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Updated: June 25, 2025
The haggard and cadaverous features, the sunken and careworn eyes, contrasted almost horribly with the freshness and gaiety of Orsino's companions, and the brilliant light in the room threw the man's deadly pallor into strong relief. "Will you play, Count?" asked Orsino, making room for him. "Thanks no. I never play nowadays," answered Spicca quietly. He turned and left the room.
Orsino's mind instantly reverted to Maria Consuelo. He felt a violent desire to leave the office and go to her at once. There was no reason why he should not visit her in the morning if he pleased. At the worst, she might refuse to receive him.
He came back suddenly to Orsino's table as he ceased speaking and his face showed that he was really disturbed. Orsino looked at him steadily for a few seconds. "It is not only Ronco's failure that frightens you, Contini. There must be something else." "More of the same kind. There is enough to frighten any one." "No, there is something else. You have been talking with somebody."
He had not gone far, hindered as he was at every step, when some one touched his arm. It was Spicca, looking more cadaverous and exhausted than usual. "Are you going home in a cab?" he asked. "Then let us go together." They got out of the square, scarcely knowing how they had accomplished the feat. Spicca seemed nervous as well as tired, and he leaned on Orsino's arm.
If any doubt as to Del Ferice's honesty of purpose crossed Orsino's mind at that moment, it was fully compensated by the fact that he himself distinctly preferred not to be openly associated with the banker. "I quite agree with you," he said. "Very well. Now for business. Do you know that it is sometimes more profitable to take over a half-finished building, than to begin a new one?
"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.
Corona, as was to be expected, was triumphant in Orsino's first success, and spent as much time in talking over the past and the future with him as she could command during his own hours of liberty. He needed no urging to continue in the same course, but he enjoyed her happiness and delighted in her encouragement.
The Ministry of Public Instruction having decreed that the name of God shall be for ever eliminated from all modern books in use in Italian schools and universities, Orsino's religious instruction had been imparted at home and had at least the advantage of being homogeneous. It must not be supposed that Orsino's father and mother were satisfied with this sort of education.
Up from the deep city comes the roaring crowd, furious and hungry for fight; the great doors are closed and Orsino's followers gather round him as he stands on the steps of the altar; but they are few, and those for Damasus are many; down go the doors, burst inward with battering-rams, up shoot the flames to the roof, and the short, wild fray lasts while one may count five score, and is over.
If she were offended, she would at least not show it in any marked way before Del Ferice. Orsino's existence, he thought, was becoming complicated for the first time, and though he enjoyed the vague sensation of impending difficulty, he wanted as many opportunities as possible of reviewing the situation and of meditating upon each new move.
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