“I knew his grandfather very well at Berlin.”
“And I his father in London, when he came to fetch his bride, Victoria.”
Two gentlemen have withdrawn from the flow of people to an embrasure of a window. One is Carlo Savelli, of the great house of Savelli, tall, strong and nervous, looking as if he had dismounted from one of the well-limbed horses of the Campagna, and had changed his large round cow-boy cloak for the evening dress of society. The other is Guglielmo Morici, pale and delicate, of the best Roman bourgeoisie, but allied by business and relationship to the nobility. In the conversation of each the Roman accent is very marked.
“For Saturday evening, Guglielmo. You are going to take part if you can get off?”
“Yes, I can get off for two or three days, for the Monday or even till Tuesday morning.”
“Good; we must pray Heaven that it doesn’t rain!”
“I don’t mind a little rain when one is out shooting, a little, but not too much.”
“You are right. We train to Velletri, thence we drive for three hours to Campiglione.”
“Yes, and go to bed at once. At six o’clock we are off. Breakfast is at a place called L’Æqua Morta, and at night we sleep at Fattino.”
“How I love these shooting trips, dear Carlo! For three days through fields and woods, eating here and there, sleeping here and there. One could believe oneself far away in Africa or Asia.”
“I swear to you, Guglielmo, that everything else is indifferent to me; I rave about the chase. At first it was a hobby, but now it is a passion.”
“People who do not understand it laugh at us.”
“The usual lot; Mario Colonna, Giovanni Santacroce, and Emilio Guasco.”
“Splendid; have you fixed up everything?”
“This evening we must all meet here to arrange the time-table.”
“Is Emilio coming here too this evening?”
“You are not the only one who has liked her.”
“What are we to do? It is a misfortune for us husbands.”
“However, they are together again now--man and wife!”
“So one says. But then one has to find oneself in certain predicaments. Watch if you can see them arriving.”
“Beckon to him to look for us after the Emperor has entered.”
“He has winked ‘yes.’ Now I see Emilio Guasco.”
“Yes, yes. She is more beautiful than ever this evening. Do you know that even I think in looking at her that he was right to have pardoned her.”