"Shameful!" cried Roma. "Shameful! shameful!"
"Fact two," said the Baron, without the change of a tone. "One night a
little later the body of a woman found drowned in the Tiber was
recognised as the body of Leonora Rossi, and buried in the pauper part
of the Campo Verano under that name. The same night a child was placed
by an unknown hand in the rota of Santo Spirito, with a paper attached
to its wrist, giving particulars of its baptism and its name. The name
given was David Leone."
The Baron ticked off the third of his fingers and continued:
"Fact three. Fourteen years afterwards a boy named David Leone, fourteen
years of age, was living in the house of an Italian exile in London. The
exile was a Roman prince under the incognito of Doctor Roselli; his
family consisted of his wife and one child, a daughter named Roma, four
years of age. David Leone had been adopted by Doctor Roselli, who had
picked him up in the street."
Roma covered her face with her hands.
"Fact four. Four years later a conspiracy to assassinate the King of
Italy was discovered at Milan. The chief conspirator turned out to be,
unfortunately, the English exile known as Doctor Roselli. By the good
offices of a kinsman, jealous of the honour of his true family name, he
was not brought to public trial, but deported by one of the means
adopted by all Governments when secrecy or safety is in question. But
his confederates and correspondents were shown less favour, and one of
them, still in England, being tried in contumacy by a military court
which sat during a state of siege, was condemned for high treason to the
military punishment of death. The name of that confederate and
correspondent was David Leone."
Roma's slippered foot was beating the floor fast, but the Baron went on
in his cool and tranquil tone.
"Fact five. Our extradition treaty excluded the delivery of political
offenders, but after representations from Italy, David Leone left
England. He went to America. There he was first employed in the stables
of the Tramway Company in New York, and lived in the Italian quarter of
the city, but afterwards he rose out of his poverty and low position and
became a journalist. In that character he attracted attention by a new
political and religious propaganda. Jesus Christ was lawgiver for the
nation as well as for the individual, and the redemption of the world
was to be brought to pass by a constitution based on the precepts of the
Lord's Prayer. The creed was sufficiently sentimental to be seized upon
by fanatics in that country of countless faiths, but it cut at the roots
of order, of poverty, even of patriotism, and being interpreted into
action, seemed likely to lead to riot."