suitable toilet he was presently conducted to the private theatre where
the company had gathered to witness an improvised performance by
Mirandolina and the newly-arrived actors.

The Procuratessa at once beckoned him to the row of gilt armchairs where
she sat with the noble Duke and several ladies of distinction. The
little theatre sparkled with wax-lights reflected in the facets of glass
chandeliers and in the jewels of the richly-habited company, and Odo was
struck by the refined brilliancy of the scene. Before he had time to
look about him the curtains of the stage were drawn back, and
Mirandolina flashed into view, daring and radiant as ever, and dressed
with an elegance which spoke well for the liberality of her new
protector. She was as much at her ease as before the vulgar audience of
Vercelli, and spite of the distinguished eyes fixed upon her, her smiles
and sallies were pointedly addressed to Odo. This made him the object of
the Procuratessa's banter, but had an opposite effect on the Marquess,
who fixed him with an irritated eye and fidgeted restlessly in his seat
as the performance went on.

When the curtain fell the Procuratessa led the company to the circular
saloon which, as in most villas of the Venetian mainland, formed the
central point of the house. If Odo had been charmed by the graceful
decorations of the theatre, he was dazzled by the airy splendour of this
apartment. Dance-music was pouring from the arched recesses above the
doorways, and chandeliers of coloured Murano glass diffused a soft
brightness over the pilasters of the stuccoed walls, and the floor of
inlaid marbles on which couples were rapidly forming for the
contradance. His eye, however, was soon drawn from these to the ceiling
which overarched the dancers with what seemed like an Olympian revel
reflected in sunset clouds. Over the gilt balustrade surmounting the