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Such bitterness, such scorn, such loathing were in his accents, that even the callous being he addressed was stung, and made a feeble gesture of protest. "You judge me harshly," he began Gherardi laughed. "Judge you! Not I! No judgment is wanted. You are a low creature, Florian Varillo, and unscrupulous as I am myself, I despise you for meanness greater than even I am capable of!
"Why must you be going?" asked Varillo cheerily, "Why not stay and dine with my future father-in-law, and Angela, and the eminent Cardinal? We shall all be charmed!" "Thanks, no! I have letters to write to England . . ." "Good-bye!" said the Comtesse Hermenstein at this juncture, "I am going to drive the Princesse D'Agramont round the Pincio, will you join us, Mr. Leigh?
It was a bright, cosy little place enough, and the padrona, a cheery, dark-eyed woman seated behind the counter, bade him smiling welcome. Lodging oh yes! she said, there was a charming room at the Signor's disposal, with a view from the windows which in the early morning was superb! The Signor was an artist? "No!" said Varillo, almost fiercely "I am a tourist travelling for pleasure!" Ah!
"You mean that her passionless nature will be her safety in all temptation?" "Exactly!" and Varillo, smiling, became good natured again "For Angela to be untrue would be a grotesque impossibility! She has no idea of the stronger sentiment of love which strikes the heart like a lightning flash and consumes it.
Hailing the first fiacre he saw, he told the driver to take him to Frascati. The man was either lazy or sulky. "Why not take the train, Signor?" "Because I wish to drive!" replied Varillo. "What is your fare?" "Twenty-five francs for half the way!" said the man, showing his white teeth in a mischievous grin. "Good!" The driver was surprised, as he had not thought his terms would be accepted.
"Perhaps Cardinal Felix prayed for her!" he said mockingly, "and even as he healed the crippled child in Rouen he may have raised his niece from the dead! But miracle or no miracle, she lives. That is why I am here!" "Why you are here?" repeated Varillo mechanically. "How dull you are!" said Gherardi tauntingly.
"Che Che!" and Varillo smiled, "How delightful it is to hear one woman praise another! Women are so often like cats spitting and hissing at each other, tearing at each other's clothes and reputations, clothes even more than reputations, that it is really quite beautiful to me to hear you admire my Angela! It is very generous of you!"
And they bent their heads over the paper together and read the brief announcement headed "Assassinamento di Angela Sovrani!" A sudden crash startled them. Varillo had sprung up from his table in haste and overset his glass. It fell, shivering to atoms on the floor. "Pardon!" he exclaimed, laughing forcedly, "A thousand apologies! My hand slipped it was an accident "
But he made no further demur, and Varillo jumped into the vehicle, his teeth chattering with an inward terror he could not control. "Drive quickly!" he said. The man shouted an affirmative, and they clattered away through the streets, Varillo shrinking back in the carriage overcome by panic. What a fool he had been! what a fool! He ought to have told Pon- Pon.
"The good Cardinal is surely breaking up," he said carelessly, "He looks extremely frail!" "Young men sometimes break up before old ones!" returned the Prince drily, "Felix is strong enough yet. You dine with us to-night?" "If you permit " said Varillo, with a graceful salutation.
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