In the solitude of those long days of exile the waiting-woman returned again and again to the subject of Marcello's devotion, his beauty, his noble blood and his manifold good qualities.

She arranged meetings in the woods between the Duchess and her lover, and played her cards so well that during the course of the fine summer weeks Violante yielded to Marcello.

Diana now judged it wise to press her own suit forward with Domiziano.

But this cold-blooded fellow knew that he was no fit match for a relative of the Marchioness of Montebello.

He felt, besides, but little sentiment for his fiery _innamorata_.