That fact admitted of no doubt
whatever! It was strange, curious enough, that she should have
succeeded so brilliantly, so entirely, and so immediately in spite
of all the signs and tokens which had led her not small experience
to expect so entirely different a result. Clearly the still larger
experience of old Quinto Lalli had been more far-sighted. His view
of the matter had been the true one!
But still, how far was his view of the question a correct one? What
was the success, which had been very unmistakably so far achieved,
in reality worth? It was very plain that this Marchese Lamberto had
been caught, captivated, fascinated! But what then? There was no
doubt at all that he would very willingly suffer her to add him to
the list of her previous admirers and lovers. It never entered into
the Diva's head to conceive, after the very unmistakable testimony
she had received of the evident admiration of the Marchese, that
very grave difficulties, objections, and hesitations would, on his
side, stand in the way of his accepting any such position. She
doubted not that this conquest was perfectly within her reach; and
that there would be no difficulty at all in drawing large supplies
from the Castelmare wealth towards recruiting the needs of the Lalli
exchequer.
But this, as has been explained, was not what Bianca wanted.
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