Ricardo was in the lowest spirits. He could think of nothing but the subject that immediately disquieted him. “My beautiful Marchesa!” he said, as Leonora’s form appeared at the entrance of the cabinet, “can you guess how distasteful it is to me to hear the title which you adorned, usurped by another? _She_ a Marchesa! O! it is impossible!--degrading--poor uncouth, ignorant creature! she little knows the height to which she aspires. She could as soon sit as Queen, upon the throne of England! Forgive me, sweetest Love, that I should have given this ungainly servant the semblance of your position. But she is not _my wife_, Leonora! You know it! Her name is but an empty sound! I have been widowed since the fatal night that saw your pure spirit wing its flight to Heaven, and I shall remain widowed till we meet again. But tell me, dearest, what shall I do? What do you advise me to do? Is Hannah to have her own way in this, or not?” The form of Leonora nodded its head. “Is it part of my punishment for having sent you to your account, whilst still in the bloom of your youth and beauty, to have brought this trouble on my head? Must I endure it, as a penance, that shall bring me, all the sooner, to your dear feet?” The figure nodded its head a second time. “Then I _will_ bear it--even to hear her called by the title which I was so proud to bestow upon you--if it will only reunite us one moment sooner than I hoped for.” The Professor, in his anxiety to gain the approval of his former wife for all he did and said, did not consider that he put the words he wished to hear her say into her mouth, or, rather, that he accepted her acquiescence as a sign that she understood the case, and his reasons for it. If Leonora approved of Hannah being styled Marchesa di Sorrento, it should be exactly as she wished and vice versa. The next question was put with some amount of trepidity. “And do you consider that she ought to have a servant?--that the work is too hard for her, and unbefitting her position as my wife? Ought I to allow her to make her powers public, or shall I keep them entirely for myself, as now?” Leonora shook her head vehemently. “It will not militate against our meeting, Leonora, nor interfere in any way with your appearance? Ah! my beloved, think what I have sacrificed, in order to obtain this great privilege! It would break my heart if you were to desert Hannah, because others kept you away.” The figure bent forward until its lips touched the Professor’s face, and whispered, “Better! much better!”