The
one he now brought was to the effect that the Signorina Miranda
Malmocco, justly renowned as one of the first Columbines of Italy, had
charged him to lay at the Cavaliere Valsecca's feet her excuses for the
liberty she had taken with his illustrious name, and to entreat that he
would show his magnanimity by supping with her after the play in her
room at the Three Crowns--a request she was emboldened to make by the
fact that she was lately from Pianura, and could give him the last news
of the court.
The message chimed with Odo's mood, and the play over he hastened back
to the inn with Cantapresto, and bid the landlord send to the Signorina
Miranda's room whatever delicacies the town could provide. Odo on
arriving that afternoon had himself given orders that his carriage
should be at the door the next morning an hour before sunrise; and he
now repeated these instructions to Cantapresto, charging him on his life
to see that nothing interfered with their fulfilment. The soprano
objected that the hour was already late, and that they could easily
perform the day's journey without curtailing their rest; but on Odo's
reiteration of the order he resigned himself, with the remark that it
was a pity old age had no savings-bank for the sleep that youth
squandered.
2.8.
It was something of a disappointment to Odo, on entering the Signorina
Miranda's room, to find that she was not alone. Engaged in feeding her
pet monkey with sugar-plums was the young man who had given her his arm
in the Piazza.
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