Odo, to preserve the secrecy of his designs, had been obliged to keep up
a pretence of his former habits, showing himself abroad with
Coeur-Volant and Castelrovinato and frequenting the Procuratessa's routs
and card-parties. This lady, though lately returned to the Brenta, had
announced her intention of coming to Venice for the ball at Santa
Chiara; and Coeur-Volant was mightily preoccupied with the
entertainment, at which he purposed his mistress should outshine all her
companions.
The evening came at last, and Odo found himself entering the gates of
Santa Chiara with a throng of merry-makers. The convent was noted for
its splendid hospitality, and unwonted preparations had been made to
honour the saint. The brightly-illuminated bridge leading to the square
of Santa Chiara was decked with a colonnade of pasteboard and stiffened
linen cunningly painted, and a classical portico masked the entrance
gate. A flourish of trumpets and hautboys, and the firing of miniature
cannon, greeted the arrival of the guests, who were escorted to the
parlour, which was hung with tapestries and glowing with lights like a
Lady Chapel. Here they were received by the abbess, who, on the arrival
of the Nuncio, led the way to the garden, where a stage had been
erected.
The nuns who were not to take part in the play had been seated directly
under the stage, divided from the rest of the company by a low screen of
foliage. Ranged beneath the footlights, which shone on their bare
shoulders and white gowns, and on the gauze veils replacing their
monastic coifs, they seemed a choir of pagan virgins grouped in the
proscenium of an antique theatre.
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