Nanina. So
far it was all well enough. My next object was to persuade him that she
could never have gone away if she had truly loved him alone; and that he
must have had some fortunate rival in her own rank of life, to whom she
had sacrificed him, after gratifying her vanity for a time by bringing
a young nobleman to her feet. I had, as you will easily imagine,
difficulty enough in making him take this view of Nanina's flight. His
pride and his love for the girl were both concerned in refusing to admit
the truth of my suggestion. At last I succeeded. I brought him to
that state of ruffled vanity and fretful self-assertion in which it is
easiest to work on a man's feelings--in which a man's own wounded pride
makes the best pitfall to catch him in. I brought him, I say, to that
state, and then _she_ stepped in and profited by what I had done. Is it
wonderful now that I rejoice in her disappointments--that I should be
glad to hear any ill thing of her that any one could tell me?"

"But how did she first get the advantage of you?"

"If I had found out, she would never have succeeded where I failed. All
I know is, that she had more opportunities of seeing him than I, and
that she used them cunningly enough even to deceive me. While I thought
I was gaining ground with Fabio, I was actually losing it. My first
suspicions were excited by a change in Luca Lomi's conduct toward me.
He grew cold, neglectful--at last absolutely rude. I was resolved not
to see this; but accident soon obliged me to open my eyes. One morning
I heard Fabio and Maddalena talking of me when they imagined I had left
the studio. I can't repeat their words, especially here. The blood flies
into my head, and the cold catches me at the heart, when I only think
of them. It will be enough if I tell you that he laughed at me, and that
she--"

"Hush! not so loud. There are other people lodging in the house. Never
mind about telling me what you heard; it only irritates you to no
purpose. I can guess that they had discovered--"

"Through her--remember, all through her!"

"Yes, yes, I understand. They had discovered a great deal more than you
ever intended them to know, and all through her."

"But for the priest, Virginie, I should have been openly insulted and
driven from their doors. He had insisted on their behaving with decent
civility toward me. They said that he was afraid of me, and laughed
at the notion of his trying to make them afraid too. That was t