"And the gondola of the elector will be here to speak the prince's adieux. Now remain just where you are; and, instead of opening your ears to what is passing in yonder boudoir, make use of your leisure to say your prayers, which you may possibly have forgotten this morning."
The countess lifted up her long train, and, passing it over her arm, went on her way to meet the amiable Strozzi.
"Really, Ottario," said she, entering the cabinet, "your palace is singularly like a prison. As I came through the corridor, I felt as if I were passing over the Ponte de' Sospiri. The atmosphere of the place is heavy with your jealous sighs."
"True; there is little happiness under the marble dome of my palace.
But let us speak of other things. What can I do to serve you?"
"You seem to intimate that I can never desire to speak with you, except to ask a favor."
"I find that, generally speaking, the case."
"For once you are mistaken. I want nothing from you whatever."
"You seem to have grown rich by some legerdemain or other, Lucretia.
I hear that you have refitted your palace with great magnificence.
Has Canossa come into a fortune? or has he been winning at the card-
table?"
"Neither; but it was precisely of my newly acquired wealth that I came to speak with you. I am about to quit Venice, perhaps forever; and before leaving I wished to have an explanation with you."
"Gracious Heaven! who will take your place by Laura?"