er a dowry of a
hundred thousand ducats. Donna Lucrezia went to live with her daughter.
Though the marquis lived magnificently, he found it difficult to spend
more than half his income.

He lodged all his relations in his immense palace; there were three
families in all, and each lived apart.

Although they were comfortably off they were awaiting with impatience the
death of the head of the family, as they would then share his riches. The
marquis had only married in the hope of having an heir; and these hopes
he could no longer entertain. However, he loved his wife none the less,
while she made him happy by her charming disposition.

The marquis was a man of liberal views like his wife, but this was a
great secret, as free thought was not appreciated at Salerno.
Consequently, any outsider would have taken the household for a truly
Christian one, and the marquis took care to adopt in appearance all the
prejudices of his fellow-countrymen.

Donna Lucrezia told me all this three hours after as we walked in a
beautiful garden, where her husband had sent us after a long conversation
on subjects which could not have been of any interest to the ladies.
Nevertheless, they did not leave us for a moment, so delighted were they
to find that the marquis had met a congenial spirit.

About six o'clock the marquis begged Donna Lucrezia to take me to the
garden and amuse me till the evening. His wife he asked to stay, as he
had something to say to her.

It was in the middle of August and the heat was great, but the room on
the ground floor which we occupied was cooled by a delicious breeze.

I looked out of the window and noticed that the leaves on the trees were
still, and that no wind was blowing; and I could not help saying to the
marquis that I was astonished to find his room as cool as spring in the
heats of summer.

"Your sweetheart will explain it to you," said he.

We went through several apartments, and at last reached a closet, in one
corner of which was a square opening.

From it rushed a cold and even violent wind. From the opening one could
go down a stone staircase of at least a hundred steps, and at the bottom
was a grotto where was the source of a stream of water as cold as ice.
Donna Lucrezia told me it would be a great risk to go down the steps
without excessively warm clothing.

I have never cared to run risks of this kind. Lord Baltimore, on the
other hand, would have laughed at the danger, and gone, ma