sheltered from the sun without obstructing the view; and there now, with the prompt-book on her knee, on which her eye roves listlessly from time to time, you may behold her, the vine-leaves clustering from their arching trellis over the door behind, and the lazy white-sailed boats skimming along the sea that stretched before.
As she thus sat, rather in reverie than thought, a man coming from the direction of Posilipo, with a slow step and downcast eyes, passed close by the house, and Viola, looking up abruptly, started in a kind of terror as she recognised the stranger. She uttered an involuntary exclamation, and the cavalier turning, saw, and paused.
He stood a moment or two between her and the sun-lit ocean, contemplating in a silence too serious and gentle for the boldness of gallantry, the blushing face and the young slight form before him: at length he spoke.
"Are you happy, my child," he said, in almost a paternal tone, "at the career that lies before you? From sixteen to thirty, the music in the breath of applause is sweeter than all the music your voice can utter!"
"I know not," replied Viola, falteringly, but encouraged by the liquid softness of the accents that addressed her — "I know not whether I am happy now, but I was last night. And I feel, too. Excellency, that I have you to thank, though, perhaps, you scarce know why!"
