had left Ferrara at dawn with his masters'
luggage, to ride ahead and order rooms and dinner at Bologna for the
whole party. Stradella had secured a travelling-carriage on which his
effects were already packed, and the harnessed horses were standing
ready to be put to.

Gambardella dipped his fingers into the nearest holy-water basin and
held them out dripping for Stradella to touch before he crossed himself,
as the others also did; then all followed him up the side aisle to the
door of the sacristy, where they waited till the singing ceased. The
priest's deep voice spoke a few words alone, the nuns and pupils
answered, and so again, through the short Responsory; and after a moment
the soft shuffling of many felt-shod feet on the stone pavement was
heard as the sisters and girls left the hidden choir in orderly
procession.

The sacristan opened the padded swinging-door and saw the four men
waiting. He was a small man with a round red nose and he took snuff
plentifully, as the state of his shabby black cassock showed.

'If the gentlemen will put themselves to the inconvenience of coming
in,' he said, 'they will find all ready and the lady waiting.'

He spoke with obsequious politeness, but his eyes looked with sharp
inquiry from one to the other, trying to make out which of the three
gentlemen was the bridegroom; that is to say, which of them would tip
him after the ceremony--for in such matters, as he well knew, much may
be guessed from the face and apparent humour of the giver.

He was relieved to see that Stradella now took the lead, and that every
line of his handsome young face betrayed his joyous anxiety to be
married as soon as possible.

Between the church and the sacristy there was a damp and gloomy
vestibule, at the end of which the sacristan opened another
swinging-door and Stradella suddenly saw Ortensia standing in a blaze of
light, covered from head to foot with a delicate white veil shot with
gold threads; for the early sun poured in through two great windows and
flooded the sacristy, gleaming on the carved and polished walnut
wardrobes, blazing on the rich gold and jewels and enamel of the sacred
vessels and utensils in the tall glass-fronted case, and making a cloud
of glory in the bride's veil. It covered her face, but in the splendid
light it hardly dimmed her radiant loveliness.

Beside her, but half a step farther back, stood Pina, in her grey dress,
as quiet and self-possessed as ever. Near