He, the Marchese
Lamberto, the intimate friend of the Cardinal, and the most pre-
eminently respectable man in Ravenna, had had a very large--
certainly the largest--share in bringing this woman to the city; and
he was anxious that the engagement should lead to no unpleasant
results of any kind.
It might be very possibly that the little matters at which the
impresario had hinted, were not altogether calumnious;--that the
lady might be one of those members of her profession who seek other
triumphs besides those of her own scenic kingdom, and the story of
whose lives in the different cities they visit is not confined to
the walls and to the records of the theatre. It might very well be
that a little caution and looking after was needed in the matter, It
would be as well, therefore, to take the thing in hand at once in a
manner that should put the lady on a right course from the
beginning;--all which could be excellently well accomplished by at
once taking her, as it were, into his own hands; and would, on the
other hand, be endangered by throwing her from the first into those
of the youngsters who purposed going out to meet her.
So the Marchese sacrificed himself; put off the anatomist and the
musician; spent the morning in arranging all the details of the
proposed cavalcade with the young men who were to compose it; and at
two o'clock got into his open carriage to drive out towards
Bagnacavallo.
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