Roma did not reply. Her head sunk lower and lower, and seeing this, the
Pope rose again, and standing over her he cried:
"Tell me! Tell me, I command you! You wish me to believe that it was he,
not you, who committed the crime! Out on you! out on you!"
But having said this in a hoarse and angry voice, he passed his arm over
his eyes as if to brush away the clouds that had gathered there, and
muttered in a broken and feeble way, "O God, Thou knowest my
foolishness. I am poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God! Hide not
Thy face from Thy servant, for I am in trouble."
Roma was crying at the Pope's feet, and after a moment he became aware
of it, and stooped to lift her up.
"My child! My poor, poor child! You must bear with me. I am an old man
now. Only a weak old man. My brain is confused. Things run together in
it. But I understand. I think I understand."
She rose and kissed his trembling hand. He was still holding the
warrant.
"Where did this paper come from?"
"The English Ambassador brought it this morning. He had found it in our
rooms in the Piazza Navona."
"The place where the crime was committed?"
"Yes."
The Pope straightened himself up, and said in a firm voice: "My daughter, you must permit me to keep this warrant."
"No, no!"
"Yes, yes! If I said before that your husband should come out and defend
you, I say now that he shall come out and accuse himself."
"Your Holiness!"
"He shall go to the courts and say: 'This lady is innocent. She
sacrificed herself to save my life. I do not ask for mercy. I ask for
justice. Liberate her and arrest me.'"
Roma had knelt again, and was fingering the skirt of the Pope's cassock.
"But, Holy Father," she said, "there is something I have not told you.
He who killed the Minister did so in self-defence...."
"In self-defence!"
"His act was an accident, and if it had not happened the Minister would
have killed him, whereas I...."
"In self-defence, you say?"
"I am really guilty of the crime, because I intended to commit it."
"But if it was done in self-defence it was no crime, and you must not
and shall not suffer."
Roma dropped the Pope's cassock and took hold of his hand.