"Come in," Regina answered, and a moment later they both entered the sitting-room.
Ercole stood still when he saw Marcello, and began to turn his hat in his hands, as if it were a rosary, which he generally did when he was embarrassed. Marcello wondered what the man wanted.
"Were you looking for me?" he asked. "Come in! What is it? Has anything happened?"
"No, sir, nothing new has happened," answered Ercole.
"What is it, then? Why did you come here?"
Ercole had dressed himself for the occasion in his best clothes. He had on a snowy shirt and a new keeper's jacket, and his boots were blacked. Furthermore, he had just been shaved, and his shaggy hair had been cut rather close. He did not carry his gun about with him in the streets of Rome, though he felt that it was slightly derogatory to his dignity to be seen without it, and Nino was not with him, having been temporarily chained to the wall in the court of the stables at the villa.
He stood still, and looked from Marcello to Regina, and back to Marcello again.
"It cannot be done," he said suddenly. "It is useless. It cannot be done."
Without another word he turned abruptly and was going to leave the room, when Marcello stopped him authoritatively.
"Come here, Ercole!" he cried, as the man was disappearing into the entry.