ce was
lighted up by a radiant beam of hope which revived the glories of her
youth. This renascence of beauty, co-existent with the luminous glow of
her husband's genius, cast a shade of regret on the Count's exquisite
pleasure in this mysterious hour.

"You are our good genius!" whispered Marianna. "I am tempted to believe
that you actually inspire him; for I, who never am away from him, have
never heard anything like this."

"And Kadijah's farewell!" cried Gambara, who sang the _cavatina_ which
he had described the day before as sublime, and which now brought tears
to the eyes of the lovers, so perfectly did it express the loftiest
devotion of love.

"Who can have taught you such strains?" cried the Count.

"The Spirit," said Gambara. "When he appears, all is fire. I see the
melodies there before me; lovely, fresh in vivid hues like flowers. They
beam on me, they ring out,--and I listen. But it takes a long, long time
to reproduce them."

"Some more!" said Marianna.

Gambara, who could not tire, played on without effort or antics. He
performed his overture with such skill, bringing out such rich and
original musical effects, that the Count was quite dazzled, and at last
believed in some magic like that commanded by Paganini and Liszt,--a
style of execution which changes every aspect of music as an art, by
giving it a poetic quality far above musical inventions.

"Well, Excellenza, and can you cure him?" asked Giardini, as Andrea came
out.

"I shall soon find out," replied the Count. "This man's intellect
has two windows; one is closed to the world, the other is open to the
heavens. The first is music, the second is poetry. Till now he has
insisted on sitting in front of the shuttered window; he must be got
to the other. It was you, Giardini, who first started me on the right
track, by telling me that your client's mind was clearer after drinking
a few glasses of wine."

"Yes," cried the cook, "and I can see what your plan is."

"If it is not too late to make the thunder of poetry audible to his
ears, in the midst of the harmonies of some noble music, we must put him
into a condition to receive it and appreciate it. Will you help me to
intoxicate Gambara, my good fellow? Will you be none the worse for it?"

"What do you mean, Excellenza?"

Andrea went off without answering him, laughing at the acumen still left
to this cracked wit.

On the following day he called for Marianna, who had spent the morning