Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: "Did he?" inquired Orsino indifferently. "It is all the same—they do not know it, and they want a tiger. When I left they were debating whether they wanted it alive or dead. I thought of buying one at the Prati di Castello, but it seemed cheaper to borrow the skin of you. May I take it?" Sant' Ilario laughed. Orsino rolled up the great hide and carried it to the door. "Who is the lady, my boy?" "I never saw her before—a certain Donna Maria d'Aranjuez d'Aragona. 1 fancy she must be a kind of cousin. Do you know anything about her? " "I never heard of such a person. Is that her own name?" "No—she seems to be somebody's widow." "That is definite. What is she like?" "Passably handsome—yellow eyes, reddish hair, one eye wanders." "What an awful picture! Do not fall in love with her, Orsino." "No fear of that—but she is amusing, and she wants the tiger." " You seem to be in a hurry," observed Sant' Ilario, considerably amused. "Naturally. They are waiting for me." " Well, go as fast as you can—never keep a woman waiting. By the way, bring the skin back. I would rather you bought twenty live tigers at the Prati than lose that old thing." Orsino promised and was soon in his cab on the way to Gouache's studio, having the skin rolled up on his knees, the head hanging out on one side and the tail on the other, to the infinite interest of the people in the street. He was just congratulating himself on having wasted so little time in conversation with his father, when the figure of a tall woman walking towards him on the pavement, arrested his attention. His cab must pass close by her, and there was no mistaking his mother at a hundredyards' distance. She saw him too and made a sign with her parasol for him to stop. "Good-morning, Orsino," said the swe...