Comparatively, it must be said; for Ludovico was very much more
frequently at the little house in the Strada di S. Eufemia than his
uncle wotted of.
Not much more frequently, however, than was very well known by most
of his contemporaries and fellow-habitues of the Circolo,--by pretty
well the whole of the "society" of Ravenna, that is to say. And in
the earlier part of the time in question,--of the eight months, that
is, from the March in which the young artist came to Ravenna, to the
November in which Signor Ercole Stadione had made his journey to
Milan there had been plenty of joking and raillery about Ludovico's
enthralment by the "bella Veneziana," and many attempts to compete
with him for so very attractive and desirable a "buona fortuna." But
all this had only been at the beginning of the time. Ludovico had
taken the matter in a tone and in a humour, that had soon put an end
to all such joking and to all such attempts. It was in all ways easy
for him to do this. He was popular, and much liked among the young
men, in the first place. His social position, as the heir of one of
the first families of the province whether for wealth or nobility of
race, and of a man of such social standing as his uncle, made it a
very undesirable thing to quarrel with him. And even without any of
such vantage-ground of position, Ludovico di Castelmare was a man,
whose path it would have been dangerous to cross in such a matter as
this, and who was very well capable of affording to any woman, in
whom he was interested, a very efficient protection against any such
offence as the most enterprising of the jeunesse doree of Ravenna
might have been disposed to offer her.
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