She had lost both her parents at an early age, and now lived at Ravenna with a great-aunt,--the younger sister of the Cardinal, under his protection and wing, as it were.

The family was not a rich one, but the Cardinal had worn the purple many years.

He had held very lucrative offices in the Apostolic Court previously, and had doubtless amassed very considerable wealth, and the Lady Violante was his only heiress.

Besides that, of course the position of her great-uncle as Legate rendered her all that was desirable as a match for the noblest of the province--not to mention other grander possibilities in the background.

The reigning Pontiff was a very aged man.