Cavaliere had a singular ingenuity in planning such entertainments and the
days were hardly long enough for their diversions. But toward the end of
the summer the Duchess fell quiet and would hear only sad music, and the
two sat much together in the gazebo at the end of the garden. It was there
the Duke found them one day when he drove out from Vicenza in his gilt
coach. He came but once or twice a year to the villa, and it was, as my
grandmother said, just a part of her poor lady's ill-luck to be wearing
that day the Venetian habit, which uncovered the shoulders in a way the
Duke always scowled at, and her curls loose and powdered with gold. Well,
the three drank chocolate in the gazebo, and what happened no one knew,
except that the Duke, on taking leave, gave his cousin a seat in his
carriage; but the Cavaliere never returned.

"Winter approaching, and the poor lady thus finding herself once more
alone, it was surmised among her women that she must fall into a deeper
depression of spirits. But far from this being the case, she displayed such
cheerfulness and equanimity of humor that my grandmother, for one, was
half-vexed with her for giving no more thought to the poor young man who,
all this time, was eating his heart out in the house across the valley. It
is true she quitted her gold-laced gowns and wore a veil over her head; but
Nencia would have it she looked the lovelier for the change and so gave the
Duke greater displeasure. Certain it is that the Duke drove out oftener to
the villa, and though he found his lady always engaged in some innocent
pursuit, such as embroidery or music, or playing games with her young
women, yet he always went away with a sour look and a whispered word to
the chaplain. Now as to the chaplain, my grandmother owned there had been
a time when her grace had not handled him over-wisely. For, according to
Nencia, it seems that his reverence, who seldom approached the Duchess,
being buried in his library like a mouse in a cheese--well, one day he made
bold to appeal to her for a sum of money, a large sum, Nencia said, to buy