The chapel in
question is a private one, and is accessible only by passing through
a portion of the Cardinal's residence. At San Vitale Ludovico needed
to take nobody into his confidence, when he climbed to Paolina's
scaffolding to be by her side while she worked, save the old
sacristan. But to have joined her at her work in the Cardinal's
palace, he must have knocked at the door of the residence, and told
the servants what he wanted.
And that would have been obviously inconvenient, even without
mentioning the fact that the Lady Violante, to whom the gentleman
ought to have been addressing himself, passed much of her time at
the palace, and might very possibly have been met by him there.
It was true that, ever since the ball at the Castelmare palazzo, on
the second day of the year, Ludovico had felt pretty nearly sure
that Violante was as desirous of escaping from the marriage which
had been arranged as he was himself. But it did not at all follow
that it would be an easy matter to break it off. Of course it was
not to be expected that Violante herself could take any active step
towards refusing to fulfil the promise that her family had made for
her. That would be for him to do. And except as regarded his
intercourse with the lady, and her personal feelings, the task of
doing so was hardly rendered any the easier by the knowledge that he
would be consulting her wishes as well as his own.
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