"What of that? It's my own affair, isn't it? If I choose to forgive him,
what matter is it to anybody else? I do forgive him! Now, whose
business is it except my own?"
"My dear Roma, I might tell you that it's mine also, and that the
insult that went through you was aimed at me. But I will not speak of
myself.... That you should change your plans so entirely, and setting
out a month ago to ... to ... shall I say betray ... this man Rossi, you
are now striving to save him, is a problem which admits of only one
explanation, and that is that ... that you...."
"That I love him--yes, that's the truth," said Roma boldly, but flushing
up to the eyes and trembling with fear.
There was a death-like pause in the duel. Both dropped their heads, and
the silent face in the bust seemed to be looking down on them. Then the
Baron's icy cheeks quivered visibly, and he said in a low, hoarse voice:
"I'm sorry! Very sorry! For in that case I may be compelled to justify
your conclusion that a Minister has no humanity and no pity. If David
Rossi cannot be arrested by the authorisation of Parliament, he must be
arrested when Parliament is not in session, and then his identity will
have to be established in a public tribunal. In that event you will be
forced to appear, and having refused to make a private statement in the
secrecy of a magistrate's office, you will be compelled to testify in
the Court of Assize."
"Ah, but you can't make me do that!" cried Roma excitedly, as if seized
by a sudden thought.
"Why not?"
"Never mind why not. You can't do it, I tell you," she cried excitedly.
He looked at her as if trying to penetrate her meaning, and then said: "We shall see."
At that moment the fretful voice of the Countess was heard calling to
the Baron from the adjoining room.
II
Roma went to her bedroom when the Baron left her, and remained there
until late in the afternoon. In spite of the bold front she had put on,
she was quaking with terror and tortured by remorse. Never before had
she realised David Rossi's peril with such awful vividness, and seen her
own position in relation to him in its hideous nakedness.
Was it her duty to confess to David Rossi that at the beginning of their
friendship she had set out to betray him? Only so could she be secure,
only so could she be honest, only so could she be true to the love he
gave her and the trust he reposed in her.