"You are good. You have always been good. What happened was my fault
alone, and you have nothing to reproach yourself with. I found you
growing up to be a great woman, and passing out of my legal control,
while I was bound down to a poor, helpless, living corpse. Some day you
would meet a younger, freer man, and you would be lost to me for good.
Wasn't it human to try to hold you to me until the time came when I
could claim you altogether? And if meanwhile this man has
interposed...."
He pointed to the bust on the pedestal. She looked up at it, and then
dropped her head.
"Put the man out of your mind, my dear, and all will be well. Probably
he is in the hands of the authorities already. God grant it may be so!
No trouble about his arrest this time! It cannot be complicated by the
danger of scandal. Nobody else's name and character will be concerned in
it. And if it serves to dispose of a dangerous man and a subversive
politician, I am willing to let everything else sleep."
He paused a moment, and then added in his most incisive accents: "But if
not, the law must take its course, and Roma Roselli must complete what
Roma Volonna has begun."
At that moment Felice's dark form stood against the light in the open
door.
"Commendatore Angelelli and Charles Minghelli, Excellency."
As the Baron went back to the drawing-room Roma returned to the window.
Scales of snow adhered to the glass, and it was difficult to see
anything outside. But the masses of shadow and sheets of light were
gone, and the city lay in utter darkness. The sobbing sounds, the
crackle of musketry and the rumble of thunder were all gone, and the air
was empty and void.
At one moment there was a soft patter as of a flock of sheep passing
under the window in the darkness. It was a company of riflemen going at
a quick march over the snow, with torches and lanterns.
Voices came from the next room, and Roma found herself listening.
"Apparently the insurrection is suppressed, your Excellency."
"I congratulate you."
"The soldiers are patrolling the streets, and all is quiet."
"Good!"
"We have some hundreds of rioters in the house of detention, and the
military courts will begin to sit to-morrow morning."
"Excellent!"
"The misadventures have been few and unimportant, the child I spoke of
being the only one killed."