his
stock farms its markets; that his fleet numbered upwards of an hundred
merchant vessels, while thousands of men did him service; that, in
short, his fortune was now past computation, and his income beyond his
power of spending.

He explained all this not in a spirit of boastfulness, but, with an arm
about each of us, told how he desired that we should share in his glory.
He had determined to build a villa in Lungara upon the Tiber which
should excel all of the Roman palaces, and while Peruzzi was his chosen
architect, Raphael and I should divide its decoration. "For if I have
become a prince of finance," he ended, "you, dear friends, are princes
of art, and we will all three join in making this villa a worthy
dwelling-place for one whom you knew and admired at Cetinale."

Thinking for the instant that he referred to Imperia, who was now in
Rome, Raphael congratulated him warmly and confided his own betrothal to
Maria Dovizio. But at that news a sudden transformation was wrought in
the demeanour of our old friend. His face became purple and swollen
and his arms fell to his sides. Not a word spake he for a full minute,
but he drew his breath hard, flinging out at length a bitter sarcasm on
the faithlessness of women, and bidding Raphael trust not too much to
their promises, he abruptly left us.

[Illustration: _Alinari_

Villa Farnesina, Rome]

There was only one construction to be put upon his conduct. Maria's
loveliness had apparently made no impression upon him at Cetinale, but
the memory of it had lingered in his heart, and when he met her after a
lapse of years and saw how her beauty had matured, an affection, of
which he himself may not have been conscious, flowered suddenly, just as
a rose-tree set in ungrateful soil and long accounted dead may in the
fulness of time come to unlooked-for efflorescence.

Sharing his envy, I could only mark it with a laugh, but Raphael said,
kindly, "Poor fellow, with all his wealth, I am many times richer than
he."

In my heart I knew that of her three lovers Maria had chosen wisely, and
Chigi's disappointment would not have added to my own affliction, but
for the reflection that in the present turn of affairs he would not be
likely to hasten the building of his villa, and my last hope of
employment in Rome was fading like a cruel mirage. But Raphael could
well afford to waive Chigi's patronage, for him it was but another step
in the golden staircase of success which n