"'And she made him sleep upon her knees, and she called for a man, and
she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head....'"
At that moment there came a knock at the door, whereupon the boy uttered
a cry of delight, and with a radiant face went plunging and shouting out
of the room.
"Uncle David! It's Uncle David!"
The tumultuous voice rolled like baby thunder through the apartment
until it reached the door, and then it dropped to a dead silence.
"Who is it, Joseph?"
"A gentleman," said the boy.
II
It was the fashionable young Roman with the watchful eyes and twirled-up
moustache, who had stood by the old Frenchman's carriage in the Piazza
of St. Peter.
"I wish to speak with Mr. Rossi. I bring him an important message from
abroad. He is coming along with the people, but to make sure of an
interview I hurried ahead. May I wait?"
"Certainly! Come in, sir! You say he is coming? Yes? Then he is free?"
The woman's liquid eyes were glistening visibly, and the man's watchful
ones seemed to notice everything.
"Yes, madam, he is free. I saw him arrested, and I also saw him set at
liberty."
"Really? Then you can tell me all about it? That's good! I have heard so
little of all that happened, and my boy and I have not been able to
think of anything else. Sit down, sir!"
"As the police were taking him to the station-house in the Borgo," said
the stranger, "the people made an attempt to rescue him, and it seemed
as if they must certainly have succeeded if it had not been for his own
intervention."
"He stopped them, didn't he? I'm sure he stopped them!"
"He did. The delegate had given his three warnings, and the Brigadier
was on the point of ordering his men to fire, when the prisoner threw up
his hands before the crowd."
"I knew it! Well?"
"'Brothers,' he said, 'let no blood be shed for my sake. We are in God's
hands. Go home!'"
"How like him! And then, sir?"
"Then the crowd broke up like a bubble, and the officer who was in
charge of him uncovered his head. 'Room for the Honourable Rossi!' he
cried, and the prisoner went into the prison."
The liquid eyes were running over by this time, and the soft voice was
trembling: "You say you saw him set at liberty?"