The Conte Leandro Lombardoni had made the utmost of the chance that
had rendered him the earliest acquaintance of the beautiful Venetian
in Ravenna, with the exception of Ludovico himself. He had
chattered, and boasted after the manner of his kind. He had
succeeded in finding out the lodging, which Ludovico had taken so
much pains to conceal from him, and had endeavoured to establish
himself on the footing of a visiting acquaintance in the Strada Sta.
Eufemia. But it had come to pass, that a degree of intimacy had very
quickly grown up between Paolina and Ludovico, which permitted her
to let him understand that, he would render her an acceptable
service by once again ridding her of the Conte Leandro, as he had
done on that first day of their acquaintance. And the result was
that, one evening, the gallant Conte, on knocking at the door of the
house in the Strada di S. Eufemia, had it opened to him by his
friend Ludovico,--and further, that he never came back there any
more, or was heard again to make any allusion whatever to his
Venetian acquaintances.
But what was no longer said jestingly before Ludovico's face was
none the less said enviously, sneeringly, or knowingly behind his
back. It was perfectly well understood by all the young men in
Ravenna that he was desperately in love with the beautiful Venetian
artist.
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