But such was the case. And presently, when the well-
skilled and business-like little man began to canvass the
capabilities of certain parts in his repertorio, for the most
advantageous showing off of the personal advantages of the new
acquisition, the Marchese could stand it no longer, but replied
hastily:
"Well, well. All these matters had better be submitted to the lady
herself. I think, Signor Ercole, that I will say good-morning now.
You are going to the theatre, and I am waited for at the palazzo."
And the Marchese did return to the palazzo, though nobody was
specially waiting for him there. On the contrary, he told the
servant in the hall to admit nobody, and when he reached his
library, he shut the door and bolted it. And then he threw himself
into an easy chair to think.
The first thing that his thinking made clear and certain to him was
that something had happened, or was happening to him, which had
never happened to him before,--something respecting the exact nature
of which all his previous experience afforded him no light.
In love! He had never been in love; but he knew, with some tolerable
accuracy, what was generally understood by the phrase. He had read
the poets, who describe the passion under sufficiently various
phases; and he had heard plenty of lovers' talk among a people who
are not wont to suffer, or to exult, or to be happy in silence.
Pages:
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273