"I will not go there. I mean to assert myself. I am a Roman lady and I will have my seat, and you must get it for me."
"I will do my best. But I do not quite see where I am to begin. It will need time and consideration and much tact."
"It seems to me very simple. Go to one of the clerical deputies and say that you want the ticket for your wife—"
"And then?"
"Give him to understand that you will vote for his next measure. Nothing could be simpler, I am sure."
Del Ferice smiled blandly at his wife's ideas of parliamentary diplomacy.
"There are no clerical deputies in the parliament of the nation. If there were the thing might be possible, and it would be very interesting to all the clericals to read an account of the transaction in the Osservatore Romano. In any case, I am not sure that it will be much to our advantage that the wife of the Onorevole Del Ferice should be seen seated in the midst of the Black ladies. It will produce an unfavourable impression."
"If you are going to talk of impressions—" Donna Tullia shrugged her massive shoulders.
"No, my dear. You mistake me. I am not going to talk of them, because, as I at once told you, it is quite right that you should go to this affair. If you go, you must go in the proper way. No doubt there will be people who will have invitations but will not use them. We can perhaps procure you the use of such a ticket."
"I do not care what name is on the paper, provided I can sit in the right place."