s
compatible with the absence of all virtue, and as much pride as can
exist without true nobility of mind."

* * * * *

When Pietro Buonaventuri so complacently resigned his bewitching young
wife to be the plaything of Don Francesco de' Medici, he also yielded up
the guardianship of his little daughter, Pellegrina, and she lived with
her mother in the private mansion Bianca had received from the Prince
near the Pitti Palace.

At the time of the assassination of Pietro the child was eight years
old--a lovely girl, resembling, in person and manners, her attractive
mother. The Prince took her under his special care, in fact adopted her,
and treated her as if she was his own dear daughter. Naturally, the
Duchess Giovanna resented this arrangement, and strictly forbade her own
daughter, Eleanora--a year Pellegrina's junior--to have anything to do
with the base-born child of her hated rival.

Nevertheless, the sparkling, merry little girl became the pet of the
Court--where she was always greeted as "_La Bella Bianchina_." and no
one dreamed of throwing her father's evil career in her face. At the
public marriage of the Grand Duke and the widowed Bianca Buonaventuri,
Pellegrina was, of course, a prominent figure. She had grown tall and
had inherited the charming traits of her sweet mother. She was fourteen
years old, and eligible as the bride of any acceptable suitor. Her dowry
was considerable; equal indeed to that of the Princess Eleanora; and the
Grand Duke was no less solicitous than the Grand Duchess about the
choice of a husband.

At first it was hoped that a young Florentine might be the successful
lover, and indeed such an one appeared to have been secured, when young
Pietro Strozzo--the son of Messer Camillo di Matteo negli Strozzi--one
of Pellegrina's sponsors at her baptism--was judged worthy of the
matrimonial prize. They were accordingly betrothed, but the inconstancy
of Love was once more proved, for the young fellow was a wayward youth,
and, although only seventeen, had fixed his affections elsewhere!

The match was broken off, but within a year of Pietro's renunciation
another aspirant for Pellegrina's hand and dowry appeared in the person
of a distinguished young foreigner--Conte Ulisse Bentivoglio de' Magioli
da Bologna. He was reputed to be the natural son of Signore Alessandro
d'Ercole Bentivoglio, and had been adopted by his maternal uncle, Conte
Giorgio de' Magioli. H