Pagina 211 de 788

The dinner was more quiet than usual; no one talked, despite the

host's entreaties. The factions involved in the mighty strife

over the dogs were thinking of the morrow's contest and the

wager; great thought is wont to constrain the lips to silence.

Telimena, though she talked constantly with Thaddeus, was forced

to turn now and then to the Count, and even now and then to

glance at the Assessor; thus a hunter gazes at the same time at

the net into which he is coaxing goldfinches, and at the snare

for sparrows. Thaddeus and the Count were both content with

themselves, both happy, both full of hopes, and therefore not

inclined to chatter. The Count would cast a proud look at the

flower, and Thaddeus would stealthily gaze into his pocket, to

see whether that little key had not run away; he would even reach

in his hand and finger the note which he had not yet read.