nna Maria's slight change of attitude
had not escaped him, and he seemed to feel Elena's gaze riveted upon
him. What course should he pursue? He could not make up his mind whether
to accompany Donna Maria when she left the concert, or to approach
Elena, nor could he determine where this incident would be favourable to
him or otherwise with either of the ladies.

'I am going,' said Donna Maria, rising at the end of the movement.

'You will not wait till the end?'

'No, I must be home by five o'clock.'

'Do not forget--to-morrow morning----'

She held out her hand. It was perhaps the air of the close room that
sent a flush to her pale cheek. A velvet mantle of a dull leaden shade,
with a deep border of chinchilla, covered her to her feet, and amid the
soft gray fur the violets were dying exquisitely. As she passed out, she
moved with such a queenly grace that many of the ladies turned to follow
her with their eyes. It was the first time that in this spiritual
creature, the pure Siennese Madonna, Andrea also beheld the elegant
woman of the world.

The third movement of the Quartett began. The daylight had diminished so
much that the yellow curtains had to be drawn back. Several other ladies
left. A low hum of conversation was audible here and there. The fatigue
and inattention which invariably marks the end of a concert began to
make itself apparent in the audience. By one of those strange and abrupt
manifestations of moral elasticity, Andrea experienced a sudden sense of
relief, not to say gaiety. In a moment, he had forgotten his sentimental
and passionate pre-occupations, and all that now appealed to him--to his
vanity, to his corrupt senses--was the licentious aspect of the affair.
He thought to himself that in granting him these little innocent
rendezvous, Donna Maria had already set her foot on the gentle downward
slope of the path at the bottom of which lies sin, inevitable even to
the most vigilant soul; he also argued that doubtless a little touch of
jealousy would do much towards bringing Elena back to his arms and that
thus the one intrigue would help on the other--was it not a vague fear,
a jealous foreboding that had made Donna Maria consent so quickly to
their next meeting? He saw himself, therefore, well on the way to a
two-fold conquest, and he could not repress a smile as he reflected that
in both adventures the chief difficulty presented itself under the same
guise: both women professed a wish to pl