"That angel of beauty has the ineffably eccentric idea that she loves that old transparency, that old magic-lantern slide of a man!" On the other hand, there was a party of people who affirmed, as beyond all doubt, that the duel had been brought about by Giovanni's forgetting his dance with Donna Tullia.

Del Ferice was naturally willing to put himself forward in her defence, reckoning on the favour he would gain in her eyes.

He had spoken sharply to Giovanni about it, and told him he had behaved in an ungentlemanly manner--whereupon Giovanni had answered that it was none of his business; an altercation had ensued in a remote room in the Frangipani palace, and Giovanni had lost his temper and taken Del Ferice by the throat, and otherwise greatly insulted him.

The result had been the duel in which Del Ferice had been nearly killed.

There was a show of truth about this story, and it was told in such a manner as to make Del Ferice appear as the injured party.