Faustina Montevarchi was delighted when her sister was at last
married and out of the house. The two had always been very good
friends, but Faustina felt that she had an enemy in San Giacinto
and was relieved when he was gone. She had no especial reason for
her suspicions, since he treated her with the same quiet and
amicable politeness which he showed to the rest of the household;
but her perceptions were extraordinarily true and keen, and she
had noticed that he watched her whenever Gouache was in the room,
in a way that made her very uncomfortable. Moreover, he had
succeeded of late in making Flavia accompany her to early mass on
Sunday mornings on pretence of his wishing to see Flavia without
the inevitable supervision of the old princess. The plan was
ingenious; for Faustina, instead of meeting Gouache, was thus
obliged to play chaperon while her sister and San Giacinto talked
to their hearts' content. He was a discreet man, however, and
Flavia was ignorant of the fact that Faustina and Anastase had
sometimes met in the same way, and would have met frequently had
they not been prevented. The young girl was clever enough to see
why San Giacinto acted as he did; she understood that he was an
ambitious man, and that, as he was about to ally himself with her
family, he would naturally disapprove of her attachment to
Gouache.
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