"No, no! that won't do at all; come--come along. I won't go there
without you. Come!" said the Marchese.
And this was said in a manner that had the effect of making Leandro
take leave of the ladies, with many hopes that they might meet again
ere long.
Very soon after the two young men were in the street together,
Ludovico protested that he must call at the Circolo before attending
to the business they were on; and when he got there he pretended to
be obliged to run home for a minute to the Palazzo Castelmare, which
was hard by, saying that he would return and rejoin the Conte
Leandro in less than five minutes. And very heartily did that
deceived gentleman abuse his friend, when he had waited an hour, and
found that he did not return at all. Then, poor gentleman! he knew
that he had been bamboozled,--cruelly treated, as he said himself.
And he perfectly well understood his dear friend's object, too!
"Such an intolerable, abominable coxcomb as that Ludovico is! As if
he fancied that nobody was to have a chance of speaking to that
pretty girl but himself. As if he thought that he had the ghost of a
chance with a woman, if I thought it worth while to cut him out!"
grumbled the gallant, gay Leandro to himself.
The Marchese Ludovico, meanwhile, the instant he had succeeded in
freeing himself from his companion, darted off in search of an
apartment, which he thought would just suit his fair clients;
hurried back to them, at the inn; and had them installed in their
new quarters by that evening.
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