Part 33

"You allude to my brother, _signore_," the princess said, hastily. "But there was no intrigue on his part. He has behaved throughout this painful affair with a marvellous generosity and unselfishness. I must be frank with you, Signor Rossano, and tell you that my brother's primary object was to save Donna Bianca from the possible consequences of the false position in which your thoughtlessness--for I do you the justice, now that I have seen you and spoken with you, to believe it was nothing more had placed her."

Silvio bowed. "The fact remains," he said, "that Donna Bianca rejected Baron d'Antin's offer, knowing that she was already engaged to me. It is not a matter which I need discuss--the more so, as Don Agostino informs me that the baron has declared his determination to withdraw his suit. It is sufficient for me, Signora Principessa, to know that you no longer regard me as an adventurer, as a man whose birth and character do not permit of his aspiring to be the husband of Donna Bianca Acorari. For the rest, there is no more to be said. Time will prove that I do not seek Donna Bianca because she is heiress to lands and titles, but because I love her, and I know that she loves me. Signora Principessa, I have the honor to salute you, and with your permission I will rejoin Don Agostino."

"Wait, _signore_!" exclaimed the princess, suddenly, as, with a low bow, Silvio moved towards the door. "There are certain things I wish to ask you."

"Ask me anything," Silvio replied. "I am entirely at your service."

"What brings you here--to Montefiano--at this moment?" she continued, looking at him keenly. "It has been said that this disturbance of the peasantry has been largely fomented by you, for obvious reasons--that you wished to enlist public sympathy on your behalf."

"It has been said so, yes," returned Silvio, "by the Abbe Roux. But the Abbe Roux has said many things which will not bear investigation."

The princess winced. "But why are you here--at such a time?" she insisted.

"Because I knew from Donna Bianca that there were threatenings of a rising on the part of the peasants, and yesterday evening I read in a newspaper in Rome that troops had been asked for, to proceed to Montefiano. When I saw that, I determined to come by the first available train, lest there should be danger to her."

"You heard from my step-daughter!" repeated the princess in amazement. "But she knew nothing. Besides, how could she communicate with you, or you with her? There is some fresh mystery here, some new deception that I do not yet understand. Will you be so good as to explain yourself, _signore_?"

"Donna Bianca knew everything," said Silvio, "except that the troops had been summoned. This she did not know. When the mob burst into the court-yard of the castle, your _fattore's_ daughter went to Donna Bianca's room by the secret passage, in order to implore her to come out and speak to the people--"

The princess stared at him. "By the secret passage!" she repeated. "Signor Rossano, what fables are these?"

"Ah--you do not know--they have not explained to you yet?" asked Silvio, quickly. "_Sicuro_--by the secret passage which leads into Donna Bianca's room--where the portrait of the cardinal is--"

"Maria Santissima!" ejaculated the princess. "How do you know," she continued, angrily, "that there is such a portrait in my step-daughter's room? It is an outrage--"

"I know it because Donna Bianca has described it to me," returned Silvio, who did not at the moment understand what it might be that had so suddenly aroused the princess's indignation. "The picture moves into the wall, and behind it is the secret entrance. Concetta Fontana, when she went to warn Donna Bianca that the peasants were forcing their way into the castle, found her locked in her room--"

"_Sciocchezze!_" exclaimed Princess Montefiano. "Why should she be locked in her room?"

"For a very simple reason. The Abbe Roux did not want Donna Bianca to know what was going on. She had retired to her room after breakfast, and when the disturbances began, he turned the key of the door opening into your apartment."

"It is true," said the princess, as if to herself. "The child complained of a headache, and had gone to her room. I thought she was there, until, to my astonishment, I heard that she was speaking to the peasants."

"Concetta Fontana took her down the concealed passage," said Silvio, "and it is fortunate she did so, princess, or there would certainly have been bloodshed at Montefiano to-day."

"Holy Virgin! how many more things am I to hear?" exclaimed Princess Montefiano. "As to this mysterious passage," she continued, "why have I never been told of its existence? Even now I will not believe it until I see it. Concetta Fontana must be romancing. At any rate, I will investigate the matter for myself. And so it was by means of this unknown passage that you communicated--by letter, of course--with my step-daughter?"

"Yes," replied Silvio, simply. "I sent a letter to Don Agostino, begging him to get it conveyed to Donna Bianca if he possibly could do so. The agent--Fontana--told him of the passage, and how Donna Bianca's room could be entered at any time by a person knowing the secret communication. Concetta delivered the letter, and another subsequent one, and took Donna Bianca's replies to Don Agostino. He posted them to me. You see, Signora Principessa," added Silvio, "that I have answered your questions frankly. And you will not blame Concetta, for she only did as she was told."

Princess Montefiano looked at him with something like a smile on her face. Possibly the straightforward manner in which Silvio had spoken to her throughout their conversation had impressed her more favorably than she was fully aware of.

"I do not understand why Monsignor Lelli--Don Agostino, as you call him--should have taken upon himself to help you so untiringly," she observed, presently. "In your case I conclude his friendship with your father to have been the motive. But he seems to be equally concerned for my step-daughter's happiness. To be sure he tells me that he knew her mother, many years ago. He seemed to be under a strange emotion when he spoke of her, and hinted at some kind of responsibility he felt towards my step-daughter."

"Monsignor Lelli considers that he has a certain responsibility towards Donna Bianca," said Silvio; and then he paused.

"But why, _signore_--why? It is inexplicable. Am I to understand that this strange idea forms one of his reasons for so obviously supporting your suit?"

Silvio looked at her quickly. "It is not inexplicable," he replied, quietly. "It is an idea--a sentiment, perhaps--or perhaps it is more than that. If one does not believe that the dead are conscious beings, princess, what is the use of praying for them? And, if they are conscious beings, why may they not exercise an influence over those who are dear to them, and whom they have left behind?"

Princess Montefiano regarded him with surprise--but at the same time with evident approval. She had certainly not expected to hear any such arguments from the lips of a son of Professor Rossano.

"Signor Rossano," she exclaimed, "I thought that you believed in nothing--I mean, that you were an atheist."

Silvio laughed. "Why, princess?" he asked.

"Why? Oh, because--well, because you are your father's son."

"My father is not an atheist," returned Silvio, simply. "He knows too much--or not enough--to be one."

The princess stared at him. Perhaps she scarcely understood the full significance of his answer; but all the same his words, coupled with his preceding remark, gave her a sense both of satisfaction and of relief.

"I am glad," she said, somewhat irrelevantly, "very glad. But as regards Monsieur Lelli, and this strange idea of responsibility towards the daughter of one whom he knew many years ago--how can you explain that? I feel sure that Monsignor Lelli is a good man, though I have heard him much abused. But I have also heard people say that he has been very hardly treated; and possibly his long exile here at Montefiano may have made him somewhat morbid."

"Signora Principessa," said Silvio, approaching the armchair in which she was sitting, "Don Agostino has authorized me to answer your question, in the event of your asking it. Had it not been for this authorization, I must have kept silence. It may be that his idea is a morbid idea; or it may be that, as he is firmly convinced, he is being guided by another intelligence than his own. Of that, princess, you must be the judge," and taking the case Don Agostino had confided to him from his pocket, he gave it into her hands.

Princess Montefiano opened it, and then she suddenly turned very pale.

"It is Bianca!" she exclaimed. "It is Bianca herself! Signor Rossano," she added, "what does this mean?"

"No," returned Silvio, in a low voice, "it is not Bianca."

Princess Montefiano did not notice his unconscious departure from the formalities. She bent over the miniature and examined it attentively. "No," she said, after a pause, "it is not Bianca--the face has not her character in its expression. It is a weaker face. It is strange," she continued, as though speaking to herself, "but I have never seen any portrait of my husband's first wife; there is none at Palazzo Acorari--and, of course, this is she. But how did the miniature come into Monsignor Lelli's possession?" she added.

"Can you not guess, princess?" asked Silvio, gravely.

Princess Montefiano looked at him. "You mean--" she began, and then she paused.

Silvio nodded. "Yes," he said.

The princess remained silent. She appeared to be deeply moved, for her hands trembled as, after another intent look at the portrait, she closed the case and returned it to Silvio.

He took it from her almost reverently. "Don Agostino told me to say to you that you were to regard the miniature as his credentials; and," he added, "as he hoped, my passport."

"Your passport?" repeated Princess Montefiano.

"Yes. If he had not known me to be worthy of Bianca--to be one who would make her a good husband--he would not have delivered it to me," continued Silvio, quickly. "Listen, princess," and he rapidly told her all that had passed between him and Don Agostino from the day when he had first come to Montefiano and had been received into the _parroco's_ house. He told her how Don Agostino had shown him the miniature on that occasion; and how the priest had from the first been convinced that he was only obeying some unseen but powerful influence in giving him his friendship and support.

Princess Montefiano listened to him without uttering a word; but she never took her eyes off his countenance as he spoke.

As he ceased, she rose from her chair and held out her hand. "Thank you, Signor Rossano," she said, gravely, but very courteously--"thank you. You have been very frank with me, and I appreciate your confidence. You stay with Monsignor Lelli to-night, is it not so? Well, you and he will, I hope, give me the pleasure of seeing you here at breakfast at twelve to-morrow. You will find me alone--me and Bianca--for my brother will most probably be returning to Rome in the morning."

Silvio bent over her hand and kissed it. "I will come with great pleasure, princess," he said, "and I think I can answer for Don Agostino that he also will do so."

A happy light shone in his eyes as he spoke. The princess looked at him again and smiled slightly.

"I must think," she said, slowly. "Monsignor Lelli has fulfilled his responsibilities, and you must both allow me to fulfil mine. To-morrow we can talk of many things, and in a few days, Signor Rossano, I promise you that I will give you an answer to a question which I know you are longing to ask me."

With a slight inclination of her head, Princess Montefiano turned towards the bell and rang it. A moment or two afterwards the _maggior-domo_, who had been waiting in the adjoining room, opened the double doors and conducted Silvio to the apartment where Don Agostino was awaiting him.

*XXXVI*

A year had passed; and on the anniversary of the day that had witnessed the forcible entry of the peasants into the court-yard of the castle at Montefiano, a still larger and scarcely less noisy crowd was assembled on the same spot. Now, however, instead of angry discussions and threatening cries, laughter and jests resounded in the still air of a mellow September morning. The entire population of Montefiano was gathered together inside or around the castle walls, and the peasants and farmers had come into the _paese_ from many an outlying village and hamlet in the Sabina to assist at the wedding of the young Princess of Montefiano.

The year that had passed had been a year of probation. True to her word, the _principessa madre_, as she was now termed by the retainers and dependants of Casa Acorari, had given Silvio her answer to his unasked question some ten days or so after he had shown her Don Agostino's so-called credentials. There had been, indeed, no doubt in Princess Montefiano's mind from the moment of her interview with Silvio that he and Bianca Acorari would marry one another in the future, even were she to insist on withholding her consent to their union for the present. Monsieur d'Antin had been right when he said to himself that his sister was capable of rising to a situation. In this instance she had done so at considerably less cost, either to her feelings or to her authority than she had anticipated, for she had speedily come to conceive a strong liking for Silvio, a liking which had only increased as she grew better acquainted with him. Nevertheless, in withdrawing her opposition to his marriage to her step-daughter, she had insisted that a year should elapse before it should take place: and in this stipulation she had been supported not only by Don Agostino, who, indeed, had counselled her to make it, but also by the Senator Rossano. Professor Rossano was determined that nobody should be able to say that his son was over eager to ally himself with Casa Acorari, or with any other noble house; and there was, moreover, another motive for delay, which neither he nor Monsignor Lelli deemed it advisable to explain to the princess, although they had been obliged to do so to Silvio.

The Abbe Roux had apparently been as good as his word when he declared that he would cause all Rome to learn that Donna Bianca Acorari had compromised herself by receiving, unknown to her relatives, the addresses of a young man. Carefully veiled paragraphs had even appeared in various Roman journals of the second rank, in which the clandestine love-affair between the only daughter and last representative of a princely house and the son of a well-known senator and scientist was mysteriously hinted at. It did not need any great knowledge of the world to realize what would infallibly be whispered were a marriage between Donna Bianca Acorari and Silvio Rossano to be celebrated too speedily.

Silvio himself had been the first to see the wisdom of allowing twelve months to expire before Bianca should become his wife; and he, no less than his father, had no desire to be supposed to be over anxious for the alliance on account of its worldly advantages.

And so everything had been arranged satisfactorily for all the parties chiefly concerned. Bianca herself, now that opposition to her engagement was withdrawn, was quite content to listen to the advice of those round her, especially as Silvio pointed out to her the wisdom of delay. After the uncertainty of the past, the assurance that in a short year they would be united for the remainder of their lives had seemed almost too good to be true.

And the months had sped quickly enough. Silvio had pursued his profession, and had won for himself an increased reputation; and Bianca Acorari and the princess had been happier together than they had ever been before, passing the time between Montefiano and the Villa Acorari near Velletri, and visiting only at rare intervals the old palace in Rome. Bianca had developed a great affection for her home at Montefiano; and, much to the satisfaction of the population, the castle had been gradually refurnished and put in order, and she had announced her intention of making it her almost constant residence in future. Afterwards, when she and Silvio were married, the princess dowager would occupy an apartment in Palazzo Acorari at Rome, and, if she so chose, the villa at Velletri, to both of which she had a right for her lifetime. She and her brother, Baron d'Antin, had already decided that they would live together until such time as Monsieur d'Antin should elect to return to his native country.

A day or two before their wedding, Bianca had received a letter from Monsieur d'Antin. It was a gay letter, full of congratulations and airy trifles, but containing not even the most indirect allusion to the past. Monsieur d'Antin was vexed beyond words--he assured his dear niece--that he would be unable to interrupt the course of his baths at Aix, and thus be present at her wedding; but the pores of his skin being now well opened, it would be absolutely dangerous to travel so far. Bianca showed the note to Silvio, who laughed and said nothing; but Don Agostino, to whom he subsequently recounted the condition of Monsieur d'Antin's skin, shrugged his shoulders and observed that the material in question was assuredly too thick to be porous.

And now the year of waiting had passed. In Cardinal Acorari's chapel, inside the castle, Monsignor Lelli was saying the few brief words that would make Silvio Rossano and Bianca Acorari man and wife. The civil marriage had already been performed by the _sindaco_ of Montefiano, the day before, and now the crowd was waiting in the court-yard for the appearance of the _sposi_.

Suddenly the doors at the top of the stone staircase were thrown back, and shout after shout rent the air as Bianca and Silvio, followed by the princess and Professor Rossano, Giacinta, and the remainder of the witnesses of the religious ceremony appeared.

Bianca led her husband forward, and for a few moments they stood together, bowing and smiling in response to the vociferous applause from below.

Presently the cries of "_Evviva gli sposi!_" died away, to be succeeded by cheers for the _principessa madre_ and for the Senator Rossano. Then shouts of _"Evviva Don Agostino--evviva il nostro parroco_!" were raised, as Don Agostino, more popular and beloved by his people than ever, since the attack made upon him in that very place a year before, advanced to where the young couple were standing.

He had removed his vestments, and his tall, black form stood out in sombre contrast with the color of the bridal dresses and the flowers round him.

For a moment or two he paused, holding both Silvio's and Bianca's hands in his own.

"God, and the spirits of God, protect you both, in this life and in the life to come," he said; and, dropping their hands, he made the sign of the cross over them.

Then he turned, and, descending the steps, made his way quickly through the crowd, and passed through the dark gateway into the golden sunlight beyond.

THE END