appy girl had
married an officer, but I never sought to trace her out or to hear more
about her history.

(ii.)

_The story of my second love-affair, with fewer platonisms and a more
comic ending than the last._

About that time the Provveditore Generale found that he had need of my
quarters for storing the appurtenances of his stables and of the
coach-house, which were situated beneath the Quarterioni. Accordingly, I
removed into a little pavilion, which my friend Signor Innocenzio
Massimo and I had taken. It stood upon the ramparts. We could not occupy
this dwelling long; for it was distant from the Court and from our place
of duty. Moreover, when the winter season arrived, heavy rains, a
terrible north-wind, and snowfalls made our nest uninhabitable. Massimo
had some acquaintance with a shopkeeper and tradesman, who lived inside
the town, and owned a house with rooms to spare and many conveniences.
This man was married to a fine woman, plump and blooming; and God
forgive me if I think it probable that Massimo was more intimate with
the wife than the husband! Anyhow, he made arrangements with this
excellent couple to rent two rooms, one for me, the other for himself,
in close communication. We agreed for these rooms by the month, taking
our meals with the masters; their table was homely but abundant, and the
food excellent.

The couple were not blessed with children, but the man had adopted a
poor girl, in order to perform an act of Christian charity. This child,
who had scarcely reached her fourteenth year, dined and supped with us,
as the adopted daughter of the house. Her behaviour betrayed nothing but
the innocence belonging to her age. She had blonde hair, large blue
eyes, an expression at once soft and languid, a pale complexion tinged
with rose. She was rather thin than fleshy; but her figure was straight,
lithe, and beautifully formed; in stature she promised to be tall, with
something of majestic in her build. This girl came to dress me and
arrange my hair for the part of Luce, whenever I played at the Court
theatre. She joked and laughed, and turned me round to look at me. I
made some harmless witticisms in reply. At this she laughed the louder.
Such was our custom; but one evening, after she had done my hair for
Luce, she suddenly gave me three or four kisses on my cheeks and lips. I
was astonished. Yet I thought the girl so guileless, that I supposed she
must have imagined she was kissing some one o