were pleased to attach to themselves for the journey. This way of doing things, more gracious and better understood than the one that has taken its place in balls and assemblies, also had less serious disadvantages, women never being more attentive to the preservation of their reputations than on those too rare occasions when they are wholly responsible for maintaining them. So Francesco was waiting, motionless and with downcast eyes, for someone to take notice of him, when a pretty gloved hand came to rest on his arm. He welcomed the unknown woman with modest and respectful assiduity, and led her to the gondola already prepared to receive them. A moment later the elegant flotilla was moving to the rhythmical splash of the oars on the calm and polished face of the canal. The lady, who was seated at Francesco's left, remained silent for a time, as if she had needed to recollect herself and to master, before she spoke, some involuntary emotion. Then she undid the ties of her mask, threw it back upon her shoulder, and gazed at Francesco with that gentle and serious assurance that self-consciousness gives to elevated souls. It was Polia. Francesco trembled and felt a sudden shiver pass through all his veins, for he had expected nothing like this. Then he leaned his head and covered his eyes with his hand in the fear that it might be a kind of defilement for her to look at Polia so closely. "This mask is useless," said Polia. "There is no reason for me to take advantage of the custom which allows me to keep it. Our friendship does not need it and its feelings are too pure for it to blush to express them. Do not be surprised, Francesco," she continued after a moment of silence, "to hear me speak of my friendship for you after so many days of rigorous constraint in which I may have given you grounds to doubt it. My sex is subject to certain laws of decorum which do not permit it to manifest its most legitimate sympathies to the interpretations of the crowd, and there is nothing more difficult than to feign to a correct extent an indifference one does not feel. Today I shall leave Venice, and although I am destined to live very near to you, it is quite probable that we will never see each other again. Henceforth there is no longer any possible way for us to communicate with each other than by memory, and I did not want to leave you with a false idea of me, or to take away of you an anxious and painful idea that would trouble my peace of mind. I have provided for the first eventuality by giving you an explanation that I thought I owed you. I expect from your sincerity that you will reassure me as to the second point by confiding in me, which is something that you owe to me perhaps. Don't be alarmed, Francesco. You yourself shall be the sole judge of whether my questions are appropriate or not."