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Don Clemente therefore decided to tell him of the meeting with Signora Dessalle, the former mistress; of what had followed on the way home, of his determination to send Benedetto to Jenne, and to oblige him to remain there until the woman had gone. The Father Superior kept up a continuous, low grumbling, and heard him with knitted brows.
It was a quarter to five, and at half-past four it was daily her duty to prepare Carlino's medicine. III. Half an hour before she reached the Grand Hôtel Giovanni and Maria Selva arrived there. Young di Leynì arrived at the same time. He also had come to inquire for Signora Dessalle, and expressed his satisfaction at this meeting; but he was far from cheerful.
As he rose, with a natural ebbing of the mystic wave from his heart, his eyes still turned towards the altar, but no longer fixed upon the tabernacle, he could not refrain from thinking of Jeanne Dessalle and of what Benedetto had said.
On the terrace the Padre himself had shown uneasiness when he heard that Signora Dessalle had arrived. His desire to avoid her had been evident; but he was quite master of his feelings. Oh! yes, he was quite master of his feelings. Maria was of the same opinion, and she told of her conversation with him at the foot of the stairway.
"You do not believe," Giovanni answered, "and perhaps, after all, you are right; perhaps, after all, he is not Maironi. Still it will be better to let him know to-night, in some way, that Signora Dessalle is coming to Subiaco, and that she will, of course, visit the convents. Especially as he would be obliged to accompany her, being the Father who receives visitors."
Maria, who was watching him, saw him tremble and turn pale, his eyes dilate; saw him, in his turn, speak, asking something. Jeanne Dessalle entered hurriedly, smiling. The porter had given her a note from a doctor. It said: "I do not expect to be able to come back. This morning he was without fever. Let us hope the attack may not return."
"He took my hand," the young man continued, his voice broken with emotion, "and while he held it and caressed it, he said these precise words: 'I will not leave Rome. And how could he be carried to another place of safety, with the police watching for him? I embraced him, murmured a few meaningless words, and hastened away; hastened here to speak to this Signora Dessalle.
"Do you know who we are?" Noemi continued. Don Clemente replied that he believed he knew. They must be the two ladies Signora Selva expected. He thought she had mentioned her sister and Signora Dessalle. "Oh! you heard of us from my sister?" At Noemi's words Don Clemente could not refrain from exclaiming: "Then you are not Signora Dessalle?" Noemi saw that the man knew.
Noemi had promised Signora Dessalle not to say so, but she nevertheless wished to prevent a meeting. Maria exclaimed with some heat: "Oh! Noemi does not tell lies!" and then, crimsoning and smiling, she embraced her husband as if fearful of having offended him.
"There will also be an intimate friend of my sister's, a certain Signora Dessalle," she added, in a low voice, as if ashamed. Don Clemente turned his head away, starting violently, and Maria, feeling the counter-shock, trembled. Then it was he? He at once turned towards her again, his face slightly flushed, but composed. "Pardon me," said he, "what is the lady's name?"
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