"Why don't I do it?" thought Roma. She was fingering the revolver on the
bureau behind her, and breathing fast and audibly.
"You shall have everything back, my dear. Carriages, jewellery,
apartments, exactly as you parted with them. I have kept all under my
own control, and in a single day you can be reinstated."
Roma's palpitating heart was hurting her.
"But won't you sit down, my child? I have something to tell you. It is
important news. The Baroness is dead. Yes, she died on Saturday, poor
soul. Should I play the hypocrite and weep? Why should I? For fifteen
years a cruel law, which I dare not attempt to repeal by divorce in a
Catholic country, has tied me to a living corpse. Shall I pretend to
mourn because my burden has fallen away?... Roma, sit down, my dear;
don't continue to stand there.... Roma, I am free, and we can now carry
out our marriage, as we always hoped and intended."
"Now!" thought Roma, moving a little forward.
"Ah, don't be afraid of anything. I am not afraid, and you needn't be
afraid either. Certainly rumour has coupled our names already. But what
matter about that? No one shall insult you, whatever has occurred.
Wherever I go you shall go too. If they cannot do without me they shall
not do without you, and in spite of everything you shall be received
everywhere."
"Is that all you had to say?" said Roma.
"Not all. There is something else, and I couldn't wait for the
newspapers to tell you. The King has appointed me Dictator for six
months. That means that you will be more courted than the Queen. What a
revenge! The women who have been turning their backs upon you will bend
their backs before you. You will break down every barrier. You will...."
"Wait," said Roma.
The Baron had been approaching her, and she lifted her hand.
"You expect me to acquiesce in this lie?"
"What lie, my child?"
"That I denounced David Rossi in order to destroy him. It is true that I
did denounce him--unhappy woman that I am--but you know perfectly why I
did it. I did it because I was forced to do it. You forced me."
At the sound of her own voice, her eyes had begun to fill.
"And now you ask me to pretend that it was all done from an evil motive,
and you offer me the rewards of guilt. Do you think I'm a murderer that
you can offer me the price of blood? Have you any shame? You come here
to ask me to marry you, knowing that I am married already--here of all
places, in the house of my husband."