Stradella

For the reader's convenience, a Table of Contents has been provided in the html version. This was not in the original. STRADELLA 'But Ortensia did not even hear him, and sat quite still in her chair' ( See p. 271 . ) ToList STRADELLA BY F. MARION CRAWFORD AUTHOR OF "SARACINESCA," "FAIR MARGARET," ETC., ETC. ILLUSTRATED New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1909 All rights reserved Copyright , 1908, By F. MARION CRAWFORD. Copyright , 1908, By BUTTERICK PUBLISHING CO. Copyright , 1909. By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published October, 1909. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co. Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. Contents LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 'But Ortensia did not even hear him, and sat quite still in her chair' Frontispiece FACING PAGE '"This is the celebrated Maestro Alessandro Stradella of Naples"' 11 'The footman came back at last with a white face' 87 'The two Bravi faced the watch side by side' 243 '"The profession has two branches. We take lives, you take purses"' 282 'He began to look about for lodgings' 307 'Trombin advanced upon him slowly, looking more like an avenging demon than a man' 373 'She sat up in his arms and framed his face in her hands' 406 The Senator Michele Pignaver, being a childless widower of several years' standing and a personage of wealth and worth in Venice, made up his mind one day that he would marry his niece Ortensia, as soon as her education was completed. For he was a man of culture and of refined tastes, fond of music, much given to writing sonnets and to reading the works of the elegant Politian, as well as to composing sentimental airs for the voice and lute. He patronised arts and letters with vast credit and secret economy; for he never gave anything more than a supper and a recommendation to the poets, musicians, and artists who paid their court to him and dedicated to him their choicest productions. The supper was generally a frugal affair, but his reputation in æsthetic matters was so great that a word from him to a leader of fashion, or a letter of introduction to a Venetian Ambassador abroad, often proved to be worth more than the gold he abstained from giving. He spoke Latin, he could read Greek, and his taste in poetry was so highly cultivated that he called Dante's verse rough,…