ttempt.

He started at the command, for in imagination he had been far away in a
thatch-roofed cottage behind hawthorne hedges, where Anne, faithful
Anne, had so often welcomed her wild lover. Their wills had clashed
after their marriage. She had objected unreasonably when his career led
him to London, had been sceptical as to his success, and even, so it
seemed to him, as to his genius. There had been angry reproaches and
bitter recriminations, but at heart he had never doubted her affection
and had always intended to convince her of his own when he could also
prove that in following the call of his talent he had acted for her best
interest. His stay at the Villa Medici and its very hostess seemed to
him now a hallucination whose passing left no trace upon his sober
senses, but could Anne understand this? If she believed him erring was
the high-spirited wife capable of forgiveness? He saw himself condemned
and shame-stricken before the tribunal of her unswerving rectitude but
none the less he ventured his plea in lines that had been forming
themselves, as always when he was under the stress of emotion, with the
clarity and perfection of a crystal born from the drip and ooze of some
dark cavern.

It is of all his sonnets the one which rings most true, ending with its
appeal for reconciliation after long estrangement.

"Your heart
My home of love; if I have ranged,
Like him that travels, I return again!"

He was not certain that he would be permitted to rejoin her, but he
would not sadden Anne by his foreboding. His heart had returned to its
allegiance; this was the important thing, and this she should know.

"I leave you now," said Radicofani as Brandilancia handed him the
letters, "for I must make speed to wait upon the Grand Duke at Florence.
Regard yourself as my guest rather than as a prisoner. I leave only a
few old servants charged to make you as comfortable as the ruinous
condition of this old castle of my ancestors will permit. The length of
your stay is conditioned only upon the promptitude of your friends in
complying with my conditions. I see that your letters are written in
English. No matter, I have no desire to pry into your private affairs
and shall send them by the earliest opportunity."

Brandilancia bowed ceremoniously, but sank exhausted into his chair. He
was shivering in a violent chill, the first stages of Roman fever,
brought on by his experiences in the su