nonsense chattered by the ladies around her on
the subject, without taking any part in their
speculations, knowing right well, pur troppo—as
she would have said in her own Tuscan—that
some new and unusually absorbing passion was
the real cause of Salviati's recent insensibility to
all the agaceries that could be brought to bear
upon him. Several of the "ornaments of the
court" of Ferdinando the Second had been more
or less piqued and irritated by this rebellion
against legitimate authority; but the only
heart that had really been hit hard by it was
that of the Contessa Cecilia. She accordingly had
been more clear-sighted than the rest, in divining
the true state of the case.

The Duchess di San Giuliano, as has been said,
was by no means popular among the light-hearted
and light-mannered beauties of the Tuscan court.
But, as will be readily imagined under the
circumstances, she was especially the object of the
Signora Cecilia's aversion. A reference to the
best authorities on the nature and idiosyncrasy
of the female heart, would lead to the further
belief that that high-born lady did not feel kindly
towards the unknown beauty whose low-born
charms had so wrought on the noble duke.
Further still, the recorded effects which have
been observed with remarkable uniformity to
follow the " spretae injuria formae," justify us in
concluding, that it would not be unpleasing to
the neglected fair one to have visited with a
certain amount of punishment the recreant knight
himself.

Now, unfortunately, the word which Carlini
had let fall about the mischief likely to follow
from any communication of the facts of Salviati's
infidelity, to the duchess, had suddenly suggested
to the lovely and amiable Cecilia a method by
which, as it seemed to her, she might succeed
in killing three birds with one stone.

"Now for a sight of this redoubtable rival!"
sneered the contessa in soliloquy; and she
clutched the packet containing the miniature,
and impatiently tore open the envelope. " Now
we shall see what the dyer's daughter is like—a
dyer's daughter they say, whose sire and mother
both died in the plague year! Why, what
is the use of noble blood and gentle birth, if the
dregs of the populace—born in squalor, and
reared in misery—can rival us in all a woman
cares to live for! Now for it!" And she
opened the case of the little portrait.

"Bah!" she cried, after a long and earnest
look, during which her handsome but haughty
features had curled into a sneering smile.
"Bah! is that all?" And taking a taper in her
hand she approached the mirror on her toilette-
table, and seating herself in front of it, scanned
the two faces before her. The comparison
seemed satisfactory to her.

"A pretty face!" she said. " Yes, certainly a
pretty face—pink cheeks, white forehead, black
eyebrows, deep-blue eyes, crimson lips! A very
pretty bit of colouring! Contour, meaning, grace,
expression, fire, passion—nothing. Bah! That
won't last long. But that it should have endured
at all, merits, methinks, some little measure of
punishment—a punishment which, I take it, will
have the effect of bringing back our stray sheep
to its proper fold! This pink and white doll
shall be taught to seek her lovers among her
fellows for the future. And yon proud duchess,
with her kill-joy face, and insolently censorious
ways, shall find that it would have been more for
her happiness never to have come to our bright
Florence, to lord it over Tuscan dames.

With these thoughts in her heart, she sat
down before a writing-table, and penned in large
coarse characters, which perfectly masked her
own handwriting, the following billet:

A true friend to the Duchessa di San Giuliano—
perhaps the only one she has in this vile, dissolute court
—sends her the enclosed miniature. It is the portrait
of one Caterina Canacci, who lives in the palazzo of
that name, in the Via dei Pilastri; an abandoned
woman, who has so bewitched the noble Jacopo
Salviati, that his days are passed in thinking only
of her, and his nights in her company. Should any
doubt of the truth of these facts remain in the mind
of the duchess, she may with ease dispel them by
acquiring certain evidence of the duke's frequent
visits to the house indicated.

(Subscribed) A CITIZEN AND LOYAL SUBJECT
OF MASSA.

When she had completed the above note, and
placed it in an envelope, together with the
miniature, addressed to the duchess, at her Villa
Salviati, she rang her hand-bell, and said to
Geppina, when she answered it:

"Let one of your own friends, Geppina, some
one you can depend on, and who is not known in
any way as belonging to this house, take this
packet to Villa Salviati, leave it, and come away
without waiting to be asked any questions. And
take care he speaks no word either before or
afterwards, of his errand."

The packet was at Villa Salviati the following
morning before the duchess was up; and how it
was placed in her hands as she sat at her morning
toilette shall next be told.

Now ready, price 5s. 6d., bound in cloth,

THE SEVENTH VOLUME
OF
ALL THE YEAR ROUND.

Containing from Numbers 151 to 176.

The Six preceding Volumes are always to be had.
They include the following Novels:—
A TALE OF TWO CITIES. By CHARLES DICKENS.
THE WOMAN IN WHITE. By WILKIE COLLINS.
A DAY'S RIDE, A LIFE'S ROMANCE. By CHARLES
LEVER.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS. BY CHARLES DICKENS.
A STRANGE STORY. By SIR EDWARD BULWER LYTTON.