The Italians by Frances Elliot
page 46 of 453 (10%)
page 46 of 453 (10%)
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curtains carefully over it. With greater caution she unfastens the
other door (the entrance) on the staircase. Peeping through the curtains, she assures herself that no one is on the stairs. Then she softly recloses it, and rapidly ascends the stairs to the second story. That day six months, on the anniversary of Castruccio's birth, which falls in the month of March, she will return again to the state-rooms. No one has ever accompanied her on these strange vigils. Only her friend, the Cavaliere Trenta, knows that she goes there. Even to him she rarely alludes to it. It is her own secret. Her inner life is with the past. Her thoughts rest with the dead. It is the living who are but shadows. CHAPTER V. ENRICA. The marchesa was in a very bad humor. Not only did she stay at home all the day of the festival of the Holy Countenance by reason of the solemn anniversary which occurred at that time, but she shut herself up the following day also. When the old servant (old inside and out) in his shabby livery, who acted as butler, crept into her room, and asked at what time "the eccellenza would take her airing on the ramparts"--the usual drive of the Lucchese ladies--when they not only drive, but draw up under the plane-trees, gossip, and eat sweetmeats |
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