Was it that he hastened
to acquire such an authority over Bianca, as might enable him to put
an end to any such escapades for the future? Was it that he was
infatuated to that degree, that he feared, that if he did not make
haste to secure the prize, it might be taken from him by his nephew?
However this might have been, the overt step he had taken had
certainly not had the effect of tranquillizing his mind. The hours
of that day, since the lawyer left him, had been passed in the most
miserable manner by him.
The servants had all learned, that there was something very
decidedly wrong with their master. The man who usually attended on
him personally, surprised at his master spending the day in a manner
so unusual with him, had made various excuses to enter the library
two or three times in the course of the day. Each time he had found
the Marchese, instead of being busily employed, as was usual with
him, when in his library, either sitting in his easy-chair with his
hands before him, and his head hanging on his breast, doing
absolutely nothing; or else pacing up and down the room.
As the afternoon went on, and the Marchese still did not go out, his
valet, really uneasy about him, found the means of watching him
without entering the room. Again and again he saw him rise from his
chair and, after two or three turns across the room, return to it.
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