"Mansana?" she cried. "What——"
"Princess Leaney?" exclaimed the officer, in accents of astonishment, as he saluted her.
"Is it you, Major Sardi?" she answered, and added hastily: "But Mansana? What of him? You mentioned his name."
"Yes. This is his mother."
The Major presented the younger lady to the elder. As the mother drew her veil aside, the calm, noble face that was revealed filled Theresa with an instant sense of confidence and strength. She threw herself into the lady's arms as if she had found there a haven of refuge from all her storms of anxiety and distress, and burst into a convulsive fit of weeping.
The Signora Mansana said nothing, but she soothed the agitated girl with a few gentle and caressing touches of her hand, and stood waiting quietly till her passion had spent itself and she had regained her self-possession. Presently Theresa was sufficiently composed to ask where Mansana was.
"That," answered the elder lady calmly, "we none of us know."
"But we hope to find out before long," added the Major.
White as a sheet, Theresa sprang up, and looked from one to another.
"Tell me," she cried; "what is it that has happened?"