TEMPTATION. 151 



disguise, stood beside her. What could he, the young patri- 

 cian, the affianced, well nigh the wedded husband of a fitting 

 bride, have now to say to her, the foolish maiden of low de- 

 gree, who had too long listed to his beguiling tales? Why, 

 even at this eleventh hour, he had yet another for her ear a 

 tale of love and seeming madness. He had stolen away, he 

 said, from yonder brilliant company, from Beatrice, the 

 brightest of them all, to seek his Bianca, as he had purposed, 

 at her home. They, she and her old father, should still sail 

 on the morrow, at early dawn ; but he would be the companion 

 of their voyage. The captain of the galley should be bribed 

 to convey them not to the Neapolitan estate but a port of 

 France, and there, without a thought of rank, of home, or 

 even of honour forfeited, he would make her his lawful bride. 

 The maiden heard only to reject the dazzling, dangerous 

 proffer ; but Marco still urged ; when distant voices were heard 

 shouting out his name, and turning towards the villa they saw 

 several persons issuing from under the piazza, and advancing 

 towards them. " Go, go, Marco ! May blessings ever attend 

 thee ! " and Bianca, as she spoke, burst from her lover's de- 

 taining grasp, and retreated from the terrace, behind the screen 

 of a tall adjacent shrub. The young man followed for a pace 

 or two, then stopped and hesitated. He distinguished, 

 amongst the approaching voices, that of Pietro Doria, Bea- 

 trice's brother. Do what he might it was as well to save 

 appearances; so with another look towards the spot where 



