Fulvia began to look thin and pale, but, unfortunately, even more beautiful and attractive in her delicacy than when she had been in blooming health. Her great eyes grew more lustrous, her beautiful face gained a charm of haunting, wistful loveliness, from the very fact that its rounded contours were changed; and the mournful droop of her mouth was undoubtedly exquisitely beautiful. Sometimes she cast aside her despondency, with an effort, perhaps, but completely, and was her gay old self again, or very nearly so; laughed at them all, caressed her mother, alternately teased and coaxed Signor Giuseppe till his sorry expression relaxed and his eyes softened, and when he ventured to turn them full upon the girl and study her, as he had been wont to do, his sadness vanished; love and joy shone from his eyes, ‘carina carisssima’ flowed from his lips, and there was a gleam of happiness once more. These gleams, it will be understood, never occurred when Marchmont was present. Then, Giuseppe either froze into haughty silence, or worked himself into a fever of irritated impatience which ended in his flinging himself out of the house, and tearing up and down the busy, tortuous streets till he felt calmer, or--and that happened oftenest--took himself out of the way entirely, unable to bear the sight of Fulvia’s uneasy wretchedness, of her mother’s triumphant self-complacency, and of Marchmont’s nauseous attempts at flattery and love-making. Signor Giuseppe was indeed a changed and saddened man. Minna pitied him from the depths of her heart, and did her utmost to afford him any silent consolation that lay in her power. She fancied that, to a certain extent, she had succeeded, for he had once or twice called upon her at the studio, in the twilight hour, on his way home from the cares and toils of _l’ufficio_. She had received him with extended hand, a smile of pleasure, a hearty ‘You are welcome,’ had drawn a chair near to the stove, and he had sat down upon it. The first time he had made some spasmodic attempts at conversation about all kinds of outside things: a crisis in the Ministry, a message from the King, some English war news that had come, and so forth.