"Never!" and then breaking off with a sudden exclamation she turned
in the direction of the door where there was just now a little
movement and murmur of interest, as the slim tall figure of a man
moved slowly and with graceful courtesy through the assemblage
towards that corner of the studio where the Cardinal sat, his niece
standing near him, and there made a slight yet perfectly reverential
obeisance.
"Mr. Leigh!" cried Angela, "How glad I am to see you!"
"And I too," said the Cardinal, extending his hand, and kindly
raising Aubrey before he could complete his formal genuflection,
"You have not wasted much of your time in Florence!"
"My business was soon ended there," replied Aubrey. "It merely
concerned the saving of a famous religious picture--but I find the
modern Florentines so dead to beauty that it is almost impossible to
rouse them to any sort of exertion . . ." Here he paused, as Angela
with a smile moved quickly past him saying,
"One moment, Mr. Leigh! I must introduce you to one of my dearest
friends!"
He waited, with a curious sense of impatience, and full beating of
his heart, answering quite mechanically one or two greetings from
Florian Varillo and other acquaintances who knew and recognised him-
-and then felt, rather than saw, that he was looking into the deep
sweet eyes of the woman who had flung him a rose from the balcony of
the angels, and that her face, sweet as the rose itself, was smiling
upon him.
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