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He looks frightened," he added in a low voice, as he glanced at Del Ferice's livid face. "He has cause," returned the Prince, "if he ever had in his life!" Casalverde and his witness advanced from the other side with a fresh pair of foils; for the one that had gone through the window could not be recovered at once, and was probably badly bent by the twist it had received.
"It seems to me," he said presently, "that if I succeed in this, I ought to give a share of the profits to the present owners." Not a muscle of Del Ferice's face moved, but his dull eyes looked curiously at Orsino's young face. "That sort of thing is not commonly done in business," he said quietly, after a short pause.
And now he observed that about a week after the interception of the first letter the small drafts which used to come so frequently to Del Ferice's address from Florence suddenly ceased, proving beyond a doubt that each letter was paid for according to its value so soon as it was received. With regard to the contents of these epistles little need be said.
"We kept the secret of Del Ferice's escape very carefully for there were good reasons to be careful in those days. Orsino only knows that you once fought a duel with the man and wounded him." "I think it is time that he knew more." "Of what use can it be to tell him those old stories?" asked Corona. "And after all, I do not believe that Del Ferice has done so much.
Giovanni was visited by scores of acquaintances, whom he allowed to be admitted, and he talked with them cheerfully, in order to have it thoroughly known that he was not badly hurt. Del Ferice's lodging was besieged by the same young gentlemen of leisure, who went directly from one to the other, anxious to get all the news in their power.
He got out of Del Ferice's carriage at no great distance from his own home, and after a few words of very sincere thanks walked slowly away. He found it very hard to arrange his thoughts in any consecutive order, though he tried several methods of self-analysis, and repeated to himself that he had experienced a great happiness and was probably on the threshold of a great success.
It did not strike him, in his strange bewilderment, that it was Donna Tullia who had spoken, still less that she was speaking of him almost to him. "Something very like it, I should say," answered Del Ferice's oily voice. "He has probably been ill since you saw him. Saracinesca is an unhealthy place." Giovanni turned sharply round.
After that first invitation to dinner, he had expected that Del Ferice's wife would make an attempt to draw him into her circle; and, indeed, she would probably have done so had she followed her own instinct instead of submitting to the higher policy dictated by her husband.
There was no hope, and he was resigned to continue his existence of slavery until Del Ferice's death brought about the great crisis of his life. Not that Del Ferice was in any danger of dying, he added, in spite of the general gossip about his bad health. Such men often outlasted stronger people, as Ugo had outlived Donna Tullia.
But so long as I remain Del Ferice's slave, we shall not fail. Do you know that this great and successful firm is carried on systematically without a centime of profit to the partners, and with the constant threat of a disgraceful failure, used to force me on?
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