He betook himself to his own
quartierino, locked the door, and sat down to think.
He had said no more than the truth to Paolina when he professed that
he had never spoken a word with the intention of deceiving her. Nor
had he been otherwise than entirely sincere in all that he had just
been saying to her. Nevertheless he felt, somewhat more strongly and
clearly, perhaps, than while he had been looking into Paolina's
eyes, that he had undertaken rather a tremendous task in declaring
that he would break off the projected marriage with the Lady
Violante, the great-niece of the Cardinal,--a match which both
families considered to be definitively arranged, and which was
expected and looked forward to by all Ravenna, and that for the
purpose and with the view of making so terrible a mesalliance as
that he contemplated. The Marchese Ludovico felt all the weight of
the inheritance of a great name and a still greater social position,
which devolved upon him from his uncle. It was bad enough to
contemplate the effect which would be produced, as regarded himself,
by the step he contemplated. But it was perfectly terrible to think
of the effect it would produce on the Marchese Lamberto. Ludovico
was proud, in his more easy-going way, of the position he occupied
as his uncle's nephew in the society of the city; but it was not to
him the breath of his nostrils as it was to his uncle.
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