Going into society increased the expenses which Ronald and his
wife found already heavy enough. There were times when the money
received from the sale of his pictures failed in liquidating
bills; then Ronald grew anxious, and Dora, not knowing what
better to do, wept and blamed herself for all the trouble. It
was a relief then to leave the home over which the clouds lowered
and seek the gay villa, where something pleasant and amusing was
always going on.

The countess gathered around her the elite of Florentine society;
she selected her friends and acquaintances as carefully as she
selected her dresses, jewels, and flowers. She refused to know
"bores" and "nobodies"; her lady friends must be pretty, piquant,
or fashionable, any gentleman admitted into her charmed circle
must have genius, wit, or talent to recommend him. Though grave
matrons shook their heads and looked prudish when the Countess
Rosali was mentioned, yet to belong to her set was to receive the
"stamp of fashion." No day passed without some amusement at the
villa--picnic, excursion, soiree, dance, or, what its fair
mistress preferred, private theatricals and charades.

"Help me," she said one morning, as Ronald and Dora, in
compliance with her urgent invitation, came to spend the day at
the villa--"help me; I want to do something that will surprise
every one. There are some great English people coming to
Florence--one of your heiresses, who is at the same time a
beauty. We must have some grand charades or tableaus. What
would you advise? Think of something original that will take
Florence by surprise."