“Ah!”
“And, though years have passed, the countenance has not changed; perhaps improved.”
“It is a countenance that will bear, perhaps even would require, maturity,” said Lothair; “but she is no longer ‘La République franç aise;’ what is she now?”
“She is called Theodora, though married, I believe, to an Englishman, a friend of Garibaldi. Her birth unknown; some say an Italian, some a Pole; all sorts of stories. But she speaks every language, is ultra-cosmopolitan, and has invented a new religion.”
“A new religion!”
“Would your lordship care to be introduced to her? I know her enough for that. Shall we go up to her?”
“I have made so many now acquaintances to-day,” said, Lothair, as it were starting from a reverie, “and indeed heard so many new things, that I think I had better say good-night;” and he graciously retired.
CHAPTER 9
About the same time that Lothair had repaired to the residence of Mr. Giles, Monsignore Berwick, whose audience of the cardinal in the morning had preceded that of the legal adviser of the trustees, made his way toward one of the noblest mansions in St. James’s Square, where resided Lord St. Jerome.