"What sort of things have you been learning, Mademoiselle?" asked Lamberti.
"I followed a course of lectures on philosophy at the Sorbonne, and I read Nietzsche with a man who had known him," answered the young lady, as naturally as if she had said that she had been taking lessons on the piano.
A momentary silence followed, and everybody stared at the girl, except her mother, who smiled pleasantly and looked from one to the other with the expression which mothers of prodigies often a.s.sume, and which clearly says: "I did it. Is it not perfectly wonderful?"
Then Monsieur Leroy laughed, in spite of himself.
"Hush, Doudou!" cried the Princess. "You are very rude!"
No one present chanced to know that she always called him Doudou when she was in a good humour. Cecilia Palladio turned her head quietly, fixed her eyes on him and laughed, deliberately, long, and very sweetly.
Monsieur Leroy met her gaze for a moment, then looked away and moved uneasily on his low seat.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked, in a tone of annoyance.
"It seems so funny that you should be called Doudou--at your age,"
answered Cecilia.
"Really--" Monsieur Leroy looked at the Princess as if asking for protection. She laughed good-humouredly, somewhat to Lamberti"s surprise.
"You are very direct with my friends, my dear," she said to Cecilia, still smiling. The Countess Fortiguerra, not knowing exactly what to do, also smiled, but rather foolishly.
"I am very sorry," said Cecilia, with contrition, and looking down. "I really beg Monsieur Leroy"s pardon. I could not help it."
But she had been revenged, for she had made him ridiculous.
"Not at all, not at all," he answered, in a tone that did not promise forgiveness. Lamberti wondered what sort of man Palladio had been, since the girl did not at all resemble her mother, who had clearly been pretty and foolish in her youth, and had only lost her looks as she grew older.
The obliteration of middle age had set in.
There might have been some awkwardness, but it was dispelled by the appearance of Guido, who came in unannounced at that moment, glancing quickly at each of the group as he came forward, to see who was there.
"At last!" exclaimed the Princess, with evident satisfaction. "How late you are, my dear," she said as Guido ceremoniously kissed her hand.
"I am very sorry," he said. "I was out when your note came. But I should have come in any case."
"You know the Countess Fortiguerra, of course," said the Princess.
"Certainly," answered Guido, who had not recognised the lady at all, and was glad to be told who she was, and that he knew her.
Lamberti watched him closely, for he understood every shade of his friend"s expression and manner. Guido shook hands with a pleasant smile, and then glanced at Cecilia.
"My nephew, Guido d"Este," said the Princess, introducing him.
Cecilia looked at him quietly, and bent her head in acknowledgment of the introduction.
"My daughter," murmured the Countess Fortiguerra, with satisfaction.
"Mademoiselle Palladio and her mother have just come back from Paris,"
explained Monsieur Leroy officiously, as Guido nodded to him.
Guido caught the name, and was glad of the information it conveyed, and he sat down between the young girl and her mother. Lamberti was now almost sure that his friend was not especially struck by Cecilia"s face; but she looked at him with some interest, which was not at all to be wondered at, considering his looks, his romantic name, and his half-royal birth. For the first time Lamberti envied him a little, and was ashamed of it.
Barely an hour earlier he had wished that he could make Guido more like himself, and now he wished that he were more like Guido.
"The Countess has been kind enough to ask me to her garden party," Guido said, looking at his aunt, for he instinctively connected the latter"s anxiety to see him with the invitation.
So did Lamberti, and it flashed upon him that this meeting was the first step in an attempt to marry his friend to Cecilia Palladio. The girl was probably an heiress, and Guido"s aunt saw a possibility of recovering through her the money she had lost in speculations.
This explanation did not occur to Guido, simply because he was bored and was already thinking of an excuse for getting away after staying as short a time as possible.
"I hope you will come," said Cecilia, rather unexpectedly.
"Of course he will," the Princess answered for him, in an encouraging tone.
"The villa is really very pretty," continued the young girl.
"Let me see," said Guido, who liked her voice as soon as she spoke, "the Villa Palladio--I do not quite remember where it is."
"It used to be the Villa Madama," explained Monsieur Leroy. "I have always wondered who the "Madama" was, after whom it was called. It seems such a foolish name."
The Princess looked displeased, and bit her lip a little.
"I think," said Guido, as if suggesting a possibility, rather than stating a fact, "that she was a daughter of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, who was d.u.c.h.ess of Parma."
"Of course, of course!" cried Monsieur Leroy, eagerly a.s.senting, "I had forgotten!"
"My daughter"s guardians bought it for her not long ago," explained the Countess Fortiguerra, "with my approval, and we have of course changed the name."
"Naturally," said Guido, gravely, but looking at Lamberti, who almost smiled under his red beard. "And you approved of the change, Mademoiselle," Guido added, turning to Cecilia, and with an interrogation in his voice.
"Not at all," she answered, with sudden coldness. "It was Goldbirn--"
"Yes," said the Countess, weakly, "it was Baron Goldbirn who insisted upon it, in spite of us."
"Goldbirn--Goldbirn," repeated the Princess vaguely. "The name has a familiar sound."
"Your Highness has a current account with them in Vienna," observed Monsieur Leroy.
"Yes, yes, certainly. Doudou acts as my secretary sometimes, you know."
The information seemed necessary, as Monsieur Leroy"s position had been far from clear.
"Baron Goldbirn was a.s.sociated with Cecilia"s father in some railways in South America," said the Countess, "and is her princ.i.p.al guardian. He will always continue to manage her fortune for her, I hope."
Clearly, Cecilia was an heiress, and was to marry Guido d"Este as soon as the matter could be arranged. That was the Princess"s plan. Lamberti thought that it remained to be seen whether Guido would agree to the match.
"Has Baron Goldbirn made many--improvements--in the Villa Madama?"
enquired Guido, hesitating a little, perhaps intentionally.
"Oh no!" Cecilia answered. "He lets me do as I please about such things."