The Viper of Milan. Bowen Marjorie

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Название The Viper of Milan
Автор произведения Bowen Marjorie
Жанр Языкознание
Серия
Издательство Языкознание
Год выпуска 0
isbn 4064066154226



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       Marjorie Bowen

      The Viper of Milan

      A Romance of Lombardy

      Published by Good Press, 2019

       [email protected]

      EAN 4064066154226

       CHAPTER ONE GIAN GALEAZZO MARIA VISCONTI

       CHAPTER TWO "FRANCISCO"

       CHAPTER THREE THE HOSTAGE OF THE ESTES

       CHAPTER FOUR VALENTINE

       CHAPTER FIVE THE PAINTER'S DAUGHTER

       CHAPTER SIX THE RESCUE OF COUNT VON SCHULEMBOURG

       CHAPTER SEVEN "GRAZIOSA'S BRACELET"

       CHAPTER EIGHT FOR A LADY'S GIFT

       CHAPTER NINE THE RETURN OF THE DEAD

       CHAPTER TEN THE TURQUOISE GLOVES

       CHAPTER ELEVEN MASTINO DELLA SCALA

       CHAPTER TWELVE GRAZIOSA'S LOVER

       CHAPTER THIRTEEN VALENTINE VISCONTI'S TOAST

       CHAPTER FOURTEEN THE TUMULT AT THE WESTERN GATE

       CHAPTER FIFTEEN A PRISONER FROM MILAN

       CHAPTER SIXTEEN FOR A GAME OF CHESS

       CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE TERRORS OF THE NIGHT

       CHAPTER EIGHTEEN GIACOMO CARRARA'S REWARD

       CHAPTER NINETEEN A SIGN FROM HEAVEN

       CHAPTER TWENTY IN THE DUKE'S ABSENCE

       CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE THE DUKE'S RETURN

       CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO THE SECRET PASSAGE

       CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE FOR LOVE OF AMBROGIO

       CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR TREACHERY

       CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE IN CLOTH OF GOLD

       CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX IN VISCONTI'S HANDS

       CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN UNEQUAL ODDS

       CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT THE VIPER

       CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE THE ORDEAL OF MASTINO DELLA SCALA

       CHAPTER THIRTY THE WEDDING

       CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE THE PRIDE OF THE D'ESTES

       CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO THE PRICE OF DISHONOR

       CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE THE STORM

       CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR AN INSTRUMENT OF GOD

      The Viper of Milan

       Table of Contents

      It is a day in early summer, as beautiful as such days were in the Southern lands of 500 years ago. It is Italy steeped in golden sunlight which lies like a haze over the spreading view; the year 1360, when cities were beautiful and nature all-pervading. Here is Lombardy, spread like a garden in the hollow of the hills, ringed about with the purple Apennines, covered with flowers, white, yellow, purple, and pink. This wide road, one of the finest in Italy, winds from Milan to Brescia, its whole length through chestnut woods and plains covered with flowering myrtle. Primroses in great clusters border its sides, and from the midst of their delicate blooms spring the slender stems of poplar trees; these are red-gold, bursting into bloom against a tender sky; tufts of young green; clumps of wild violets.

      But for all its unspoiled beauty, the road was one of common use, for Milan was within hail. Villas, the summer dwellings of its wealthy peers, stood back among the trees, surrounded by magnificent grounds. Behind them beautiful open country spread into the blue distance, fragrant and glorious with budding trees. And cold and magnificent the great city itself, with its huge walls and gates, crowned and emphasized the landscape's beauty. The lines of hundreds of turrets and spires, bold and delicate, leaped up against the sky. And paramount, catching the eye with color, weighing on the mind with meaning, were the city's banners. They floated from the gates and the highest buildings, half a score of them, all with the same device. Far off could that device be read: a green Viper on a silver ground: the emblazonment of the Visconti.

      From afar the city was a vision of stately splendor, and the low dwellings clustered round about her walls, in the shadow of the palaces, appeared to the nearing traveler but a touch added of the picturesque. A close survey, however, revealed semi-ruined huts; in their foul neglect and unsightliness, a blot upon the scene. They were homes of peasants, who, tattered and miserable, starved and unwashed, seemed their fitting occupants. Here comes a band of them slowly dragging along the road toward Milan, men, women, and children, leading a few rough-haired mules, laden with scanty country produce.