s could have satisfied her, she might have
accepted the playful caresses of her indulgent husband, and been content
with the share of affection which he bestowed upon her. But Beatrice
asked for more than this. She was bent on having sole possession of her
lord's heart--of reigning there at least without a rival. And when she
discovered that Lodovico had a mistress actually living in the Castello,
whom he visited constantly and loved passionately, her whole being rose
up in arms. Her proud spirit would not brook a rival, and she vowed the
duke must choose between his mistress and his wife. When the Ferrarese
envoy saw the newly wedded duke on his way to Cecilia Gallerani's rooms
within a month after his marriage, he was full of gloomy forebodings.
But Lodovico was perfectly frank with him, and did not attempt to conceal
his actions or the motives of his conduct. For a while Beatrice spent her
time riding or hunting about the country with Messer Galeazzo and her
ladies, and remained in happy ignorance of the true state of affairs. But
this could not last long. Soon a rumour of Cecilia's presence in the
Rocca reached her ears; she heard how often the duke was seen in her
company, and was told that before many weeks were over his mistress was
likely to bear him a child. The first intimation which we have of this
rude awakening which had come to the young duchess is in a letter
addressed by Trotti to Duke Ercole, which he sends in the strictest
confidence, begging his master to allow no one but our illustrious Madonna
to read it, and then to burn it without delay.[12] In this letter he says
that Beatrice has absolutely refused to wear a certain vest of woven gold
which her husband had given her, if Madonna Cecilia ever appeared in a
similar one, which it seems was also Lodovico's present. The duke himself,
he adds, had been to see him that day, and had promised faithfully that he
would put an end to his _liaison_ with Cecilia, and would either marry
her to one of his courtiers or desire her to become a nun. Lodovico, it
is plain, had realized that the situation had become impossible, and
that he could not keep up his relations with his old mistress without
causing open scandal. He was true to his promise, and that carnival he
broke off the connection which gave Beatrice so much pain, and wrote to
Giacomo Trotti from Vigevano on the 27th of March, informing him that he
had decided not to see Madonna Cecilia again, and that afte