ssa's chocolate, as well as
arranged and kept in order the Contessa's boudoir. To such a retainer
nothing comes amiss. She would sit up till all hours, and perform
marvels of waiting, of working, service of every kind. It never occurred
to her that it "was not her place" to do anything that her mistress
required. Antonio was her brother, which was insipid, but she generally
managed to indemnify herself, one way or another, for the loss of this
legitimate method of flirtation. She had not great wages, and she had a
great deal of work, but Marietta felt her life amusing, and did not
object to it. Here in England the excitement indeed flagged a little.
Williams was stout and married, and the other men had ties of the heart
with which, as has been seen, Antonio ruthlessly interfered. Marietta
was not unwilling to give to Charles the footman, who was a handsome
young fellow, the means of avenging himself, but as yet this expedient
for a little amusement had not succeeded, and there had been a touch of
peevishness in the tone with which she asked whether it was true that
the Contessa intended remaining here. Madame di Forno-Populo was a woman
who disliked the bondage of question and reply.

"You do not amuse yourself, Marietta mia?" said the Contessa. She spoke
Italian with her servants, and she was always caressing, fond of tender
appellatives. "Patience! the country even in England is very good for
the complexion, and in London there is a great deal that is amusing.
Wheel this table away and give me the other with my writing things. The
cushion for my elbow. Thanks! You forget nothing. My Marietta, you will
have a happy life."

"Do you think so, Signora Contessa?" said the girl, a little wistfully.

The Contessa smiled upon her and said "Cara!" with an air of tenderness
that might have made any one happy. Then she addressed herself to her
correspondence, while Marietta removed into the other room not only the
tray but the table with the tray which her mistress had used. The
Contessa did not like to know or see anything of the processes of
readjustment and restoration. She glanced over her morning's letters
again with now and then a smile of satisfaction, and addressed herself
to the task of answering them with apparent pleasure. Indeed, her own
letters amused her even more than the others had done. When she had
finished her task she took up a silver whistle and blew into it a long
melodious note. She made the most charmin