Page:Legends of Rubezahl, and Other Tales (1845).djvu/290

 Lucretia, who proved, by her whole wedded life, that it is quite possible for a very skittish mistress to make a very excellent wife.

As to poor Count Rupert, when he went back at the end of three years to the Signora, he had the door shut in his face. After the expiration of three other years, however, at the intercession of Count Ulric and his lady, between whom and the amiable circle at Raveredo there had arisen a most delightful intercourse, not only the additional protuberance, but the original superfluity, were removed; and Count Rupert, whom misfortune had rendered a wiser and a better man, became a frequent and a favourite visitor at the mansion of the fortunate owner of the Hen with the Golden Eggs.