'Yes,' she continued. 'He made a terrible scene with me and our mother—not exactly a scene, perhaps—it was all about you. He said that he was going, that he could not live in the house any longer, that he should never come back again. He said—' she hesitated.
'What more did he say?'
'He was half mad, I think. He said it was better to be an outlaw than live under such a brother as you, and that he would pay you for what you had done to him in the way you least expected.'
'What makes you think that he is gone to Sicily?' asked Tebaldo, very quietly, while his lids drooped at the corners.
'He looked for the trains in the newspaper, and I heard him say 'Reggio' and 'Messina.' We tried to quiet him—we did what we could. But he packed a quantity of things in a hurry, and went off in a cab, looking at his watch, and saying that he had barely time. Mother fell into one of those terrible fits of crying that she has sometimes, and she is ill again. I thought it best to tell you.'
'Certainly,' said Tebaldo, thoughtfully. 'And now that you have told me, please go away, for I must dress.'
She was already turning, for she was used to his peremptory ways, but he stopped her.
'I may as well tell you, Vittoria,' he said; 'I am engaged to be married to your friend Miss Slayback. I hope that, as the marriage will be so advantageous to our family, you will not criticise me to her too much. I am not quite so bad as you sometimes think.'
Vittoria looked at him in silence for three or four seconds before she spoke.