Flavia and Faustina, however, had stayed at home, partly because the old princess was really too deeply moved and profoundly shocked to go away, and partly because San Giacinto refused to leave Rome. Faustina, too, was eccentric enough to think such haste after "diversion" altogether indecent, and she herself had been through such a series of emotions during the twenty-four hours that she found rest needful. As for Flavia, she took matters very calmly, but would have preferred very much to be with her brothers and their wives. The calamity had for the time subdued her vivacity, though it was easy to see that it had made no deep impression upon her nature. If the truth were told, she was more unpleasantly affected by thus suddenly meeting Corona than by her father"s tragic death. She thought it necessary to be more than usually affectionate, not out of calculation, but rather to get rid of a disagreeable impression. She sprang forward and kissed Corona on both cheeks.
"I was longing to see you!" she said enthusiastically. "You have been so kind to Faustina. I am sure we can never thank you enough.
Imagine, if she had been obliged to spend the night alone in prison! Such an abominable mistake, too. I hope that dreadful man will be sent to the galleys. Poor little Faustina! How could any one think she could do such a thing!"
Corona was not prepared for Flavia"s manner, and it grated disagreeably on her sensibilities. But she said nothing, only returning her salutation with becoming cordiality before sitting down between the two sisters. Faustina looked on coldly, disgusted with such indifference. It struck her that if Corona had not accompanied her to the Termini, it would have been very hard to induce any of her own family to do so.
"And poor papa!" continued Flavia volubly. "Is it not too dreadful, too horrible? To think of any one daring! I shall never get over the impression it made on me--never. Without a priest, without any one--poor dear!"
"Heaven is very merciful," said Corona, thinking it necessary to make some such remark.
"Oh, I know," answered Flavia, with sudden seriousness. "I know.
But poor papa--you see--I am afraid--"
She stopped significantly and shook her head, evidently implying that Prince Montevarchi"s chances of blessedness were but slender.
"Flavia!" cried Faustina indignantly, "how can you say such things!"
"Oh, I say nothing, and besides, I daresay--you see he was sometimes very kind. It was only yesterday, for instance, that he actually promised me those earrings--you know, Faustina, the pearl drops at Civilotti"s--it is true, they were not so very big after all. He really said he would give them to me as a souvenir if--oh!
I forgot."
She stopped with some embarra.s.sment, for she had been on the point of saying that the earrings were to be a remembrance if the suit were won, when she recollected that she was speaking to Corona.
"Well--it would have been very kind of him if he had," she added.
"Perhaps that is something. Poor papa! One would feel more sure about it, if he had got some kind of absolution."
"I do not believe you cared for him at all!" exclaimed Faustina.
Corona evidently shared this belief, for she looked very grave and was silent.
"Oh, Faustina, how unkind you are!" cried Flavia in great astonishment and some anger. "I am sure I loved poor papa as much as any of you, and perhaps a great deal better. We were always such good friends!"
Faustina raised her eyebrows a little and looked at Corona as though to say that her sister was hopeless, and for some minutes no one spoke.
"You are quite rested now?" asked Corona at last, turning to the young girl. "Poor child! what you must have suffered!"
"It is strange, but I am not tired. I slept, you know, for I was worn out."
"Faustina"s grief did not keep her awake," observed Flavia, willing to say something disagreeable.
"I only came to see how you were," said Corona, who did not care to prolong the interview. "I hope to hear that your mother is better to-morrow. I met Saracinesca as I came in, but I did not ask him."
"Your father-in-law?" asked Faustina innocently. "I did not know he had been here."
"No; your husband, my dear," answered Corona, looking at Flavia as she spoke. She was curious to see what effect the change had produced upon her. Flavia"s cheeks flushed quickly, evidently with pleasure, if also with some embarra.s.sment. But Corona was calm and unmoved as usual.
"I did not know you already called him so," said Flavia. "How strange it will be!"
"We shall soon get used to it," replied Corona, with a smile, as she rose to go. "I wish you many years of happiness with your new name. Good-bye." Faustina went with her into one of the outer rooms.
"Tell me," she said, when they were alone, "how did your husband manage it so quickly? They told me to-day that the cardinal had at first refused. I cannot understand it. I could not ask you before Flavia--she is so inquisitive!"
"I do not know--I have not seen Giovanni yet. He stayed with the cardinal when the carriage came for us. It was managed in some way, and quickly. I shall hear all about it this evening. What is it, dear?"
There were tears in Faustina"s soft eyes, followed quickly by a little sob.
"I miss him dreadfully!" she exclaimed, laying her head on her friend"s shoulder. "And I am so unhappy! We parted angrily, and I can never tell him how sorry I am. You do not think it could have had anything to do with it, do you?"
"Your little quarrel? No, child. What could it have changed? We do not know what happened."
"I shall never forget his face. I was dreadfully undutiful--oh! I could almost marry that man if it would do any good!"
Corona smiled sadly. The young girl"s sorrow was genuine, in strange contrast to Flavia"s voluble flippancy. She laid her hand affectionately on the thick chestnut hair.
"Perhaps he sees now that you should not marry against your heart."
"Oh, do you think so? I wish it were possible. I should not feel as though I were so bad if I thought he understood now. I could bear it better. I should not feel as though it were almost a duty to marry Frangipani."
Corona turned quickly with an expression that was almost fierce in its intensity. She took Faustina"s hands in hers.
"Never do that, Faustina. Whatever comes to you, do not do that!
You do not know what it is to live with a man you do not love, even if you do not hate him. It is worse than death."
Corona kissed her and left her standing by the door. Was it possible, Faustina asked, that Corona did not love her husband? Or was she speaking of her former life with old Astrardente? Of course, it must be that. Giovanni and Corona were a proverbially happy couple.
When Corona again entered her own room, there was a note lying upon the table, the one her husband had written that morning from his place of confinement. She tore the envelope open with an anxiety of which she had not believed herself capable. She had asked for him when she returned and he had not been heard of yet.
The vague uneasiness she had felt at his absence suddenly increased, until she felt that unless she saw him at once she must go in search of him. She read the note through again and again, without clearly understanding the contents.
It was evident that he had left Rome suddenly and had not cared to tell her whither he was going, since the instructions as to what she was to say were put in such a manner as to make it evident that they were only to serve as an excuse for his absence to others, and not as an explanation to herself. The note was enigmatical and might mean almost anything. At last Corona tossed the bit of paper into the fire, and tapped the thick carpet impatiently with her foot.
"How coldly he writes!" she exclaimed aloud.
The door opened and her maid appeared.
"Will your Excellency receive Monsieur Gouache?" asked the woman from the threshold.
"No! certainly not!" answered Corona, in a voice that frightened the servant. "I am not at home."
"Yes, your Excellency."
CHAPTER XXVI.
The amount of work which Arnoldo Meschini did in the twenty-four hours of the day depended almost entirely upon his inclinations.
The library had always been open to the public once a week, on Mondays, and on those occasions the librarian was obliged to be present. The rest of his time was supposed to be devoted to the incessant labour connected with so important a collection of books, and, on the whole, he had done far more than was expected of him. Prince Montevarchi had never proposed to give him an a.s.sistant, and he would have rejected any such offer, since the presence of another person would have made it almost impossible for him to carry on his business of forging ancient ma.n.u.scripts.
The manual labour of his illicit craft was of course performed in his own room, but a second librarian could not have failed to discover that there was something wrong. Night after night he carried the precious ma.n.u.scripts to his chamber, bringing them back and restoring them to their places every morning. During the day he studied attentively what he afterwards executed in the quiet hours when he could be alone. Of the household none but the prince himself ever came to the library, no other member of the family cared for the books or knew anything about them. His employer being dead, Meschini was practically master of all the shelves contained. No one disturbed him, no one asked what he was doing. His salary would be paid regularly by the steward, and he would in all probability be left to vegetate unheeded for the rest of his natural lifetime. When he died some one else would be engaged in his place. In the ordinary course of events no other future would have been open to him.
He awoke very late in the morning on the day after the murder, and lay for some time wondering why he was so very uncomfortable, why his head hurt him, why his vision was indistinct, why he could remember nothing he had done before going to bed. The enormous quant.i.ty of liquor he had drunk hid temporarily destroyed his faculties, which were not hardened by the habitual use of alcohol.