I paused, for the girl's eyes were dilated in extreme wonder and fear. I looked at her, and laughed abruptly and harshly.
"I forgot," I said; "the lady is my wife--I should have thought of that! I was speaking of--another whom you do not know. Pardon me! when I am fatigued my memory wanders. Pay no attention to my foolish remarks. Enjoy yourself, my child, but do not believe all the pretty speeches of the Prince de Majano. A rivederci!"
And smiling a forced smile I left her, and mingled with the crowd of my guests, greeting one here, another there, jesting lightly, paying unmeaning compliments to the women who expected them, and striving to distract my thoughts with the senseless laughter and foolish chatter of the glittering cluster of society butterflies, all the while desperately counting the tedious minutes, and wondering whether my patience, so long on the rack, would last out its destined time. As I made my way through the brilliant assemblage, Luziano Salustri, the poet, greeted me with a grave smile.
"I have had little time to congratulate you, conte," he said, in those mellifluous accents of his which were like his own improvised music, "but I assure you I do so with all my heart. Even in my most fantastic dreams I have never pictured a fairer heroine of a life's romance than the lady who is now the Countess Oliva."
I silently bowed my thanks.
"I am of a strange temperament, I suppose," he resumed. "To-night this ravishing scene of beauty and splendor makes me sad at heart, I know not why. It seems too brilliant, too dazzling. I would as soon go home and compose a dirge as anything."
I laughed satirically.
"Why not do it?" I said. "You are not the first person who, being present at a marriage, has, with perverse incongruity, meditated on a funeral!"
A wistful look came into his brilliant poetic eyes.
"I have thought once or twice," he remarked in a low tone, "of that misguided young man Ferrari. A pity, was it not, that the quarrel occurred between you?"
"A pity indeed!" I replied, brusquely. Then taking him by the arm I turned him round so that he faced my wife, who was standing not far off. "But look at the--the--ANGEL I have married! Is she not a fair cause for a dispute even unto death? Fy on thee, Luziano!--why think of Ferrari? He is not the first man who has been killed for the sake of a woman, nor will he be the last!"