Ginevra comprehended that true love could despise all vulgar
protestations at such a moment. This calm and restrained expression of
his feelings foreshadowed, in some sense, their strength and their
duration.

The destiny of the pair was then and there decided. Ginevra foresaw a
cruel struggle, but the idea of abandoning Luigi--an idea which may
have floated in her soul--vanished completely. His forever, she
dragged him suddenly, with a desperate sort of energy, from her
father's house, and did not leave him till she saw him reach the house
where Servin had engaged a modest lodging.

By the time she reached home, Ginevra had attained to that serenity
which is caused by a firm resolution; no sign in her manner betrayed
uneasiness. She turned on her father and mother, whom she found in the
act of sitting down to dinner, a glance of exceeding gentleness devoid
of hardihood. She saw that her mother had been weeping; the redness of
those withered eyelids shook her heart, but she hid her emotion. No
one touched the dinner which was served to them. A horror of food is
one of the chief symptoms which reveal a great crisis in life. All
three rose from table without having addressed a single word to one
another.

When Ginevra had placed herself between her father and mother in the
great and gloomy salon, Piombo tried to speak, but his voice failed
him; he tried to walk, but he had no strength in his legs. He returned
to his seat and rang the bell.

"Pietro," he said, at last, to the footman, "light the fire; I am