hout the series,
because the greater part of the work was done already, and it was
necessary to preserve the continuity of each resemblance. Gloria wished
to be the first everywhere, though she did not say so.

Little by little, she came less regularly in the mornings. She either
stayed at home and studied seriously the soprano parts of the great
operas then fashionable, or invented small errands which kept her out of
doors. She sometimes met Reanda when he left the palace, and they walked
home together to their midday breakfast.

Little by little, also, Francesca fell into the habit of visiting Reanda
in the great hall at hours when she was sure that Gloria would not be
there. It was not that she disliked to see them together, but rather
because she felt that Gloria was secretly antagonistic. There was a
small, perpetual, unexpressed hostility in Gloria's manner which could
not escape so sensitive a woman as Francesca. Reanda felt it, too, but
said nothing. He was almost foolishly in love with his wife, and he was
devotedly attached to Francesca herself. For the present he was very
simple in his dealings with himself, and he quietly shut his eyes to the
possibility of a disagreement between the two women, though he felt
that it was in the air.

Instead of diminishing with his marriage, the obligations under which he
was placed towards Donna Francesca were constantly increasing. She saw
and understood his wife's social ambition, and gave herself trouble to
satisfy it. Reanda felt this keenly, and while his gratitude increased,
he inwardly wished that each kindness might be the last. But Gloria had
the ambition and the right to be received in society on a footing of
equality, and no one but Francesca Campodonico could then give her what
she wanted.

She did not obtain what is commonly called social success, though many
people received her and her husband during the following winter. She got
admiration in plenty, and she herself believed that it was friendship.
Of the two, Reanda, who had no social ambition at all, was by far the
more popular. He was, as ever, quiet and unassuming, as became a man of
his extraordinary talent. He so evidently preferred in society to talk
with intelligent people rather than to make himself agreeable to the
very great, that the very great tried to attract him to themselves, in
order to appear intelligent in the eyes of others. They altogether
forgot that he was the son of the steward of