"I do not know. I told him it was all legal, and that he could not touch you at all. I also said you were staying at the Hotel Costanzi, where he might find you if he wished."
"Oh! Did you tell him that?" asked Hedwig.
"It was quite right," said Nino. "He ought to know, of course. And what else did you tell him?"
"Nothing especial, Nino mio. He went away in a sort of ill temper because I would not let him abuse you as much as he pleased."
"He may abuse me and be welcome," said Nino. "He has some right to be angry with me. But he will think differently some day." So we chatted away for an hour, enjoying the rest and the peace and the sweet sunshine of the Easter afternoon. But this was the day of interruptions. There was one more visitor to come,—one more scene for me to tell you, and then I have done.
A carriage drove down the street and seemed to stop at the door of my house. Nino looked idly out of the window. Suddenly he started.
"Hedwig, Hedwig!" he cried, "here is your father coming back!" She would not look out, but stood back from the window, turning pale. If there was one thing she dreaded, it was a meeting with her father. All the old doubt as to whether she had done right seemed to come back to her face in a moment. But Nino turned and looked at her, and his face was so triumphant that she got back her courage, and, clasping his hand, bravely awaited what was to come.
I went myself to the door, and heard Lira's slow tread on the stairs. Before long he appeared, and glanced up at me from the steps, which he climbed, one at a time, with his stick.
"Is my daughter here?" he asked, as soon as he reached me; and his voice sounded subdued, just as Nino's did when Benoni had gone, I conducted him into the room. It was the strangest meeting. The proud old man bowed stiffly to Hedwig, as though he had never before seen her. They also bent their heads, and there was a silence as of death in the sunny room.
"My daughter," said Von Lira at last, and with evident effort, "I wish to have a word with you. These two gentlemen—the younger of whom is now, as I understand it, your husband—may well hear what I wish to say."