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Updated: June 26, 2025
Then the hunchback hurried away on his errand, leaving Gambardella to take care of Ortensia, who was already getting in. 'To Santa Prassede, said the Bravo to the coachman, in a tone meant for Ortensia's ears. Then he got in, shut the door, and seated himself beside her, bolt upright, with his rapier between his knees, and his hands clasped on the hilt.
'Would it not be well to set a watch in the garden, too, my lord? We should sleep soundly then! 'We shall see, we shall see, answered Pignaver, repeating the words slowly, as he went off. 'We shall see, he said once more, as he went out. As soon as he was gone, Pina hastened to Ortensia's room. 'He is safe! she cried as she entered.
And then, with the effrontery of youth in love, he deliberately took the almost empty glass from which Ortensia had drunk, poured a little into it from the other, and drank out of it with a look of undisguised gratitude on his handsome face. Thereupon a little colour came to Ortensia's ivory-pale cheek, and Pina smiled pleasantly.
It was differently designed, too, being much longer, with a double fret-board and no less than nineteen strings. 'Let me see, Stradella said, when he was ready. 'That song of the Senator's you just sang how was it? He struck chords, bent low over the lute, softly hummed a few snatches of the melody, and then, to Ortensia's surprise, he began to sing the piece as if he knew it well.
He was very angry, and at each phrase his hand unconsciously tightened its hold on Ortensia's waist, as if to emphasise what he was saying; and though he said little enough, she felt that his blood was up, and that it would be ill for Don Alberto to meet him in his present mood.
The young man changed his manner and tone with really dramatic effect; his face grew suddenly grave, his voice was sad, and he gazed into Ortensia's eyes with a wistful lover-like expression that women rarely resisted. 'You are unkind, he said. 'You know what such words mean to me, and you say them willingly, meaning to hurt me as you do!
She was still kneeling, and Cucurullo was standing beside her, hat in hand. It was now so dark in the body of the Basilica that Stradella could not possibly see any one there, especially as he was dazzled by the many candles that illuminated the upper end of the church. Gambardella bowed gravely and bent down to speak near Ortensia's ear.
Cucurullo slipped past the gaoler and spoke to him, and instantly the light flashed in his eyes and he smiled, for the first time since he had been arrested in Ortensia's room. Cucurullo took his hand and kissed it with devotion, as Italian servants often do in great moments. Neither had yet spoken when the heavy door creaked and was slammed, and they were suddenly in the dark.
But her face was distorted with horror now, and was whiter than the pillow itself. In the day-room, by the light of Ortensia's little lamp, Pina was on her knees, carefully mopping up the water that had run down from Stradella's clothes, and drying the marble floor. Soon after sunrise the Senator came and unlocked the doors of Ortensia's day-room.
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