"Well done, my dear!" his immovable grandmother replied, and added: "I am glad that young girl had the opportunity of seeing you as you are, because, supposing she may have heard of a certain project, she will now be very glad it is no longer thought of."
"Then we are both satisfied!" said Franco.
"You cannot in the least tell if you are going to be satisfied. Especially if you still hold the views you once held."
Upon this, Franco put his paper down, and looked his grandmother full in the face.
"What would happen," he said, "if I still held the same views I once held?"
This time he did not speak in a challenging tone, but with quiet seriousness.
"Ah! That is right!" the Marchesa exclaimed. "Let us speak plainly! I hope and believe that a certain event will never take place, but should it take place, do not flatter yourself that there will be anything for you at my death, for I have already arranged matters so that there will be nothing."
"Oh! as to that——" the young man began, with indifference.
"That is the score you would have to settle with me," the Marchesa continued. "Then there would be a score to settle with God."
"How is that?" Franco questioned. "God shall come first with me, and you afterwards!"