CHAPTER II

THE LADY OF SHADOWS It was early on the following day when Francesco took the direction of the palace. The city appeared gay and bright; the beautiful isles of Ischia and Capri, like twin outposts guarding an earthly paradise. He had arrived at the hour of dusk, which had soon faded into the swift southern night, and much of the magic of the scene had thus been veiled before his gaze. Now he saw and marvelled. All around stretched the bay in its azure immensity, its sweeping curves bounded on the left by the rocky …