“Signor Marehese!  Lei e troppo garbato,—­troppo buono; ma troppo buono, davvero!” said the pretty creature; and the appealing eyes looked into his with the semblance of a tear of emotion in them.

“Will you allow me the pleasure, Signora, of conducting you to the city in my carriage?” said the Marchese, with a graceful wave of his hand towards his handsome equipage.  “I have thought it might possibly be agreeable to you to place it and myself at your disposition on this occasion.”

“Ma come?  It is too great an honour, davvero.  But to make my first appearance in your city under such auspices will go far towards assuring me such a success at Ravenna, as it is my most earnest wish to attain.”

The Marchese put out his hand to assist her to alight, as he added,- -

“Perhaps you will allow these gentlemen to return in your carriage, Signora?  They have no other here.  I did not think it necessary to bring a second carriage.”

“Come loro commandano!—­as their lordships please,” said La Lalli with a graceful bow; though the young men were of opinion, that her eyes very plainly said, as she glanced towards them, that she would have preferred that they should have returned in the same carriage together.

She rose, as she spoke, and giving her hand to the Marchese, put one foot on the carriage-step in the act of descending, and then paused to say, as if she had forgotten it till that moment: 

“Will you permit me, Signor Marchese, to present my father to you, Signor Quinto Lalli?  I never travel without his protection!”

The old man in the corner moved slightly, and made a sort of bow with his head.  He had remained quite still and passive in his cloak and his corner all through the rest of the scene, taking it all apparently as something very much in the common order of things.  Perhaps the piece that was being played had been played too often in his presence to have any further interest for him.

While thus presenting her father, as she called him, to the Marchese, the beautiful actress had remained for the moments necessary for that purpose, with her matchless figure poised on the one dainty foot, which she had stretched down to the step of the carriage.  The attitude certainly showed the svelte perfection of her form to advantage; and from the unavoidable circumstances of the position, it also showed one of the most beautifully formed feet that ever was seen, together with the whole of the exquisite little bottine that clothed it, a beautifully turned ankle, and perhaps as much as two inches of the silk stocking above the boot.

The mere chance that caused the lady to bethink herself of presenting her father just at that moment, was thus quite a piece of good fortune for the young men on foot and on horseback, who were standing around, which no other combination of circumstances could have procured for them.