here or when the Conti del Ferice had
lived, was a question he never was able to answer satisfactorily. He had
made a little money, and had squandered most of it before he died,
leaving the small remainder to his only son, who had spent every scudo of
it in the first year. But to make up for the exiguity of his financial
resources, Ugo had from his youth obtained social success. He had begun
life by boldly calling himself "Il conte del Ferice." No one had ever
thought it worth while to dispute him the title; and as he had hitherto
not succeeded in conferring it upon any dowered damsel, the question of
his countship was left unchallenged. He had made many acquaintances in
the college where he had been educated; for his father had paid for
his schooling in the Collegio dei Nobili, and that in itself was a
passport--for as the lad grew to the young man, he zealously cultivated
the society of his old school-fellows, and by wisely avoiding all other
company, acquired a right to be considered one of themselves. He was very
civil and obliging in his youth, and had in that way acquired a certain
reputation for being indispensable, which had stood him in good stead.
No one asked whether he had paid his tailor's bill; or whether upon
certain conditions, his tailor supplied him with raiment gratis. He was
always elaborately dressed, he was always ready to take a hand at cards,
and he was always invited to every party in the season. He had cultivated
with success the science of amusing, and people asked him to dinner in
the winter, and to their country houses in the summer. He had been seen
in Paris, and was often seen at Monte Carlo; but his real home and
hunting-ground was Rome, where he knew every one and every one knew him.
He had made one or two fruitless attempts to marry young women of
American extraction and large fortune; he had not succeeded in satisfying
the paternal mind in regard to guarantees, and had consequently been
worsted in his endeavours. Last summer, however, it appeared that he had
been favoured with an increase of fortune. He gave out that an old uncle
of his, who had settled in the south of Italy, had died, leaving him a
modest competence; and while assuming a narrow band of _crepe_ upon his
hat, he had adopted also a somewhat more luxurious mode of living.
Instead of going about on foot or in cabs, he kept a very small coupe,
with a very small horse and a diminutive coachman: the whole turn-out was
very quie