It was but a moment's pause, and then,
still with the same light step, and the same bright glow reflected
from the flame that glittered in his hand, he passed through the
room, lifted the velvet portiere at the other end where there was
another door leading to the corridor connected with the Cardinal's
apartments, and so unnoticed, disappeared.
XXIII.
Meanwhile, the Marquis Fontenelle had been nearly a fortnight in
Rome, living a sufficiently curious sort of life, and passing his
time in a constant endeavour to avoid being discovered and
recognised by any of his numerous acquaintances who were arriving
there for the winter. His chief occupation was of course to watch
the Comtesse Sylvie,--and he was rewarded for his untiring pains by
constant and bewitching glimpses of her. Sometimes he would see her
driving, wrapped in furs, her tiny Japanese dog curled up in a fold
of her sables, and on her lap a knot of violets, the fresh scent of
which came to him like a sweet breath on the air as she passed. Once
he almost met her, face to face in the gardens of the Villa
Borghese, walking all alone, and reading a book in which she seemed
to be deeply interested. He made a few cautious enquiries about her,
and learnt that she lived very quietly,--that she received certain
"great" people,--especially Cardinals and Monsignori, notably
Monsignor Gherardi, who was a constant visitor.
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