ng to let every question decide itself rather than to force her
decision upon circumstances. She felt that she was not what she had
believed herself to be, and that it therefore mattered little what
became of her. If she married Guido she should not live long, but it
would be the same if she married any one else, since there was no one
whom she liked half as much.

On the day after the engagement was announced Lamberti came, with Guido,
to offer his congratulations. Cecilia saw that he was thin and looked as
if he were living under a strain of some sort, but she did not think
that his manner changed in the least when he spoke to her. His words
were what she might have expected, few, concise, and well chosen, but
his face was expressionless, and his eyes were dull and impenetrable. He
stayed twenty minutes, talking most of the time with her mother, and
then took his leave. As soon as he had turned to go, Cecilia
unconsciously watched him. He went out and shut the door very softly
after him, and she started and caught her breath. It was only the
shutting of a door, of course, and the door was like any other door, and
made the same noise when one shut it--the click of a well-made lock when
the spring pushes the bevelled latch-bolt into the socket. But it was
exactly the sound she thought she heard each time her dream ended.

The impression had passed in a flash, and no one had noticed her nervous
movement. Since then, she had not met Lamberti, for after the engagement
was made known she went out less, and Guido spent much more of his time
at the Palazzo Massimo. Many people were leaving Rome, too, and those
who remained were no longer inclined to congregate together, but stayed
at home in the evening and only went out in the daytime when it was
cool. Some had boys who had to pass their public examinations before the
family could go into the country. Others were senators of the Kingdom,
obliged to stay in town till the end of the session; some were connected
with the ministry and had work to do; and some stayed because they liked
it, for though the weather was warm it was not yet what could be called
hot.

The Countess wished the wedding to take place in July, and Guido agreed
to anything that could hasten it. Cecilia said nothing, for she could
not believe that she was really to be married. Something must happen to
prevent it, even at the last minute, something natural but unexpected,
something, above all, by which she s