When Casanova reentered the hall, a panelled chamber on the ground floor, there were seated at the well-furnished board, his host and hostess, their three daughters, and a young woman.

She was wearing a simple grey dress of some shimmering material.

She had a graceful figure.

Her gaze rested on him as frankly and indifferently as if he were a member of the household, or had been a guest a hundred times before.

Her face did not light up in the way to which he had grown accustomed in earlier years, when he had been a charming youth, or later in his handsome prime.