Part 7 (2/2)
”I greatly regret,” he began, ”that you chose to put aside my friendly intercession on your behalf. These quarters do not befit your rank.
Furthermore, by retaining a Protestant lawyer you appear to challenge me to the bitterest of conflicts.”
”Do you so interpret my action?” asked Blanka, proud reproach in her tone.
”No, Blanka, a.s.suredly not. Your own n.o.ble heart moved you rather to use mild measures--in spite of your attorney. You generously refrained from pus.h.i.+ng your advantage against me while I was detained elsewhere and while my secretary was also unavoidably delayed. In return for this generosity, Prince Cagliari comes to you now, not as your opponent in a suit at law, not as a husband to claim his wife, but as a father seeking his daughter. What say you? Will you accept me as a father?”
Blanka was almost inclined to believe in the speaker's sincerity; yet he had caused her far too much pain in the past to admit of any sudden reconciliation in this theatrical fas.h.i.+on. She remained unmoved.
”Bear in mind, my dear Blanka,” proceeded the prince, ”that the key to the situation is now in my hands. Recent important events have made me a _persona grata_ at the Vatican, and now the first of the conditions which I feel justified in imposing on you is that you acquiesce in the arrangements which, with all a father's forethought, I have made for your comfort during your sojourn in Rome. If the case between us is to reach a peaceful settlement, we must, above all things, avoid the appearance of mutual hostility; and it is a hostile demonstration on the part of Princess Cagliari to be seen driving about the city in a hired cab, and occupying, with her party, a suite of only four rooms. My duty demanded that I should at least offer you the use of the Cagliari palace, which consists of two entirely distinct wings, with separate entrances, stairs, and gardens; but I knew only too well that you would have rejected the offer.”
”Most certainly.”
”Therefore nothing was left me but to order the apartments in this hotel commonly occupied by visiting foreign princes to be placed at your disposal. No burdensome obligation, however, will be incurred by you in acceding to this arrangement, as I shall, in the event of our separation, see that the expense is deducted from the allowance which I shall be required to make you.”
Blanka, who was naturally of a confiding disposition, not infrequently reposed her confidence where it was undeserved,--a failing not to be wondered at in one so young. Her husband was one of those in whom she thus sometimes placed too large a measure of trust, although she had early learned that no word from his mouth was to be accepted in its obvious meaning. Yet this matter of her apartments in the hotel seemed to her of such trifling moment that she let him have his way and consented to make the change which he desired, albeit at the same time strongly suspecting a hidden motive on his part.
”I am very glad, my dear Blanka,” said Cagliari, when the princess had indicated her willingness to comply with his request, ”to find you disposed to meet me half-way in this matter. We will, then, leave further details to the hotel keeper. He will provide you with servants in the livery of our house. How many do you wish--two?”
”One will suffice.”
”And if he does not suit you, dismiss him and demand another. You shall have no ground for suspecting me of placing a spy upon you in the guise of a servant.”
”Even if you should, it would trouble me little. A spy would find nothing to report to you.”
”My dear Blanka, no one sees his own face except in a mirror; others can see it at all times.”
”Have you anything to criticise in my conduct?”
”Nothing, I a.s.sure you. I know your firmness of principle. I look at you now, not through the yellow gla.s.s used by a jealous husband in scrutinising his wife, but through the rose-coloured gla.s.s that a fond father holds before his eyes in regarding a beloved daughter. If you travelled in a stranger's company on your journey to Rome, that may very well have been a mere matter of chance. If you left the accustomed route under his escort, you may have done so to avoid suspected dangers. If you are seen again in Rome at this stranger's side, I see nothing in that but his recognition of his duty toward you,--the courtesy of a fellow countryman acquainted with Rome toward a lady visiting that city for the first time. And if you walked together arm in arm, it was undoubtedly because of the pressure of the crowd, which always justifies a lady in seeking the protection of the first man available.”
This speech filled Blanka with indignation and dismay. Weapons were being forged against her, she perceived; but she could do nothing. Had she offered a denial, her glowing cheeks would have testified against her. She held her peace, accordingly, and preserved such outward composure as she was able.
”_N'en parlons plus!_” concluded the prince, fully aware of his triumph.
”No one shall boast of outdoing Prince Cagliari in magnanimity,--not even his wife. Where you have knelt and sued for mercy, I too will kneel; what you have written in your pet.i.tion I will subscribe to, and add still further: 'We are not husband and wife, we are father and daughter.' And you shall learn that this is no empty phrase. I do not seek to sever the bond between us; I exchange it for another.”
All this was uttered in so friendly a tone, and with such seeming warmth of feeling, that no one unacquainted with the speaker, and not knowing him for the most consummate of hypocrites and the cleverest of actors, could have listened to him without being moved almost to tears. But his hearer in this instance knew him only too well. She knew that Jerome Cagliari was most to be feared when he professed the n.o.blest sentiments.
Rising from his chair, he added, as if it were a matter of the most trifling importance:
”This afternoon I will send my secretary to you.”
”Your secretary?” repeated Blanka, with a start. ”Pray send me anybody but him,--a notary, a strange lawyer, an attorney's clerk, a servant. I will receive your instructions from any of these, but not from your secretary.”
”And why not from him?”
”Because I hate him.”
”Then you hate the man who is your best friend in all the world,--yes, even a better friend than I myself. If I were to ask heaven for a son I could pray for no more excellent young man than he. He has my full confidence and esteem.”
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