"Will you not shake hands with me?" he said.

"What is the use?" she answered. "When people shake hands it means that

they wish each other well. You do not wish me well. You are trying to

force me to betray my husband.... But I'll die first," she said, and

then turned and fled.

When Roma was gone the Baron wrote a letter to the Pope:

"YOUR HOLINESS,--Providential accident, as your chamberlain would

tell you, has enabled his Majesty's Government to judge for itself

of that source of your Holiness's information which your Holiness

very properly refused to reveal. At the same time official

channels have disclosed to his Majesty's Government the nature of

the conspiracy of which your Holiness so patriotically forewarned

them. This conspiracy appears to be no less serious than an

attempt to assassinate the King, but as detailed knowledge of so

vile a plot is necessary in order to save the life of our august

sovereign, his Majesty's Government asks you to grant the Prime

Minister the honour of an audience with your Holiness in the cause

of order and public security. Hoping to hear of your Holiness's

convenience, and trusting that your Holiness will not disappoint

the hopes of those who are dreaming even yet of a reconciliation

of Church and State, I am, with all reverence, your Holiness's

faithful son and servant, BONELLI."

IX

Roma went home full of uncertainty, and wrote in a nervous and

straggling hand a hasty letter to Rossi.

"My dearest," she said, "your letter reached me safely last evening, and

though I cannot answer it properly at the present moment, I must send a

brief reply by mid-day's mail, because there are two or three things it

is imperative I should say immediately.

"The first is that I wrote you a very important letter to London twelve

days ago, and it is clear that you have not yet received it. The

contents were of the greatest seriousness and also of the greatest

secrecy, and I should die if any other eye than yours were to read

them; therefore do not lose a moment until you ask for the letter to be

sent after you to Paris. Write to London by the first post, and when the

letter has come to your hand, do telegraph to me saying so. 'Received,'

that will be sufficient, but if you can add one other little word

expressing your feeling on reading what I wrote--'Forgiven,' for

instance--my feeling will not be happiness, it will be delirium.

"The next thing I have to say, dearest, is about your letters. You know

they are more precious to me than my heart's blood, and there is not a

word or a line of them I would sacrifice for a queen's crown. But they

are so full of perilous opinions and of hints of programmes for

dangerous enterprises, that for your sake I am afraid. It is so good of

you to tell me what you are thinking and doing, and I am so proud to be

the woman who has the confidence as well as the love of the

most-talked-of man in Europe, that it cuts at my heart to ask you to

tell me no more about your political plans. Nevertheless, I must. Think

what would happen if the police took it into their heads to make a

domiciliary visitation in this house. And then think of what a fearful

weapon it puts into the hands of your enemies, if, hearing that I know

so much, they put pressure upon me that I cannot withstand! Of course,

that is impossible. I would die first. But still....




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