and to shine in that
Arcadian court. But now he in vain sought to dispel the gloom from
his brow, and the anxious thought from his heart. He revolved the
intelligence he had received, wondered, guessed, hoped, and dreaded
still; and if for a moment his mind returned to the scene about him, his
nature, too truly poetical for the false sentiment of the place,
asked itself in what, save the polished exterior and the graceful
circumstance, the mirth that he now so reluctantly witnessed differed
from the brutal revels in the convent of Santa Maria--each alike in its
motive, though so differing in the manner--equally callous and equally
selfish, coining horror into enjoyment. The fair Mariana, whose partner
had been reft from her, as the Queen had related, was in no mind to lose
the new one she had gained. She pressed upon him from time to time the
wine-flask and the fruits; and in those unmeaning courtesies her
hand gently lingered upon his. At length, the hour arrived when the
companions retired to the Palace, during the fiercer heats of noon--to
come forth again in the declining sun, to sup by the side of the
fountain, to dance, to sing, and to make merry by torchlight and the
stars till the hour of rest. But Adrian, not willing to continue the
entertainment, no sooner found himself in the apartment to which he
was conducted, than he resolved to effect a silent escape, as under
all circumstances the shortest, and not perhaps the least courteous,
farewell left to him. Accordingly, when all seemed quiet and hushed in
the repose common to the inhabitants of the South during that hour, he
left his apartment, descended the stairs, passed the outer court, and
was already at the gate, when he heard himself called by a voice that
spoke vexation and alarm. He turned to behold Mariana.

"Why, how now, Signor di Castello, is our company so unpleasing, is our
music so jarring, or are our brows so wrinkled, that you should fly as
the traveller flies from the witches he surprises at Benevento? Nay, you
cannot mean to leave us yet?"

"Fair dame," returned the cavalier, somewhat disconcerted, "it is in
vain that I seek to rally my mournful spirits, or to fit myself for the
court to which nothing sad should come. Your laws hang about me like a
culprit--better timely flight than harsh expulsion."

As he spoke he moved on, and would have passed the gate, but Mariana
caught his arm.

"Nay," said she, softly; "are there no eyes of dark lig