"In your deep eyes I see it shine, It dances in your veins like wine, Throbs in your smile, your glance of fire, Your siren laugh, that wakes desire. "I know it! yet 'tis better far, My empress, at your feet to lie, Than be as other lovers are, And happy live, and peaceful die. "Yea, better have loved thee and perished, Sphinx-woman, in darkness and tears, Than be loved by another and cherished, Through the long, uneventful, dull years." She was the daughter of an Austrian general and of a lady who had belonged to one of the noblest families in Ancona. That a woman in this position should marry the chief of the hated foreign garrison caused at the time a good deal of resentment. And the indignation was, if possible, increased by the fact that the husband was quite an elderly man, while the bride was a lovely girl of eighteen. Possibly she had been tempted by the general's fortune, which was very large, especially as she had lived in her ancestral palace in a condition of absolute poverty. It is a state of affairs common enough in Italy, where the family palace is often held as mere trust-property by the occupant, who has no sufficient revenue provided out of the estate to keep it in proper order. This was the case in the present instance. Still there may have been some other attraction in the general besides his wealth; for when he died, shortly after his daughter's birth, his widow went into complete retirement. She was never seen, except at church, and by the priests. The friends, who had broken with her at the time of her marriage, but who now showed themselves extremely willing to renew their acquaintance with the rich and beautiful young widow, she kept steadily at a distance.