Nor had it yet occurred to the Marchese that such a
preposterous thought as that he could marry her could have entered
into her mind. Yet it was clear to him that he made no progress
towards making her his own upon any other terms. The alternations
between beckoning him on and warding him off had been managed with
such skill, that they appeared to be the result of the Diva's
internal struggle with her own inclinations. What was he to
understand by it? If she had been,--had always been--of unblemished
character! But it was not so; he knew better!
That her conduct at Ravenna had been correct was undeniable. Still,
even with regard to that, the Marchese was not spared the pangs of
jealousy, in addition to all the rest. Ludovico continued to
frequent the house in the Strada di Porta Sisi. It seemed, as he had
said at the Circolo, as if Bianca wished him to come there. In fact
he had spoken to the young men at the Circolo with perfect truth in
all respects as to his relations with the Diva. There had never been
any word of love-making or even flirting between them. Yet, in a
sort of way, she seemed to wish to be agreeable to him and to
attract him. But she never made any secret of his visits from the
Marchese, although it was unmistakable enough that it was
disagreeable to him to hear of them.
Had he been free from the spell himself he would have rather
rejoiced that his nephew had met with an attraction, which would be
likely to have the effect of making him faithless to Paolina.
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