The Ghost Feeler Read Online Free PDF Page A

the matter over, and next time she met Antonio in the lime-walk (which, by reason of her fright, was not for some days) she laid before him what had happened; but to her surprise he only laughed and said: “You little simpleton, he wasn’t getting out of the window, he was trying to look in”; and not another word could she get from him.
    â€˜So the reason moved on to Easter, and news came the Duke had gone to Rome for that holy festivity. His comings and goings made no change at the villa, and yet there was no one there but felt easier to think his yellow face was on the far side of the Apennines, unless perhaps it was the chaplain.
    â€˜Well, it was one day in May that the Duchess, who had walked long with Nencia on the terrace, rejoicing at the sweetness of the prospect and the pleasant scent of the gillyflowers in the stone vases, the Duchess towards mid-day withdrew to her rooms, giving orders that her dinner should be served in her bedchamber. My grandmother helped to carry in the dishes, and observed, she said, the singular beauty of the Duchess, who in honour of the fine weather had put on a gown of shot-silver and hung her bare shoulders with pearls, so that she looked fit to dance at court with an emperor. She had ordered, too, a rare repast for a lady that heeded so little what she ate – jellies, game-pasties, fruits in syrup, spiced cakes and a flagon of Greek wine; and she nodded and clapped her hands as the women set it before her, saying again and again, “I shall eat well today.”
    â€˜But presently another mood seized her, she turned from the table, called for her rosary, and said to Nencia: “The fine weather has made me neglect my devotions. I must say a litany before I dine.”
    â€˜She ordered the women out and barred the door, as her custom was; and Nencia and my grandmother went downstairs to work in the linen-room.
    â€˜Now the linen-room gives on the courtyard, and suddenly my grandmother saw a strange sight approaching. First up the avenue came the Duke’s carriage (whom all thought to be in Rome), and after it, drawn by a long string of mules and oxen, a cart carrying what looked like a kneeling figure wrapped in death-clothes. The strangeness of it struck the girl dumb, and the Duke’s coach was at the door before she had the wit to cry out that it was coming. Nencia, when she saw it, went white and ran out of the room. My grandmother followed, scared by her face, and the two fled along the corridor to the chapel. On the way they met the chaplain, deep in a book, who asked in surprise where they were running, and when they said to announce the Duke’s arrival, he fell into such astonishment, and asked them so many questions, and uttered such Ohs and Ahs, that by the time he let them by the Duke was at their heels. Nencia reached the chapel-door first, and cried out that the Duke was coming; and before she had a reply he was at her side, with the chaplain following.
    â€˜A moment later the door opened and there stood the Duchess. She held her rosary in one hand and had drawn a scarf over her shoulders; but they shone through it like the moon in a mist, and her countenance sparkled with beauty.
    â€˜The Duke took her hand with a bow. “Madam,” he said, “I could have had no greater happiness than thus to surprise you at your devotions.”
    â€˜â€œMy own happiness”, she replied, “would have been greater had your Excellency prolonged it by giving me notice of your arrival.”
    â€˜â€œHad you expected me, Madam,” said he, “your appearance could scarcely have been more fitted to the occasion. Few ladies of your youth and beauty array themselves to venerate a saint as they would to welcome a lover.”
    â€˜â€œSir,” she answered, “having never enjoyed the latter opportunity, I am constrained to make the most of the former. — What’s that?” she cried, falling back, and