His pulse beats, he said at length in a low voice, "faintly, it is true, but still it beats."I heaved a sigh of relief, but Beltrami remained silently looking at the face of Pallanza with an anxious frown.She cannot have given him fifteen, he muttered under his breath, "if So, he would have been dead by this time; but his pulse beats, so he is alive."
He looked irresolutely at the phial in his hand, and then turned to Avenza, who Was still counting the feeble pulsation of the blood.Doctor, I will give him three more drops!Eh! and why not? replied Avenza, raising his eye-brows; "as that is an antidote a few drops more or less cannot kill him after the dose of poison he has taken."The Marchese made no further remark, but, bending forward again, he held the phial over the half-open mouth for the second time.
One, two, three!This time the effect was magical; for after an interval of about two or three minutes, we saw a shudder run through the rigid body, the left arm jerked upward in a spasmodic manner, the face flushed crimson with the rush of blood once more flowing freely through the arteries, and at last the heavy eyelids lifted slowly. Pallanza gazed at us with a dazed, unseeing expression, then some tremendous force seemed to take possession of the body, for a spasm of pain passed over his face, a choking cry issued from his lips, and in a moment he was shrieking, writhing, twisting, rolling and plunging about the bed like a demoniac. All the nerves and muscles which had been dead and inert for so many days were now waking again to life, and the agony which racked his frame from head to foot must have been truly terrible. Both Beltrami and myself made a step forward to hold down this agonized body, but Avenza stopped us.
The antidote is doing its work, he said rapidly; "the dead body is renewing its life throughout every particle. Wait! wait! the paroxysm will soon pass away."The doctor was right, for in a short time the writhing stopped, the cries grew fainter, and at last, with a heavy sigh, the young man sank back on the pillows in a state of exhaustion, on seeing which, both Beltrami and the doctor ran out of the room to get some brandy, leaving me alone with this new Lazarus. During their absence he opened his eyes, to which the light of sanity had now returned, and spoke in a feeble voice,--
Where am I?With friends.And the Contessa?She is not here! You are quite safe! Hush! do not speak, I beg of you.Pallanza gave me a look of gratitude, then, closing his eyes, relapsed into silence. Avenza returned with a glass of weak brandy and water, which he gave to the young man in spoonfuls, 'while I went back into the sitting-room to see Beltrami, whom I found standing by the window with a frown on his face.
Ebbene? he asked, turning round.He is much better, and I think will soon be all right.That's a blessing. But what a nuisance! I want to go to Rome to-night by the five o'clock train, but Avenza tells me that Pallanza will have to sleep for a few hours, so I won't have an opportunity of speaking to him.
Go with a light heart, my dear Beltrami; I will arrange everything.You will?Yes; Pallanza can sleep in that room for an hour or two, then I will get a fiacre and take him to his lodgings. No one shall come near him but myself, and when he is quite sensible I will make him promise all you want.
Bene! you are a good friend, my dear Hugo, said the Marchese, in a tone of relief; "but do you think he will do what you ask?"Most certainly! I can force him to obey me.How so?By threatening to tell Signorina Angello about his affair with Madame Morone. She knows nothing as yet, and Pallanza is afraid of her knowing. Witness the lie he told about that note at the Ezzelino, asking him to come to the Palazzo!
Beltrami, with his cynical estimate of the Contessa's character, was not at all disturbed by this somewhat blunt speech, but laughed cheerfully.Eh! Hugo. I think I will make you. Italian after all. Your plan is a good one, mon ami, so make Pallanza promise not to sing anywhere for a month, to leave Verona and keep quiet. By that time I will be married to the Contessa, and all will be well.

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I will arrange everything as you desire, Luigi.Excellent! Then that trouble is off my mind.At this moment the doctor entered, rubbing his fat hands together with an expression of glee.Eh, he sleeps, this young man, he said in a satisfied tone, "he will sleep for one, two, three hours, then, if you like, Marchese, you can send him to his own house."Signor Hugo will attend to all that, Avenza.Bene! Well, Marchese, à revederci! And you, Signor.Wait a moment, Signor Avenza; I am coming too.
Where are you going! Hugo? asked Beltrami, looking at me in some surprise, and nodding his head in the direction of Pallanza. I crossed over to him, and while Avenza was getting his hat, whispered in his ear,--I am going to the Ezzelino to find out Pallanza's address, so as to know where to take him.Ah! a good idea! I will wait here till you return.I accompanied Signor Avenza to the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, where we parted. I then went to the Teatro Ezzelino and found out Pallanza's address from the stage-door keeper. While I was returning to Beltrami's rooms I saw Peppino, and arranged with him to be at the Via Cartoni at seven o'clock that evening to take a sick gentleman away. At first Peppino objected, being, like all Italians, terribly afraid of disease, but I soon quieted his objections, and he promised to call as directed.On returning to Beltrami I found him packing up, and at five o'clock he took his departure for Rome, promising to write me immediately he arrived, and in return I assured him I would let him know everything as soon as I arranged matters with Pallanza.That young man slept until nearly seven, when he woke up and began to ask me questions as to where he was. I insisted upon his keeping quiet, telling him I was a doctor, and when Peppino arrived with his fiacre I wrapped him up in his cloak so as to hide his stage costume, and helped him downstairs to the carriage. We soon arrived at his lodgings, where, dismissing Peppino, I made Pallanza go to bed at once, and gave him a light supper, together with some weak brandy and water. After this he fell asleep, and I sat watching by his bed all night, wondering why I was such a fool as to do all this for a cynical man of the world like Beltrami, who would probably laugh at my good nature when all was over. Yet there was something about Luigi Beltrami which I liked; and in spite of his affected cynicism and his extraordinarily loose notions of right and wrong, I believe that he had a sincere regard for me, which regard I considered not the least curious part of his whimsical nature, seeing that my character was the aWell, at last I was back in Milan, much to my satisfaction, as after the strange adventures I had met with in Verona that city became positively hateful to me. Two months had elapsed since the affair of the Palazzo Morone had come to an end, and during that time two marriages in connection therewith had been celebrated--that of Beltrami with the Contessa Morone, at Rome; and that of Guiseppe Pallanza with Signorina Bianca, at Milan. True to his promise, Guiseppe had forfeited his engagement at the Ezzelino, much to the wrath of the impresario, and had rested quietly since at Milan, passing most of his time with Bianca, who was now in a state of high glee preparing for her marriage.
It took place at the church of St. Stefano, in Milan, and out of consideration for the great age of the Maestro it was a very quiet affair, I being the only one present beyond the Angello household, but that was at the urgent request of both Bianca and her husband, who never forgot the services I had rendered them at Verona.
Thanks to my dexterity, Bianca never discovered the truth, and fully believed that Guiseppe had been kept a *er at the Palazzo Morone by some enemy who had lured him thither, by means of the letter purporting to come from a dying friend. At first, considering the weak way in which Guiseppe had acted, I did not consider that he deserved his good fortune in marrying such a charming girl as the Signorina, but during the time that preceded the marriage he was so devoted to her in every way, and apparently so remorseful for his amorous folly, that I quite forgave him his momentary infidelity. It was a very pretty wedding, the bride and bridegroom making a handsome couple, and when the ceremony was ended Signor and Signora Pallanza went to spend the honeymoon of a few days at Monza, and I was left alone in Milan.
Guiseppe had obtained an engagement at the Madrid Opera House, and on their return from Monza the young couple were to start almost immediately for Spain, leaving the Maestro under the tender care of Petronella. The old man's health had been failing sadly of late, and I doubted very much whether Bianca would find him alive on her return to Italy, seeing how frail he was in every respect.
Now that he was deprived of his right hand by the marriage of his granddaughter, the Maestro decided to give up teaching, at which decision I was profoundly sorry, as only having been with him a year I had still many things to learn in the art of vocalisation. There was, unfortunately, no one else with whom I could study the same system, for Paolo Angello taught the old, pure Italian method, of which he was the last exponent; and I infinitely preferred the round sonorous notes which his training produced to the shouting, colourless style of present-day singing, which curses the voice with a perpetual tremolo. The elaborate fioriture school of Pasta, Grisi, Ronconi, and Malibran has almost entirely passed away, and in its place what have we in Italy?--nothing but the present abominable fortissimo singing, without grace, sweetness, steadiness, or colour. The old Italian operas were composed not so much as stage performances as to show off the beauty, execution and brilliancy of the voice, while this new school

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