It was the sleeping-chamber of the young actress, that holiest ground to a lover; and well did the place become the presiding deity: none of the tawdry finery of the profession was visible, on the one hand; none of the slovenly disorder common to the humbler classes of the South, on the other.

All was pure and simple; even the ornaments were those of an innocent refinement,--a few books, placed carefully on shelves, a few half-faded flowers in an earthen vase, which was modelled and painted in the Etruscan fashion.

The sunlight streamed over the snowy draperies of the bed, and a few articles of clothing on the chair beside it.

Viola was not there; but the nurse!--was she gone also?
He made the house resound with the name of Gionetta, but there was not even an echo to reply.

At last, as he reluctantly quitted the desolate abode, he perceived Gionetta coming towards him from the street.
The poor old woman uttered an exclamation of joy on seeing him; but, to their mutual disappointment, neither had any cheerful tidings or satisfactory explanation to afford the other.