t I
am to expect. Surely, by this time you must have made up your mind."

"I have only known him a fortnight, mother. That is not a long time when
one is to decide about one's whole life, is it?"

"No. Well--it seems to me that a fortnight--you see, it is so
important!"

"Precisely," Cecilia answered. "It is very important. That is why I do
not mean to do anything in a hurry. Either you must tell Signor d'Este
to wait a little while before he asks me, or else, when he does, I must
beg him to wait some time for his answer."

"But it seems to me, if you like him so much, that is quite enough."

"Why are you in such a hurry, mother?" asked Cecilia, with a smile.

"Because I am sure you will be perfectly happy if you marry him,"
answered the Countess, with much conviction.

CHAPTER X

Guido d'Este walked home from the Villa Madama in a very bad temper with
everything. He was not of a dramatic disposition, nor easily inclined to
sudden resolutions, and when placed in new and unexpected circumstances
his instinct was rather to let them develop as they would than to direct
them or oppose them actively. For the first time in his life he now felt
that he must do one or the other.

To treat Lamberti as if nothing had happened was impossible, and it was
equally out of the question to behave towards Cecilia as though she had
not done or said anything to check the growth of intimacy and friendship
on her side and of genuine love on his. He took the facts as he knew
them and tried to state them justly, but he could make nothing of them
that did not plainly accuse both Cecilia and Lamberti of deceiving him.
Again and again, he recalled the words and behaviour of both, and he
could reach no other conclusion. They had a joint secret which they had
agreed to keep from him, and rather than reveal it his best friend was
ready to break with him, and the woman he loved preferred never to see
him again. He reflected that he was not the first man who had been
checked by a girl and forsaken by a friend, but that did not make it any
easier to bear.

It was quite clear that he could not submit to be so treated by them.
Lamberti had asked him to speak to Cecilia before quarrelling
definitely. He had done so, and he was more fully convinced than before
that both were deceiving him. There was no way out of that conviction,
there was not the smallest argument on the other side, and nothing that
eith