 | VI. Inklings of adventure |  |
6. VI.
As the daylight stole softly over Vallombrosa, the
luxurious chariot of the Marchesa del Marmore stopped
at the door of Count Basil. The Lady Geraldine's
suit had been successful; and the hitherto excluded
Florentine had received, from the hand of the man she
had once so ignorantly scorned, a privilege for which
she would have bartered her salvation;—she had supped
at his side in the saloon of Hercules. With many
faults of character, she was an Italian in feeling, and
had a capacity, like all her country-women, for a consuming
and headlong passion. She had better have
been born of marble.
“I have lifted you to heaven,” said Count Basil, as
her chariot wheels rolled from his door; “but it is as
the eagle soars into the clouds with the serpent. We
will see how you will relish the fall!”
| VI. Inklings of adventure | |