th the costumes. She left the others
on the church-place of the Annunciata, and as she went down the
Calcinera alone her face once more resumed its spectral appearance.

She was on her way to Casarico to see the Gilardonis, who had been
married three years. The professor's happiness and his adoration of
Ester would deserve to be told in verse! Uncle Piero said of him that he
had grown feeble-minded. Ester feared he might become ridiculous, and
would not allow him to assume certain ecstatic poses before her when
there was anyone present. The only person in whose presence she did not
insist upon the observance of this rule was Luisa. But Gilardoni always
showed the greatest deference for Luisa; to him she was still a
superhuman being; to his respect for the woman herself had been added
his respect for her grief, and in her presence his behaviour was always
most circumspect. Luisa had been going to Casa Gilardoni almost every
evening for about two years now, and if anything could have troubled the
couple's happiness it would have been these visits.

Indeed, their motive was a strange one, and one repugnant to Ester, but
Ester's affection for her friend, and her pity for her bereavement, were
so great, while her heart was so full of remorse for not having looked
after Maria more carefully on that terrible day, that she did not dare
to resolutely oppose her wishes, or dissuade her husband from gratifying
them. She expressed her disapproval to Luisa, and begged her at least to
maintain secrecy concerning the nightly doings in the professor's study,
but she went no further. The professor, on the contrary, would have
enjoyed these seances had it not been for his wife's disapproval. It was
already dark when Luisa rang the bell at the little door of Casa
Gilardoni. Ester herself opened it. Luisa did not return her greeting,
which she felt was full of embarrassment. She simply looked at her, but
when they reached the little parlour on the ground-floor where Ester was
in the habit of spending her evenings, she embraced her so passionately
that Ester burst into tears. "Have patience with me!" Luisa said. "It is
all that is left me!" Ester tried to comfort her, telling her that
happier times were coming for her; that she and Franco would soon be
reunited. In a few months Lombardy would be free, and Franco would come
home. And then--and then--so many things might happen! Perhaps Maria
might return! Luisa started violently and caught h