not dare
to look forward to happiness in living with him, she could understand
that no comfort would be possible to her were she to return to
England and to leave him to perish alone at Casalunga. Fate seemed
to have intended that her life should be one of misery, and she must
bear it as best she might.

The more she thought of it, however, the greater seemed to be her
difficulties. What was she to do when her father and mother should
have left her? She could not go to Casalunga if her husband would not
give her entrance; and if she did go, would it be safe for her to
take her boy with her? Were she to remain in Florence she would be
hardly nearer to him for any useful purpose than in England; and even
should she pitch her tent at Siena, occupying there some desolate
set of huge apartments in a deserted palace, of what use could she
be to him? Could she stay there if he desired her to go; and was it
probable that he would be willing that she should be at Siena while
he was living at Casalunga,--no more than two leagues distant? How
should she begin her work; and if he repulsed her, how should she
then continue it?

But during these wedding hours she did make up her mind as to what
she would do for the present. She would certainly not leave Italy
while her husband remained there. She would for a while keep her
rooms in Florence, and there should her boy abide. But from time
to time,--twice a week perhaps,--she would go down to Siena and
Casalunga, and there form her plans in accordance with her husband's
conduct. She was his wife, and nothing should entirely separate her
from him, now that he so sorely wanted her aid.

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

MR. GLASCOCK'S MARRIAGE COMPLETED.

[Illustration]

The Glascock marriage was a great affair in Florence;--so much
so, that there were not a few who regarded it as a strengthening
of peaceful relations between the United States and the United
Kingdom, and who thought that the Alabama claims and the question
of naturalisation might now be settled with comparative ease. An
English lord was about to marry the niece of an American Minister
to a foreign court. The bridegroom was not, indeed, quite a lord as
yet, but it was known to all men that he must be a lord in a very
short time, and the bride was treated with more than usual bridal
honours because she belonged to a legation. She was not, indeed, an
ambassador's daughter, but the niece of a daughterless ambassador,
and