She was young, accomplished, beautiful--"like one of those apparitions," says the Duchesse d'Abrantès, "which come to us in our happiest dreams." She spoke seven languages, and looked down demurely--"a habit," the Duchesse d'Abrantès continues, "which only added to her charms." A Sicilian boy of twenty, the Marquis de Salvo, begged for an introduction, was presented, and fell in love. He had hardly done so--he had not even declared himself--when he lighted upon his chance of proving his devotion by rendering help in time of trouble. General Lauriston, Napoleon's aide-de-camp, arrived at Venice with a commission to act as Military Governor in his pocket; and then the trouble began. Mrs. Spencer Smith was sent for by the Chief of Police and requested to leave the town and take a residence in the country. She had hardly begun to look for one when there arrived four gendarmes, with the intimation that she was to remain in her apartment, and that they were to see that she did so. The Marquis de Salvo then volunteered to call on the Chief of Police and inquire the meaning of this rigorous measure. The Chief of Police first talked vaguely to him about Napoleon's prejudice against the name of Smith, and then hinted that there might be more specific reasons for his severity. He added that his orders were to conduct Mrs. Smith under an escort to Milan; "and I rather fancy," he concluded, "that she is to be detained in the fortress of Valenciennes." That was the boy's chance. He was a boy in years, but a man in courage and resource. He ran to Mrs. Spencer Smith, repeated what he had been told, and promised that he would save her. At first she hesitated. He would be taking a risk, she said, which he had no right to take. He probably expected a reward which her "principles" would not permit her to grant. But the boy, as it happened, was as chivalrous as he was brave. Perhaps he loved noble actions for their own sake. At all events he loved adventure; and here was the prospect of an adventure such as rarely comes the way of a youth fresh from school. As for the risks, he said, he did not fear them. As for reward, he would not ask for any. If Mrs. Spencer Smith would let him save her she should be saved. He had thought the matter out, and made his plans. All that was necessary was that she should take a maid with her whom she could trust. Everything else might be left to him.