The Title Market

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The Title Market

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Title Market, by Emily Post This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: The Title Market
Author: Emily Post
Illustrator: J. H. Gardner Soper
Release Date: February 5, 2006 [EBook #17680]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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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
Copyright, 1909, by THE RIDGWAY COMPANY
Copyright, 1909, by DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
Published, September, 1909
[Illustration:
"'WE OF ITALY,' HE WAS SAYING, 'LIVE, ENDURE, DIE, IF NEED BE--ALWAYS FOR THE SAME REASON--WOMAN AND LOVE!'"
(Page 65)]
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
XVII NINA DUSTS BEHIND THE 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 LAUGHED'" 184
"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