D'Elmont, returning to Paris from the French wars, becomes the
admiration of both sexes, but especially in the eyes of the rich and
noble Alovisa appears a conquest worthy of her powers. To an incoherent
expression of her passion sent to him in an anonymous letter he pays no
attention, having for diversion commenced an intrigue with the lovely
Amena. Though Alovisa in a second billet bids him aim at a higher mark,
"he had said too many fine things to be lost," and continues his pursuit
until Amena's father takes alarm and locks her up. Through her maid she
arranges for a secret meeting, and though touched by her father's
reproofs, she is unable to withstand the pleas of the captivating count.
Their tete-a-tete in the Tuilleries, however, is interrupted by
Alovisa's spies, who alarm the house with cries of fire, so that the
lovers find themselves locked out. Half senseless with dismay, Amena
finds shelter in the house of Alovisa, who, though inwardly triumphant,
receives her rival civilly and promises to reconcile her to her father.
D'Elmont is so patently glad to be relieved of his fair charge that she
demands back her letter, but he by mistake gives her one of Alovisa's,
whose handwriting she immediately recognizes. When the polite Count
returns to enquire after her health, she accuses her lover and friend of
duplicity, faints, and letting fall Alovisa's letter from her bosom,
brings about an _éclaircissement_ between D'Elmont and that lady. Before
Amena's recovery the Count hastens away to welcome his brother, and when
the imprudent girl has been safely lodged in a convent, D'Elmont, moved
more by ambition than by love, weds the languishing Alovisa.

After his marriage the Count soon quarrels with his wife and consoles
himself by falling in love with his ward, the matchless Melliora, but
the progress of his amour is interrupted by numerous unforeseen
accidents. The mere suspicion of his inconstancy raises his wife's
jealousy to a fever heat. To expose her rival she pretends to yield to