"A dimane alle dieci!" rejoined the impresario; and so the two men
parted.
"Not a bad bit of luck," thought the old singing master to himself,
as he sauntered towards his lodging, "that the Marchese should be in
bed this morning. It gives a chance that he may never hear of this
mad scappata with the Signor Ludovico. Lose the Marchese Lamberto!
No, per Bacco! there are other people, beside the good folks of the
city of Ravenna, who can't afford to lose the Marchese Lamberto just
yet!"
CHAPTER VII
An Attorney-at-law in the Papal States
At a little after twelve o'clock on that same Ash Wednesday morning,
a servant in the Castelmare livery brought a verbal message to the
"studio" of Signor Giovacchino Fortini, "procurators,"--attorney-at-
law, as we should say,--requesting that gentleman to step as far as
the Palazzo Castelmare, as the Marchese would be glad to speak with
him.
The message was not one calculated to excite any surprise either in
the servant who carried it, or in Signor Fortini himself. Signor
Giovacchino was, and had been for many years, the confidential
lawyer of the Castelmare family. And the various business connected
with large landed possessions made frequent conferences necessary
between the lawyer and such a client as the Marchese, who, among his
other activities, had always been active in the management and care
of his estates.
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