Bartolomeo seemed dazed for a moment, but he recovered his coolness
instantly, and replied:--

"The marriage will not take place in my lifetime; I will never consent
to it."

Ginevra kept silence.

"Ginevra," continued the baron, "have you reflected that Luigi is the
son of the man who killed your brother?"

"He was six years old when that crime was committed; he was,
therefore, not guilty of it," she replied.

"He is a Porta!" cried Bartolomeo.

"I have never shared that hatred," said Ginevra, eagerly. "You did not
bring me up to think a Porta must be a monster. How could I know that
one of those whom you thought you had killed survived? Is it not
natural that you should now yield your vendetta to my feelings?"

"A Porta!" repeated Piombo. "If his father had found you in your bed
you would not be living now; he would have taken your life a hundred
times."

"It may be so," she answered; "but his son has given me life, and more
than life. To see Luigi is a happiness without which I cannot live.
Luigi has revealed to me the world of sentiments. I may, perhaps, have
seen faces more beautiful than his, but none has ever charmed me thus;
I may have heard voices--no, no, never any so melodious! Luigi loves