Paolina insisted on employing a part of the time which necessarily
elapsed before her marriage in completing the engagement she had
undertaken, and the promise she had made to her English patron. But
she found herself compelled to beg that some other specimen, chosen
from among the wonderful wealth of early Christian art that remains
at Ravenna, might be substituted for that in the choir of St.
Apollinare. She made the attempt to return to the scaffolding by the
side of the window, but she found that her strength was unequal to
the task. She could not bear to look on the prospect from that
window. By agreement with her employer, some further figures from
the mosaics in San Vitale were substituted for those which had
originally been selected in St. Apollinare. Her associations with
the former church were of a more pleasant character; and Paolina
never visited the desolate old building "in Classe" again. When the
specimens selected in lieu of those in the latter building had been
completed, Paolina and her friend and protectress returned with them
to Venice, where it had been arranged that they were to be delivered
to the Director of the Gallery.
In the ensuing Carnival Ludovico came hither, and the marriage was
there solemnized. It is not intended to insinuate that he had not
often made the journey from Ravenna to Venice in the interval.
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