"To go to her and open my heart is impossible, for personal
intercourse is precisely the peril I am trying to avoid. How weak
I am in her company! Even when her dress touches me at passing, I
am thrilled with an emotion I cannot master; and when she lifts
her large bright eyes to mine, I am the slave of a passion which
conquers all my will.
"No, it is not lightly and without cause that I have taken a step
which sacrifices love to duty. I love her, with all my heart and
soul and strength I love her, and that is why she and I, for her
sake more than mine, should never meet again.
"I note what you say about the man M----, but you must forgive me
if I cannot be much concerned about it. There is nobody in London
who knows me in the character I now bear, and can link it to the
one you are thinking of. Good-bye, again! God be with you and keep
you always! D."
Having written this letter, David Rossi sealed it carefully and posted
it with his own hand on his way to the opening of Parliament.
V
The day was fine, and the city was bright with many flags in honour of
the King. All the streets leading from the royal palace to the Hall of
the Deputies were lined with people. The square in front of the
Parliament House was kept clear by a cordon of Carabineers, but the open
windows of the hotels and houses round about were filled with faces.
David Rossi entered the house by the little private door for deputies in
the side street. The chamber was already thronged, and as full of
movement as a hive of bees. Ladies in light dresses, soldiers in
uniform, diplomatists wearing decorations, senators and deputies in
white cravats and gloves, were moving to their places and saluting each
other with bows and smiles.
Rossi slipped into the place he usually occupied among the deputies. It
was the corner seat by the door on the left of the royal canopy,
immediately facing the section, which had been apportioned to the Court
tribune. He did not lift his eyes as he entered, but he was conscious of
a tall, well-rounded yet girlish figure in a grey dress that glistened
in a ray of sunshine, with dark hair under a large black hat, and
flashing eyes that seemed to pierce into his own like a shaft of light.
Beautiful ladies with big oriental eyes were about her, and young
deputies were using their opera-glasses upon them with undisguised
curiosity. There was much gossip, some laughter, and a good deal of
gesticulation. The atmosphere was one of light spirits, approaching
gaiety, the atmosphere of the theatre or the ballroom.