"I went in," continued Lamberti without heeding the interruption, "and she was standing beside one of the pillars, a little way from the door. She had one hand on the column, and she was facing the sun; her veil was thrown back and the light shone through her hair. I came nearer, very softly. She knew that I was there and was not afraid. When I was close to her she turned her face to mine. Then I took her in my arms and kissed her, and she did not resist."
Guido smiled gravely.
"And she turned out to be some one you know in real life, I suppose," he said.
"Yes," answered Lamberti. "Some one I know—slightly."
"Beautiful, of course. Fair or dark?"
"You need not try to guess," Lamberti said. "I shall not tell you. My head went round, and I woke."
"Very well. But is it this absurd dream that has made you so nervous?"
"No. Something happened to me to-day."
Lamberti ate a few mouthfuls in silence, before he went on.
"I daresay I might have invented some explanation of the dream," he said at last. "But it only made me want to see the place. I never cared for those things, you know. I had never gone down into the Forum in my life—why should I? I went there this morning."