"Are you angry, because I want to go?" asked the young girl, looking lovingly into his face.
"Angry? No indeed, darling! I ought to have taken you home at once—but I was too happy to think of it. Of course your people must be terribly anxious, and the question is how to manage your entrance. Can you get into the house unseen? Is there any way? Any small door that is open?"
"We can wake the porter," said Faustina, simply. "He will let us in."
"It would not do. How can I go to your father and tell him that I found you here? Besides, the porter knows me."
"Well, if he does, what does it matter?"
"He would talk about it to other servants, and all Rome would know it to-morrow. You must go home with a woman, and to do that we must find some one you know. It would be a terrible injury to you to have such a story repeated abroad."
"Why?"
To this innocent question Gouache did not find a ready answer. He smiled quietly and pressed her to his side more closely.
"The world is a very bad place, dearest. I am a man and know it. You must trust me to do what is best. Will you?"
"How can you ask? I will always trust you."