Altogether it was to be a very brilliant affair. And all the
gay world of Ravenna was on the tiptoe of expectation and delight.
The Marchese Lamberto, indeed, looked upon his share in the pageant
as a great bore. He had had put off one or two more congenial
occupations for the purpose of doing on the occasion his part of
that which he deemed his duty to the city. Professor Tomosarchi the
great anatomist, who was at the head of the hospital, and curator of
the museum, was to have come to the Palazzo Castelmare that morning
to show the Marchese an interesting experiment connected with the
action of a new anodyne; and Signor Folchi, the pianist, was to have
been with him at one, to try over a little piece of the Marchese's
own composition. And both these appointments, either of which was
far more interesting to the Marchese Lamberto than driving out in
the cold to meet the stage goddess, had to be set aside.
Nevertheless, he had deemed it due to his own position, and to the
occasion, to grace this little triumphal entry with his presence. If
he had left it wholly in the hands of his nephew, and the other
young men, it might have been the means of starting the Signora
Lalli amiss on her Ravenna career in a manner he particularly wished
to avoid. After that little hint on the subject, which the
impresario had given him, he was specially desirous that anything
like an occasion for scandal should be avoided in all that concerned
the sojourn of the Signora Lalli in Ravenna.
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