'The master is coming up the stairs,' said Pina quietly, and instantly she disappeared again.
Don Alberto started, but Ortensia was calm.
'Stay here and say you have come to see him,' she said, and before he could answer she was in her own room and the door was shut.
Don Alberto was himself again in a moment, for no experienced woman of the world could have done the right thing with more instant decision than Ortensia had shown. He understood, too, that he had so thoroughly frightened the wretched Pina that she was henceforth his slave, on whom he could count as safely as Stradella had depended on her in Venice. With the instinct of an old hand he glanced quickly round the room to see that no object had been displaced in a way to excite suspicion, and he then sat down in a straight chair, folded one knee over the other, and waited for Stradella's coming.
The musician entered a few moments later and stared in surprise as Don Alberto rose to meet him with outstretched hand and a friendly smile.
'Your servant told me that you would not be back for some time,' said Altieri, 'but I insisted on coming in. Pray forgive the intrusion, for the matter is very urgent.'
Stradella had taken his hand rather coolly, but he did not mean his visitor to see that he was displeased, and he now politely pushed a chair forward, and took another himself.
'I am glad to find you here,' he said, 'for I also wished to see you in order to thank you once more for the use of this apartment.'
'But you are not going away?' cried Don Alberto in astonishment.
'Not from Rome. But I have at last found a dwelling which will just suit us, and we mean to move on Saint John's Day.'