Helen came down-stairs in the afternoon and found the villa deserted. Instinctively she sought the garden, walking out upon the terrace, where she leaned against one of the ancient pillars, her gaze extending to the familiar view of the river and the city beyond. She thought of the dramas which had been enacted within the walls of the weather-stained palaces whose roofs identified their location. These had been more spectacular, and had won their place in history, but she questioned whether they could have been more tragical than the one she was now passing through. Surely it was as easy, she told herself, to meet intrigue and opposition, as to be confronted with the necessity of decreeing one’s own sentence and then carrying it into execution.
“Oh, Jack!—my husband!” her heart again cried out in its pain. “Why did you come into my life, since I never belonged in yours, only to give me a taste of what might have been!”
Her reveries were interrupted by Annetta’s announcement that the Contessa Morelli was at the door, in her motor-car. Glad of any diversion, Helen hastened to welcome her, and returned with her to the garden.
“I am so glad to find you in,” the contessa remarked, with evident sincerity, as they seated themselves in the shade. “In the first place, I really wanted to see you, and, in the second, my dear Morelli is in his most aggravating mood to-day, and we should have come to blows if I had not run away.”
“How unfortunate that your husband suffers so!” Helen replied, sympathetically.
“It certainly is unfortunate for me.”
“And for him, too, I imagine,” insisted Helen, smiling.
The contessa was unwilling to yield the point. “I claim all the sympathy,” she said, with finality. “When a man has had sixty years of fun in getting the gout, he has no right to complain.”
“Sixty years—” began Helen, in surprise.
“Yes, my dear,” replied the contessa, complacently. “I belong to the second crop. He was a widower with a title and position, and I had money; but I must admit that we were both moderately disappointed. However, marriage is always a disappointment, and I consider myself fortunate that things are no worse.”