The Title Market

The Title Market

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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
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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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
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