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The old valet hurried away, and in two or three minutes, during which time both Prince Sovrani and the Cardinal knocked and called again outside the door quite uselessly, he returned with a strong iron chisel which he forced against the lock. For some time it resisted all efforts then with appalling suddenness gave way and flew back, the door bursting wide open with the shock.
"Wonderful Christian charity," murmured Sovrani under his breath, "to excommunicate a corpse! For that is all they can do. The Soul of the man is God's affair!"
But he was secretly chafing at everything, he was angry that Sylvie had escaped him, and angrier still that Donna Sovrani should imply by her manner, if not by her words, that she considered him an exceptional villain, when he himself was aware that nearly all the men of his "Cercle" resembled him. "Pon-Pon is Signor Varillo's model," he said curtly, "I thought you were aware of it.
"Then it will remain in one of the galleries unsold!" said Sovrani, with a touch of bitterness in his tone which he could not quell, "You have chosen too large a canvas. From mere size it is unsaleable, for unless it were a marvel of the world no nation would ever purchase a woman's picture." Angela's delicate head drooped, she turned away to hide the tears that rushed to her eyes.
Her father, Prince Pietro Sovrani, was of a reserved and taciturn nature, poor but intensely proud and he would suffer no interference by so much as a word or a suggestion respecting the manner in which he chose to arrange or to order his household.
He succeeded, and without speaking again to Manuel, but only bending one earnest look upon him, he quitted his rooms and proceeded slowly down the great marble staircase of the Palazzo Sovrani, a staircase famous even in Rome for its architectural beauty Manuel stepping lightly at his side and reaching his carriage, entered it with his foundling, and was rapidly driven away.
He did not therefore take a carriage at the moment he intended, but walked on into the Corso, there he sprang into a fiacre and drove straight to the Sovrani Palace. The first figure he saw there, strolling about in the front of the building, was another priest, absorbed in apparently profound thoughts on the sublimity of the sunset, which was just then casting its red glow over the Eternal City.
He had gone out towards Frascati on a matter connected with some business before starting for Naples, and as he was returning, he was suddenly met by the news of the assassination of his betrothed wife " "And he knew nothing of it " interposed Sovrani grimly. "Of course- -he knew nothing!"
"Dear Donna Sovrani, may I speak to you fully and, frankly as a friend? May I do so without offence?" She looked at him and saw how pale he was, how his lips trembled, and the consciousness that he was unhappy moved her to a faint sense of compunction. "Of course you may!" she answered gently. "I know you do not hate me." "Hate you!"
Like charity, it covers a multitude of sins!" "It exists for that object," answered Gherardi with a touch of ironical humor. "Its own sins it covers, and shows up the villainies of those who sin outside its jurisdiction. Angela Sovrani is one of these, her uncle the Cardinal is another, Sylvie Hermenstein " "What of her?" cried Varillo, his eyes sparkling. "Is her marriage broken off?"
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