Presently, however, when Ludovico and Bianca had again quitted the
ball-room together, he gathered himself up, and moved slowly away,
shaking in every limb, pale, fever-lipped, and haggard.
The man who gave him his cloak in the ante-room remarked to another
servant, as soon as he was gone, that he would bet that the Marchese
Lamberto would not be at the next Carnival ball.
At six o'clock, with wonderful punctuality for an Italian, Ludovico,
with a neat little bagarino and fast-trotting pony, was at the door
of the Diva's lodging. But Bianca was not ready. Her maid came down
to the door with all sorts of apologies, and assurances that her
mistress would be ready in a few minutes. The few minutes, however,
became half an hour, as minutes will under such circumstances. And
the result of this delay was that Ludovico and his companion were
not the first travellers out of the Porta Nuova that morning.
During the whole of the past Carnival and the latter months of the
previous year there had been living in Ravenna a young girl,--an
artist from Venice, who had come to Ravenna with a commission given
her by a travelling Englishman to make copies of some of the more
remarkable of the very extraordinary and unique series of mosaics
which exist in the old imperial city. She had brought with her a
letter of introduction from her employer to the Marchese Lamberto,--
a circumstance which had led to a degree of intimacy between the
Marchesino Ludovico and the extremely attractive young artist, which
threatened to stand more or less in the way of the match which had
been arranged by the high-contracting parties between Ludovico and
the Lady Violante, the great niece of the Cardinal.
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