But he did it all without reflection, simply from an
instinct of harmless vanity which had suddenly awakened in him.
'Here comes the train,' said Fernandino.
The Marchesa hurried forward to greet her friend, who was already
leaning out of the carriage window waving her hand and nodding. Her head
was enveloped in a large gray gauze veil which half covered her large
black hat.
'Francesca! Francesca!' she cried with a little tremor of joy in her
voice.
The sound of that voice made a singular impression on Andrea--it
reminded him vaguely of a voice he knew--but whose?
Donna Maria left the carriage with a rapid and light step, and with a
pretty grace raised her veil above her mouth to kiss her friend.
Suddenly Andrea was struck by the profound charm of this slender,
graceful, veiled woman of whose face he saw only the mouth and chin.
'Maria, let me present my cousin to you--Count Andrea Sperelli-Fieschi
d'Ugenta.'
Andrea bowed. The lady's lips parted in a smile that was rendered
mysterious from the rest of the face being concealed by the veil.
The Marchesa then introduced Andrea to Don Manuel Ferres y Capdevila;
then, stroking the hair of the little girl who was gazing at the young
man with a pair of wide-open, astonished eyes, 'This is Delfina,' she
said.
In the carriage, Andrea sat opposite to Donna Maria and beside her
husband.
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