The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stradella, by F(rancis) Marion Crawford

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Title: Stradella

Author: F(rancis) Marion Crawford

Release Date: November 3, 2007 [EBook #23299]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STRADELLA ***

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STRADELLA

[Illustration: 'But Ortensia did not even hear him, and sat quite still
in her chair' (_See p. 271._)]

STRADELLA

BY

F. MARION CRAWFORD
AUTHOR OF "SARACINESCA," "FAIR MARGARET,"
ETC., ETC.

_ILLUSTRATED_

New York
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1909

_All rights reserved_

COPYRIGHT, 1908,
BY F. MARION CRAWFORD.

COPYRIGHT, 1908,
BY BUTTERICK PUBLISHING CO.

COPYRIGHT, 1909.
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.

Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1909.

Norwood Press
J. S. Cushing Co.--Berwick & Smith Co.
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

'But Ortensia did not even hear him, and sat quite still
in her chair' _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

'"This is the celebrated Maestro Alessandro Stradella
of Naples"' 11

'The footman came back at last with a white face' 87

'The two Bravi faced the watch side by side' 243

'"The profession has two branches. We take lives, you
take purses"' 282

'He began to look about for lodgings' 307

'Trombin advanced upon him slowly, looking more like an
avenging demon than a man' 373

'She sat up in his arms and framed his face in her hands' 406

CHAPTER I

The Senator Michele Pignaver, being a childless widower of several
years' standing and a personage of wealth and worth in Venice, made up
his mind one day that he would marry his niece Ortensia, as soon as her
education was completed. For he was a man o