rch, however was unavailing.
Each one of the parties felt too great an interest in keeping
their secret, and Bianca herself never stirred from the
apartment.

"Three months passed in this melancholy concealment, yet she
who had been habituated from infancy to all the indulgences of
wealth, never once breathed a word of complaint. Her only
recreation was to look down into the street through the sloping
blind. Now, amongst those who frequently passed across the
Place of St Mark was the young grand-duke, who went every other
day to see his father at his castle of Petraja. Francesco was
young, gallant, and handsome; but it was not his youth or
beauty that preoccupied the thoughts of Bianca, it was the idea
that this prince, as powerful as he seemed gracious, might, by
one word, raise the ban from Pietro Bonaventuri, and restore
both him and herself to freedom. It was this idea which kindled
a double lustre in the eyes of the young Venetian, as she
punctually at the hour of his passing, ran to the window, and
sloped the jalousie. One day, the prince happening to look up
as he passed, met the enkindled glance of his fair observer.
Bianca hastily retired."

What immediately follows need not be told at any length. Francesco was
enamoured: he obtained an interview. Bianca released and enriched her
lover, but became the mistress of the young duke. Pietro was quite
content with this arrangement; he had himself given the first example of
inconstancy. He entered upon a career of riotous pleasure, which ended
in a violent death.

Francesco, in obedience to his father, married a princess of the house
of Austria; but Bianca still retained her influence. His wife, who had
been much afflicted by this preference of her rival, died, and the
repentant widower swore never again to see Bianca. He kept the oath for
four months; but she placed herself as if by accident in his path, and
all her old power was revived. Francesco, by the death of his father,
became the reigning Duke of Tuscany, and Bianca Capello, his wife and
duchess. And now we arrive at that part of the story in which Ferdinand,
the brother of Francesco, and whose statue at Livorno led to this
history, enters on the scene.

"About three years after their nuptials, the young Archduke,
the issue of Francesco's previous marriage, died, leaving the
ducal throne of Tuscany without direct