of
the house was a long corridor, all passage through which was closed.
What had once been a door, leading from the room which Blanka now chose
for her bedchamber into the corridor, was filled in with a fireplace,
whose back was formed by a damascened iron plate. This apartment the
princess selected for her asylum, her hermitage, where she could be
utterly shut out from the world.

The next day after the decision was rendered, Blanka was greeted by her
bosom friend, the fair widow Dormandy, with the announcement of her
engagement to Gabriel Zimandy. They intended to be married in Rome, she
said, and then return to Hungary, whither the bridegroom's business
called him. It was clear to Blanka now why her lawyer had been so ready
to renounce "the faith of his fathers." It was more for the sake of
winning the hand of Madam Dormandy, who was a devout Catholic, and of
marrying her then and there, in Rome, than on account of his client's
interests. Here let us take