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"But Mélani came back in terror, sobbing out: 'He is dying ... he is dying ... come immediately ... he is dying.... "My mother rushed out. My uncle had fallen onto the ground, full length along the floor, and did not move. I fancy he was already dead. My mother was superb at that moment!
About eight months after the Countess d'Ascoli had been laid in her grave in the Campo Santo, two reports were circulated through the gay world of Pisa, which excited curiosity and awakened expectation everywhere. The first report announced that a grand masked ball was to be given at the Melani Palace, to celebrate the day on which the heir of the house attained his majority.
Mélani opened the door to me, and made me sit down in an ante-room, while she went to tell my uncle, that I had come; then she came back and asked me to go in, while the Abbé hid behind the door, so that he might appear at the first sign. "I was certainly very much surprised at seeing my uncle, for he was very handsome, very solemn and very elegant, was the old rake.
He mentally asked himself that important question, as he entered a shady by-street in the neighborhood of the Campo Santo, on his way back to the Melani Palace.
The second report was, that the rich widower, Fabio d'Ascoli, was on the point of returning to Pisa, after having improved his health and spirits by traveling in foreign countries; and that he might be expected to appear again in society, for the first time since the death of his wife, at the masked ball which was to be given in the Melani Palace.
All right; go and bring them up; but take care of the porter. "I went downstairs and came up again with my mother, who was followed by the abbé, and I fancied that I heard other footsteps behind us. As soon as we were in the kitchen, Mélani offered us chairs, and we all four sat down to deliberate. "'Is he very ill? my mother asked.
Through the hours of darkness she could not even close her eyes; and, as soon as the new day broke, she rose to breathe the early morning air at her window, and to think in perfect tranquillity over all that had passed since she entered the Melani Palace to wait on the guests at the masquerade.
This discovery at last aroused him to the necessity of immediate departure. In a few minutes he had put on his domino and mask, and was on his way to the ball. Before he reached the Melani Palace the first part of the entertainment had come to an end.
Between the easy-chair and the bed, there was a table covered with a white cloth, on which two plates, two glasses, two forks and two knives, were waiting for the cheese omelette which had been ordered some time before of Mélani.
He looked at me distrustfully, and said: "'Madame Mélani, if you please. 'Don't know her! 'But I have received a letter from her. 'That may be, but don't know her. Are you asking for some kept woman? 'No, a servant probably. She wrote me about a place. 'A servant?... a servant?... Perhaps it is the Marquis's. Go and see, the fifth story on the left.
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