When Fabio arrived at the palace, the jovial uproar in the Heavy
Department was at its height, and several gentlemen, fired by the
classical costumes of the shepherdesses, were beginning to speak
Latin to them with a thick utterance, and a valorous contempt for
all restrictions of gender, number, and case. As soon as he could
escape from the congratulations on his return to his friends,
which poured on him from all sides, Fabio withdrew to seek some
quieter room. The heat, noise, and confusion had so bewildered
him, after the tranquil life he had been leading for many months
past, that it
was quite a relief to stroll through the half deserted
dancing-rooms, to the opposite extremity of the great suite of
apartments, and there to find himself in a second Arcadian bower,
which seemed peaceful enough to deserve its name.
A few guests were in this room when he first entered it, but the
distant sound of some first notes of dance music drew them all
away. After a careless look at the quaint decorations about him,
he sat down alone on a divan near the door, and beginning already
to feel the heat and discomfort of his mask, took it off. He had
not removed it more than a moment before he heard a faint cry in
the direction of a long refreshment-table, behind which the five
waiting-girls were standing. He started up directly, and could
hardly believe his senses, when he found himself standing face to
face with Nanina.
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