The Project Gutenberg E Book of The Title Market potx

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Title
Market, by Emily Post
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Title: The Title Market
Author: Emily Post
Illustrator: J. H. Gardner Soper
Release Date: February 5, 2006 [EBook
#17680]
Language: English
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THE TITLE MARKET ***
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THE TITLE
MARKET
By
Emily Post
Author of "The Flight of a Moth,"
"Woven in the Tapestry," etc.
With Illustrations by
J. H. Gardner Soper

New York
Dodd, Mead and Company
1909
"'WE OF ITALY,' HE WAS SAYING,
'LIVE, ENDURE, DIE,
IF NEED BE—ALWAYS FOR THE
SAME
REASON—WOMAN AND LOVE!'"
(Page 65)
Copyright, 1909, by
THE RIDGWAY COMPANY
Copyright, 1909, by
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
Published, September, 1909
As though you did not know each page,
each paragraph, each word;
as though for months and months the
Sanseveros,
Nina, John, and all the rest, had not been
your daily companions—
Madre Mia,
this book is dedicated
to you.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I
Prince Sansevero
Diminishes the
Fortunes of His House
1

II
The Princess Plans to
Receive the American
Heiress
14
III Nina 25
IV
The Duke Scorpa
Makes a Deal
42
V Don Giovanni Arrives 48
VI Love, and a Garden 64
VII Rome 72
VIII
Opening Day at the
Title Market
86
IX
A Door is Opened
That Giovanni Prefers
to Keep Closed
97
X
Mr. Randolph Sends
for John Derby
107
XI
Rome Goes to the
Opera
116

XII A Ball at Court 136
XIII Coronets for Sale 142
XIV Apples of Sodom 157
XV
An Opposition Booth
is Set up in the Market
Place
163
XVI A Menace 173
Nina Dusts Behind the
XVII
Counter
192
XVIII
Favorita Drives a
Bargain
214
XIX
A Challenge, and an
Answer
221
XX
His Eminence, the
Archbishop of Vencata
236
XXI The Sulphur Mines 246
XXII Before Daylight 257
XXIII The Spider's Web 269
XXIV
Weighed in the

Balance
289
XXV
"Thy People Shall Be
My People—"
308
ILLUSTRATIONS
"'We of Italy,' he was
saying, 'live, endure, die, if
need be—always for the
same reason—women and
love!'" Page 65
Frontispiece
"As she spoke, a door
opened opposite, and the
prince came in"
Facing page
4
"For the space of a second
she faced the audience,
standing still and rigid"
134
"Nina looked at him—'I
wonder if you would be
amused if you knew why I
184
laughed'"
"His lips framed 'Good-by'
and hers answered, both
smiled brightly—and that

was the parting"
232
"'You are Americano, are
you not? Your land has done
much for my people!'"
239
CHAPTER I
PRINCE SANSEVERO
DIMINISHES THE
FORTUNES OF HIS HOUSE
Her excellency the Princess Sansevero
sat up in bed. Reaching quickly across the
great width of mattress, she pulled the
bell-rope twice, then, shivering, slid back
under the warmth of the covers. She drew
them close up over her shoulders, so far
that only a heavy mass of golden hair
remained visible above the old crimson
brocade of which the counterpane was
made. The room was still darkened so that
the objects in it were barely discernible,
but presently one of the high, carved doors
opened and a maid entered, carrying a
breakfast tray. Setting the tray down, she
crossed quickly to the windows and drew
back the curtains.
Sunlight flooded the black and white
marble of the floor, and brought out in
sharp detail the splendor of the apartment.
The rich colors of the frescoed walls, the

mellow crimson damask upholstering,
might have suggested warmth and comfort,
had not a little cloud of white vapor
floating before the maid's lips proclaimed
the temperature.
She was a stocky peasant woman, this
maid, with good red color in her cheeks,
but she wore a dress of heavy woolen
material and a cardigan jacket over that.
Her thick felt slippers pattered briskly
over the stone floor as she went to a
clothes-press, carved and beautifully
inlaid, took out a drab-colored woolen
wrapper trimmed with common red fox
fur, and, picking up the tray again,
mounted the dais of the huge carved bed.
"If Excellency will make haste, the
coffee is good and very hot."
The covers were pushed down just a
little, and the princess peered out.
"What sort of a day have we, Marie?
Isn't it very cold?"
"Oh, no! It is a beautiful day. But
Excellency will say that the coffee is cold
unless it is soon taken."
So again the Princess Sansevero sat up
in bed. Her maid placed the coffee tray
before her, and wrapped her quickly in the
dressing-gown. The plain woolen
wrapper had looked ugly enough in the

maid's hands, but its drab color and fox
fur so toned in with the red-gold hair and
creamy skin of its wearer that an artist,
could he have beheld the picture, would
have been filled with delight. It would not
in the least have mattered to him that there
was a chip in the cup into which she
poured her coffee, nor that the linen
napkin was darned in three places. The
silver breakfast service belonged to a time
when such things were chiseled only for
great personages and by master craftsmen.
That it was battered through several
centuries of constant handling rather
enhanced than diminished its value. Of the
same antiquity was the bed—seven feet
wide, its four posts elaborately carved
with fruits and flowers, and with cupids
grouped in the corners of the framework
supporting a dome of crimson damask that
matched the hangings. What difference
could it make to the artist that the
springless mattress was as hard as a rock,
and lumpy as a ploughed field? With
painted walls and vaulted ceilings that
were the apotheosis of luxury, what did it
matter that the raw chill from their stone
surface penetrated to the very marrow of
her Exalted Excellency's bones?
Unfortunately, however, it was she who

had to occupy the apartment and to her it
did matter very much, for her American
blood never had grown used to the chill of
unheated rooms.
"I think I can heat the bathroom
sufficiently for Excellency's bath,"
ventured the maid.
The princess shivered at the mere
suggestion. She knew only too well the
feeling of the water in a room that was
like an unheated cellar in the rainy season
of late autumn. "No, no!" she exclaimed,
"fill me the little tub, in my sitting-room."
"AS SHE SPOKE, A DOOR
OPENED OPPOSITE THE
ONE THROUGH WHICH
THE MAID HAD ENTERED,
AND THE PRINCE CAME
IN"
As she spoke, a door opened opposite
the one through which the maid had
entered, and the prince came in. A fresh
color glowed under his olive skin, his hair
was brushed until it was as polished as
his nails; also he was shaved, but here his
toilet for the day ended. The open "V" of
his dressing-gown (his was made of a
costly material, quite in contrast to the one
his wife wore) showed his throat; bare
ankles were visible above his slippers.

With the raillery of a boy he cried:
"Can it really be possible that you are
cold! No wonder they call yours the nation
of ice water! I know that is what you have
in your veins!" With a spring he threw
himself full length across the bed.
"Sandro, be careful! See what you are
doing! You have spilled the coffee."
"Oh, that's nothing!" he said gaily; "it
will wash out."
"On the contrary, it is a great deal. It
makes unnecessary laundry and uses up
the linen—we can't get any more, you
know."
At once his gay humor changed to
sulkiness. "Va bene, va bene! let us drop
that subject."
Immediately the princess softened, as
though she had unthinkingly hurt him, "I
did not mean it as a complaint; but you
know, dear, we do have to be careful."
But the prince stared moodily at his
finger-nails.
She began a new topic cheerfully. "I
hope to get a letter from Nina to-day; there
has been time for an answer."
Sansevero had been quite interested in
the idea of a possible visit from Nina
Randolph, his wife's niece, a much
exploited American heiress. But now he

paid no attention. He still stared at his
nails. The princess scrutinized his face as
though in the habit of reading its
expression, and at last she said gently:
"What have you in mind, dear? Tell me
—come, out with it, I see quite well there
is something."
For answer he sat up, took a cigarette
from his pocket, put it between his lips,
searched in both pockets for a match, and,
failing to find one, sat with the unlighted
cigarette between his lips, sulkier than
ever.
He felt her looking at him, and swayed
his shoulders exactly as though some one
were trying to hold him. "Really,
Leonora," he burst out, "this question of
money all the time is far from pleasant!"
A helpless, frightened look came into
her face. It grew suddenly pinched;
instinctively she put her hand over her
heart.
"I have not mentioned money." She
made an effort to speak lightly, but there
was a vibration in the tone. Then, as
though gathering her strength together, she
made a direct demand:
"Alessandro, tell me at once, what
have you done?"
For a moment he looked defiant, then

shrugged his shoulders. "Well, since you
will know——" he sprang from the bed,
pulled a letter out of his pocket, and, quite
as a small boy hands over the note that his
teacher has caught him passing in school,
he tossed her the envelope, and left the
room.