LUCRECIA.
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��childhood, had seen her, when, after her return from Pistoja, and when alone in her parlor, she stopped before Palandra's portrait, he would have comprehended from the somber ex- pression of her eyes, the clinching of her hands, and the broken words which escaped her, that she had takeu a ter- rible reso'ution.
But she kept on, adrift in life, and enjoying it to its full, with an abandon- ment of which she had had no concen- tion, even in the passionate dreams of her childhood. This was one of those loves which time binds together with chains of happiness, to which each day rivets a year more. By what mysterious affinity were these two souls so indissolubiy bound? How had these two minds, apparently so oppo- site, been joined together? Was this one of those loves born of hate which are stronger than all others? Who knows ?
Since she had found Marcel, Lucrecia stayed less at Pistoja ; some- times she lived at Florence, the city more indulgent to errors like hers, where lovers expose their wrongful happiness without a blush. Cnpeilani had purchased a palace at Florence and a villa in the mountains of Pistoja, and more than once this humble cot- tage, hidden by running vines and olive trees, received the lovers, and saw the proud Lucrecia. with the Etruscan face and the bearing of a goddess, throw off her lace covering and bearing her beautiful shoulders to the night wind, tie the purple clusters in her black hair; bite, with her white teeth the hard pomegranates and give the fruit she had tasted to Marcel, while laughing like a child.
One morning, when she awoke at dawn, she had an insane desire to go and surprise Marcel ; to appear like an apparition at his door. These strange fancies seized her now and then with irresistible power. This was her youth, so long held in bonds, which broke forth suddenly in loving transports. She got up and dressed hurriedly, and went down over the
��terraces, ran across the fields through the grass, her feet catching in her dress, and bending her head to avoid the low branches. It was not far to his villa, and she soon reached the steps which led to his chamber. She went up sbwly, singing like a bird let loose from paradise ; opened his door, and threw a handful of dewy roses in his face. He awoke in time to see her throw off her hat and run toward him, her eyes shining with pleasure, and her cheeks and lips glowing from the fresh air.
"Come! let us go !" said she. "Get up quickly, lazy one ! How can you sleep? The sun is high ; the air is pure and fresh, and the flowers fill it with sweet perfume ; the trees hang low with fruit, and the birds are sing- ing in the branches. This is the most beautiful season of the year, and this the most perfect day. Let us go and run over the fields. Come ! come ! our days of happiness are numbered ; we are alone and we are free !"
They breakfasted under the trees in front of the house, on figs and wine ; while the sun peeped laughingly at them through the vines, and the birds overhead sang their morning song. Then they went into the fields like children let loose from school, running until out of breath, and then throwing themselves down to enjoy their happi- ness.
"Grand dieu! what happiness!" cried Marcel. " Do we have to pay for such joy? And I have gray hair. What a situation for one of Napoleon's old captains, for an old minister ! Have I lost my head? Perhaps so — but heaven grant I may never find it ! "
It became warm, and they searched for a deeper and cooler shade than that of the olive trees ; and found, half hidden by running vines, a cavern or grotto in the side of the mountain. They welcomed it with shouts of glad- ness and merriment, and spent the warm hours of the day in delicious happiness in its cool shadows.
Before leaving, they looked around the cavern as if to fasten every feature
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