ch in our day characterize
a society devoid of faith, kept alive vague suspicions concerning the
Lanty family. At last, by a strange combination of circumstances, the
members of that family justified the conjectures of society by adopting
a decidedly mysterious course of conduct with this old man, whose life
was, in a certain sense, kept hidden from all investigations.

If he crossed the threshold of the apartment he was supposed to occupy
in the Lanty mansion, his appearance always caused a great sensation in
the family. One would have supposed that it was an event of the greatest
importance. Only Filippo, Marianina, Madame de Lanty, and an old servant
enjoyed the privilege of assisting the unknown to walk, to rise, to sit
down. Each one of them kept a close watch on his slightest movements. It
seemed as if he were some enchanted person upon whom the happiness, the
life, or the fortune of all depended. Was it fear or affection? Society
could discover no indication which enabled them to solve this problem.
Concealed for months at a time in the depths of an unknown sanctuary,
this familiar spirit suddenly emerged, furtively as it were,
unexpectedly, and appeared in the salons like the fairies of old, who
alighted from their winged dragons to disturb festivities to which they
had not been invited. Only the most experienced observers could divine
the anxiety, at such times, of the masters of the house, who were
peculiarly skilful in concealing their feelings. But sometimes, while
dancing a quadrille, the too ingenuous Marianina would cast a terrified
glance at the old man, whom she watched closely from the circle of
dancers. Or perhaps Filippo would leave his place and glide through
the crowd to where he stood, and remain beside him, affectionate and
watchful, as if the touch of man, or the faintest breath, would shatter
that extraordinary creature. The countess would try to draw nearer to
him without apparently intending to join him; then, assuming a manner
and an expression in which servility and affection, submissiveness and
tyranny, were equally noticeable, she would say two or three words, to
which the old man almost always deferred; and he would disappear, led,
or I might better say carried away, by her. If Madame de Lanty were not
present, the Count would employ a thousand ruses to reach his side; but
it always seemed as if he found difficulty in inducing him to listen,
and he treated him like a spoiled child, whose