And the result of this delay was that Ludovico and his companion were not the first travellers out of the Porta Nuova that morning.
During the whole of the past Carnival and the latter months of the previous year there had been living in Ravenna a young girl,--an artist from Venice, who had come to Ravenna with a commission given her by a travelling Englishman to make copies of some of the more remarkable of the very extraordinary and unique series of mosaics which exist in the old imperial city.

She had brought with her a letter of introduction from her employer to the Marchese Lamberto,--a circumstance which had led to a degree of intimacy between the Marchesino Ludovico and the extremely attractive young artist, which threatened to stand more or less in the way of the match which had been arranged by the high-contracting parties between Ludovico and the Lady Violante, the great niece of the Cardinal.

The girl's name was Paolina Foscarelli.
It is probable that in due time and season the reader may become better acquainted with Paolina.

But at present there is no need of troubling him with more particulars respecting her than the above, save to mention that, having industriously and successfully completed the greater portion of her task in the churches within the city, she had determined to make her first visit to the strange old Basilica of St.Apollinare in Classe, on that same Ash Wednesday morning.

She did not purpose beginning her task there on that day; but intended merely to reconnoitre the ground, look to the needful preparations that had been made for her work, and ascertain how far the spot was within her powers of walking.
Paolina, too, had felt that the morning of Ash Wednesday was a favourable time for the first experiment of an undertaking that a little alarmed her.