Auberge de La Maison Auberge de La Maison - Golden Book Hotels
Auberge de La Maison Auberge de La Maison - Golden Book Hotels
Auberge de La Maison Auberge de La Maison - Golden Book Hotels
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PRINCESS VIRGINIA 12 - 13<br />
“He’s the spitting image of his portrait in the Grisa<br />
museum.” she thought.<br />
She took a step back, which became a polite curtsey,<br />
and bowing her head slightly, she murmured, “Count<br />
Guido Carlo, my respects to you.”<br />
The nobleman’s ghost came to a sud<strong>de</strong>n halt. He raised<br />
the point of his walking stick slightly with the tired<br />
gesture of one who was used to walking in the corridor<br />
to while away eternity. In a <strong>de</strong>ep voice he said,<br />
“I would prefer not to see you in the palace, Madam,<br />
you unnerve me.”<br />
“I? Why?” asked Virginia querulously, curtseying<br />
again.<br />
“Your magnificent appearance is the same as that of<br />
the Roman princess with whom, alas, I became hopelessly<br />
infatuated in the year of our Lord, 1662. I or<strong>de</strong>red<br />
the painter Christoph Wörndle to immortalise<br />
her as Venus when her father arranged a marriage of<br />
pure convenience for her. My soul was so sad<strong>de</strong>ned<br />
that I was obliged to stay here to gaze upon her. I beg<br />
your pardon, Madam, but your presence disturbs me,”<br />
the ghost replied gravely.<br />
Virginia burst into tears. She could never have imagined<br />
her presence at Palazzo San Giacomo to be a nuisance!
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