"I tell them...."
"I understand," she said, and her eyes began to shine again. But she
only turned away, saying: "I'm sorry you are angry that I came."
"Angry!" he cried, and at the sound of his voice as he said the word
their love for each other went thrilling through and through them.
The rain had begun to fall, and it was beating with smart strokes on the
window panes.
"You can't go now," he said, "and since you are never to come here again
there is something you ought to hear."
She took a seat immediately, unfastened her coat, and slipped it back on
to her shoulders.
The thick-falling drops were drenching the piazza, and its pavement was
bubbling like a lake.
"The rain will last for some time," said Rossi, looking out, "and the
matter I speak of is one of some urgency, therefore it is better that
you should hear it now."
Taking the pins out of her hat, Roma lifted it off and laid it in her
lap, and began to pull off her gloves. The young head with its glossy
hair and lovely face shone out with a new beauty.
Rossi hardly dared to look at her. He was afraid that if he allowed
himself to do so he would fling himself at her feet. "How calm she is,"
he thought. "What is the meaning of it?"
He went to the bureau by the wall and took out a small round packet.
"Do you remember your father's voice?" he asked.
"That is all I do remember about my father. Why?"
"It is here in this cylinder."
She rose quickly and then slowly sat down again.
"Tell me," she said.
"When your father was deported to the Island of Elba, he was a prisoner
at large, without personal restraint but under police supervision. The
legal term of domicilio coatto is from one year to five, but excuses
were found and his banishment was made perpetual. He saw prisoners come
and go, and in the sealed chamber of his tomb he heard echoes of the
world outside."
"Did he ever hear of me?"
"Yes, and of myself as well. A prisoner brought him news of one David
Rossi, and under that name and the opinions attached to it he recognised
David Leone, the boy he had brought up and educated. He wished to send
me a message."
"Was it about...."