"Have I said sufficient? If this letter gives you half the pain on
reading it that I have felt in writing it, you will be satisfied
at last that the obstacles to our union are permanent and
insuperable. The time is come when I am forced to tell you the
secrets which I have never before revealed to any human soul. You
know them now. They are in your keeping, and it is enough.
"Heaven be over you! And when you are reconciled to our
separation, and both of us are strong, remember that if you want
me I will come, and that as long as I live, as long as I am at
liberty, I shall be always ready, always waiting, always near. God
bless you, my dear one! Adieu!
"DAVID LEONE."
During the afternoon of the following day a letter came by a flying
messenger on a bicycle. It was written in pencil in large and straggling
characters.
"DEAR MR. ROSSI,--Your letter has arrived and been read, and, yes,
it has been destroyed, too, according to your wish, although the
flames that burnt it burnt my hand also, and scorched my heart as
well.
"No doubt you have done wisely. You know better than I do what is
best for both of us, and I yield, I submit. Only--and therefore--I
must see you immediately. There is a matter of some consequence on
which I wish to speak. It has nothing to do with the subject of
your letter--nothing directly, at all events--or yet is it in any
way related to the Minghelli mischief-making. So you may receive
me without fear. And you will find me with a heart at ease.
"Didn't I tell you that if you wouldn't come to me I must go to
you? Expect me this evening about Ave Maria, and arrange it that I
may see you alone.
"ROMA V."
XI
As Ave Maria approached, David Rossi became still more agitated. The sky
had darkened, but there was no wind; the air was empty, and he listened
with strained attention for every sound from the staircase and the
street. At length he heard a cab stop at the door, and a moment
afterwards a light hurrying footstep in the outer room seemed to beat
upon his heart.
The door opened and Roma came in quickly, with a scarcely audible
salutation. He saw her with her golden complexion and her large violet
eyes, wearing a black hat and an astrachan coat, but his head was going
round and his pulses were beating violently, and he could not control
his eyes.