The Marchesa Lanfredi, the Cardinal's
sister, though a great-aunt, was not yet sixty years old. She had
been left a childless widow, very scantily provided for, early in
life, and had retired from Bologna, her husband's native place, to
live first at Foligno, of which city her brother had been bishop,
and afterwards at Ravenna, to which he had been subsequently
promoted. The Cardinal was six or seven years her senior. His elder
brother, the grandfather of the Lady Violante, had inherited the
family estates in the neighbourhood of Pesaro, and had died, leaving
them to his only son, Violante's father, when the latter was a very
young man.
This Conte Alberto Marliani had married for love, as it is called.
That is to say, that he had not married for any of the reasons for
which marriages among people of his rank and his country are usually
made; but had been attracted by a pretty gentle face seen in a Roman
ball-room. The pretty gentle face had remained always gentle; but
had soon ceased to be pretty.
The Contessa Marliani was inclined to devotion. The Conte was very
much disinclined to anything of the sort. He soon got tired of his
wife, repented of his marriage, and commenced an active system of
breaking her heart. It was not a very difficult task, for she was as
gentle in spirit as in face.
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