"Rome is a deserted city to-day, and but for the soldiers, who are
everywhere, it would look like a dead one! The steps of the Piazza
di Spagna are empty, not a model is to be seen, not a flower is to
be bought, and the fountain is bubbling in silence. After sunset a
certain shiver passes over the world, and after an insurrection
something of the same kind seems to pass over a city. The churches
and the hospitals are the only places open, and the doctors and
their messengers are the only people moving about.
"Just one of the newspapers has been published to-day, and it is
full of proclamations. Everybody is to be indoors by nine o'clock
and the cafés are to be closed at eight. Arms are to be consigned
at the Questura, and meetings of more than four persons are
strictly forbidden. Rewards of pardon are offered to all rioters
who will inform on the ringleaders of the insurrection, and of
money to all citizens who will denounce the conspirators. The
military tribunals are to sit to-morrow and domiciliary
visitations are already being made. Your own apartments have been
searched and sealed and the police have carried off papers.
"Such are the doings of this evil day, and yet--selfish woman that
I am--I cannot for my life think it is all evil. Has it not given
me you? And if it has taken you away from me as well, I can wait,
I can be patient. Where are you now, I wonder? And are you
thinking of me while I am thinking of you? Oh, how splendid! Think
of it! Though the train may be carrying you away from me every
hour and every minute, before long we shall be together. In the
first dream of the first sleep I shall join you, and we shall be
cheek to cheek and heart to heart. Good-night, my dear one!"
Again she tried to say something about her secret. But no! "Not
to-night," she thought, and after switching off the light and kissing
her hand in the darkness to the stars that hung over the north, she
laughed at her own foolishness and went to bed.
IV
Roma awoke next day with a sense of pain. Thus far she had beaten the
Baron--yes! But David Rossi? Had she sinned against God and against her
husband? She must confess. There was no help for it. And there must be
no hesitation and no delay.
Natalina came into the bedroom and threw open the shutters. She was
bringing a telegram, and Roma almost snatched it out of her hands. It
was from Rossi and had been sent off from Chiasso. "Crossed frontier
safe and well."