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She knew, of course, that in marrying Siviano she was entering a house closed against the Austrian.
Certain it is that he was seen on the fifth day; for among the volunteers who swarmed after Manara in his assault on the Porta Tosa was a servant of palazzo Siviano; and this fellow swore he had seen his master charge with Manara in the last assault had watched him, sword in hand, press close to the gates, and then, as they swung open before the victorious dash of our men, had seen him drop and disappear in the inrushing tide of peasants that almost swept the little company off its feet.
There was a moment's pause; then Roberto, rising, walked across the room to his wife and took her by the hand. "Your seat is beside me, Countess Siviano," he said, and led her to the empty chair by his own. Gemma started to her feet, but her husband pulled her down again. "Jesus! Mary!" We heard Donna Marianna moan. Roberto raised his wife's hand to his lips.
On the visiting-card nailed to the door I read the name "De Roberti, Professor of Italian." Inside, a gray-haired haggard man tossed on the narrow bed. He turned a glazed eye on me as I entered, and I recognized Roberto Siviano. I steadied myself against the door-post and stood staring at him without a word. "What's the matter?" asked the doctor who was bending over the bed.
For a moment I thought the fever was on him; but a second glance convinced me that he was master of himself. "Roberto!" I cried, trembling. "You have the advantage of me," he said civilly. "But my name is Roberti, not Roberto." The floor swam under me and I had to lean against the wall. "You are not Count Roberto Siviano of Milan?" "I am Tommaso de Roberti, professor of Italian, from Modena."
"I shall have to," he returned deliberately, "if you persist in recognizing in me your former friend Count Siviano." "Roberto!" He lifted his hand. "Egidio," he said, "I am alone here, and without friends. The companionship, the sympathy of my parish priest would be a consolation in this strange city; but it must not be the companionship of the parocco of Siviano. You understand?"
Roberto and his sister lived in it as if it had been a monastery, going nowhere and receiving only those who labored for the Cause. To Faustina, accustomed to the easy Austrian society, the Sunday evening receptions at the palazzo Siviano must have seemed as dreary as a scientific congress.
They were always welcome at the palazzo Siviano; but he and Donna Marianna withdrew from society in order to have an excuse for not showing themselves at the Countess Gemma's entertainments.
At the first arrests several members of the liberal party had hastily left Milan, and I was not surprised to hear, a few days later, that orders had been given to reopen the villa at Siviano. The Count and Countess arrived there early in February. It was seven months since I had seen the Countess, and I was struck with the change in her appearance.
It was the year of Count Andrea's marriage and there were great festivities at the villa. Three years later the old Count died, to the sorrow of his two eldest children. Donna Marianna and Count Roberto closed their apartments in the palace at Milan and withdrew for a year to Siviano. It was then that I first began to know my friend.
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