It was the peculiar misery of his situation that he could not defend
Fulvia without betraying her father, and that of the two alternatives
prudence bade him reject the one that chivalry would have chosen. It
flashed across him, however, that he might in some degree repair the
harm he had done by finding out what measures were to be taken against
Vivaldi; and to this end he carelessly asked:--"Is it possible that the
Professor has done anything to give offence in such quarters?"
His assumption of carelessness was perhaps overdone; for Trescorre's
face grew as blank as a shuttered house-front.
"I have heard rumours of the kind," he rejoined; "but they would
scarcely have attracted my notice had I not learned of your honouring
the young lady with your favours." He glanced at Odo with a smile. "Were
I a father," he added, "with a son of your age, my first advice to him
would be to form no sentimental ties but in his own society or in the
world of pleasure--the only two classes where the rules of the game are
understood."
2.6.
Odo had appointed to leave Turin some two weeks after Trescorre's
departure; but the preparations for a young gentleman's travels were in
those days a momentous business, and one not to be discharged without
vexatious postponements. The travelling-carriage must be purchased and
fitted out, the gold-mounted dressing-case selected and engraved with
the owner's arms, servants engaged and provided with liveries, and the
noble tourist's own wardrobe stocked with an assortment of costumes
suited to the vicissitudes of travel and the requirements of court life.
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