Donna Tullia went away satisfied that what she wanted would be forthcoming at the right moment.  What she had said was true.  She rarely asked anything of her husband.  But when she did, she gave him to understand that she would have it at any price.  It was her way of asserting herself from time to time.  On the present occasion she had no especial interest at stake and any other woman might have been satisfied with a seat in the diplomatic tribune, which could probably have been obtained without great difficulty.  But she had heard that the seats there were to be very high and she did not really wish to be placed in too prominent a position.  The light might be unfavourable, and she knew that she was subject to growing very red in places where it was hot.  She had once been a handsome woman and a very vain one, but even her vanity could not survive the daily shock of the looking-glass torture.  To sit for four or five hours in a high light, facing fifty thousand people, was more than she could bear with equanimity.

Del Ferice, being left to himself, returned to the question of the mayor’s decoration which was of vastly greater importance to him than his wife’s position at the approaching function.  If he failed to get the man what he wanted, the fellow would doubtless apply to some one of the opposite party, would receive the coveted honour and would take the whole voting population of the town with him at the next general election, to the total discomfiture of Del Ferice.  It was necessary to find some valid reason for proposing him for the distinction.  Ugo could not decide what to do just then, but he ultimately hit upon a successful plan.  He advised his correspondent to write a pamphlet upon the rapid improvement of agricultural interests in his district under the existing ministry, and he even went so far as to enclose with his letter some notes on the subject.  These notes proved to be so voluminous and complete that when the mayor had copied them he could not find a pretext for adding a single word or correction.  They were printed upon excellent paper, with ornamental margins, under the title of “Onward, Parthenope!” Of course every one knows that Parthenope means Naples, the Neapolitans and the Neapolitan Province, a siren of that name having come to final grief somewhere between the Chiatamone and Posilippo.  The mayor got his decoration, and Del Ferice was re-elected; but no one has inquired into the truth of the statements made in the pamphlet upon agriculture.

It is clear that a man who was capable of taking so much trouble for so small a matter would not disappoint his wife when she had set her heart upon such a trifle as a ticket for the Jubilee.  Within three days he had the promise of what he wanted.  A certain lonely lady of high position lay very ill just then, and it need scarcely be explained that her confidential servant fell upon the invitation as soon as it arrived and sold it for a round sum to the first applicant, who happened to be Count Del Ferice’s valet.  So the matter was arranged, privately and without scandal.