Well, Dario would be a rich man had it not been for that extraordinary affair of the Villa Montefiori.

You have heard of it, no doubt; how Prince Onofrio, Dario's father, speculated, sold the villa grounds for ten millions, then bought them back and built on them, and how, at last, not only the ten millions were lost, but also all that remained of the once colossal fortune of the Boccaneras.

What you haven't been told, however, is the secret part which Count Prada--our Contessina's husband--played in the affair.

He was the lover of Princess Boccanera, the beautiful Flavia Montefiori, who had brought the villa as dowry to the old Prince.

She was a very fine woman, much younger than her husband, and it is positively said that it was through her that Prada mastered the Prince--for she held her old doting husband at arm's length whenever he hesitated to give a signature or go farther into the affair of which he scented the danger.