the painful conviction that the ladies of
Italy have this advantage over those of France, that they are faithful
even in their infidelity. Yet he could not restrain a hope that in
Italy, as elsewhere, there might be an exception to the general rule.
Albert, besides being an elegant, well-looking young man, was also
possessed of considerable talent and ability; moreover, he was a
viscount--a recently created one, certainly, but in the present day it
is not necessary to go as far back as Noah in tracing a descent, and
a genealogical tree is equally estimated, whether dated from 1399
or merely 1815; but to crown all these advantages, Albert de Morcerf
commanded an income of 50,000 livres, a more than sufficient sum to
render him a personage of considerable importance in Paris. It was
therefore no small mortification to him to have visited most of the
principal cities in Italy without having excited the most trifling
observation. Albert, however, hoped to indemnify himself for all these
slights and indifferences during the Carnival, knowing full well that
among the different states and kingdoms in which this festivity is
celebrated, Rome is the spot where even the wisest and gravest throw off
the usual rigidity of their lives, and deign to mingle in the follies of
this time of liberty and relaxation.

The Carnival was to commence on the morrow; therefore Albert had not
an instant to lose in setting forth the programme of his hopes,
expectations, and claims to notice. With this design he had engaged a
box in the most conspicuous part of the theatre, and exerted himself
to set off his personal attractions by the aid of the most rich and
elaborate toilet. The box taken by Albert was in the first circle;
although each of the three tiers of boxes is deemed equally
aristocratic, and is, for this reason, generally styled the "nobility's
boxes," and although the box engaged for the two friends was
sufficiently capacious to contain at least a dozen persons, it had cost
less than would be paid at some of the French theatres for one admitting
merely four occupants. Another motive had influenced Albert's selection
of his seat,--who knew but that, thus advantageously placed, he might
not in truth attract the notice of some fair Roman, and an introduction
might ensue that would procure him the offer of a seat in a carriage, or
a place in a princely balcony, from which he might behold the gayeties
of the Carnival? These united considerati