but she knew that Paolina's purpose on that Ash Wednesday morning
was merely to walk to the church, and, having seen the preparations
that had been made for her work, to return, without on that occasion
remaining to begin her task. So that when the hour of the midday
meal arrived, and her young friend had not returned, old Orsola
began to be a little uneasy about her.

Nor was her uneasiness lessened by her entire ignorance as to there
being little or much, or no cause at all for it. Never having left
Venice before in her life, old Orsola was as much a stranger in
Ravenna, and felt herself to be in an unknown world, as completely
as an Englishman would in Japan. Since she had been in Ravenna she
had frequently heard the Pineta spoken of, and the old church out
there in which her young friend was to do a portion of her task. But
she had heard them both mentioned as strange and wild places, not
exactly like all the rest of the world. And the old woman felt,
that, for aught she knew, this Pineta, and the old church in the
wilderness on the borders of it, might be a place full of dangers
for a young girl all by herself.

And as the hours crept on, and no Paolina came, her uneasiness
increased till she felt it impossible to sit quietly at home waiting
for her any longer. She must go out, and--do what? The poor old
woman did not in the least know what to do; or of whom to make any
inquiry. The only person with whom the two Venetian strangers had
become at all intimate in Ravenna was the Marchese Ludovico. And the
only step in her difficulty which old Orsola could think of taking,
after much doubt and hesitation, was to go to the Palazzo
Castelmare, and endeavour to speak with the Marchesino. The letter
of introduction, which they had brought from the English patron, was