"I have come to bid you adieu."

"You are going away?" asked the Contessina. "Yes," said Fanny, "I am
going to spend the summer at one of our estates in Styria. "And, in a
low voice: "Has your mother told you that my engagement is broken?"
"Yes," replied Alba, and both were again silent. After several moments
Fanny was the first to ask: "And how shall you spend your summer?"--"We
shall go to Piove, as usual," was Alba's answer. "Perhaps Dorsenne will
be there, and the Maitlands will surely be." A third pause ensued. They
gazed at one another, and, without uttering another word, they distinctly
read one another's hearts. The martyrdom they suffered was so similar,
they both knew it to be so like, that they felt the same pity possess
them at the same moment. Forced to condemn with the most irrevocable
condemnation, the one her father, the other, her mother, each felt
attracted toward the friend, like her, unhappy, and, falling into one
another's arms, they both sobbed.




CHAPTER XI

THE LAKE DI PORTO

Her friend's tears had relieved sad Alba's heart while she held that
friend in her arms, quivering with sorrow and pity; but when she was
gone, and Madame Steno's daughter was alone, face to face with her
thoughts, a greater distress seized her. The pity which her companion in
misery had shown for her--was it not one more proof that she was right in
mistrusting her mother? Alas! The miserable child did not know that