ess
at the Palazzo Pitti hard by, but galloped off post-haste to his wife's
villa, and, unannounced, surprised Isabella in the midst of
preparations for a sudden journey! If, as some maintained, she meant to
follow her fleeing lover, Troilo, at all events she was determined to
seek the Court of France, and throw herself upon the sympathy of Queen
Caterina, her kinswoman, and crave her protection for herself and her
babe!

Several letters had already passed between the two illustrious women.
Isabella, on her part, says: "I have asked pardon of God for my sins,
and have resolved to let things take their course"; but she implores
Catherine to protect her little son. In the last of these letters she
writes:--"Let your Majesty think of this letter as the last words of a
person bound to you by the ties of blood, and consider them as the
confidence of one who is about to die, resigned and repentant, who
otherwise could only end her life in despair and desperation."

The Duke judged his wife guilty, before she had offered any explanation
of the tragic doings at the Villa, and his impulse was to dishonour her
before her whole household. The spirit of duplicity, which had haunted
their married life, during eighteen random years of misunderstanding,
distaste and estrangement, still ruled them both--but Bracciano
restrained his passion for a while.

He noted the preparations for hasty flight--indicative of Isabella's
guilt--but, what more than all else enraged him almost beyond the power
of self-control, was the cry of an infant within Isabella's apartments!
That child was not his. Whose was it?

Isabella met her husband perfectly unabashed, and, if she expected an
immediate explosion, she was agreeably though somewhat misgivingly
surprised at his cordial greeting. He asked her where she was going, and
suggested that they should go away together. Isabella of course
prevaricated--truth is a negative quality between those who doubt each
other! Then, to her great surprise, Bracciano began to express himself
in terms at once tender and apologetic.

"The faults, and faults there are, have been all on my side," he said,
"but I wish to alter all this and begin a new course, happy, and
well-regulated. I suggest that bygones be bygones, and that we mutually
agree to bury the past. Let us, Isabella, begin an entirely new course
of life and live henceforth only for each other." His fair words were
matched by the mild expression he contr