"That Madame, my very good wife, is hunting through Milan for his Elysium, with that famous bottle of poison in her pocket."
"Great heavens! Is she going to try and poison Pallanza again?"
"No! you remember the Latin maxim, 'Non bis in idem.' She is going to try the effect of the poison on his wife."
"And yet you can sit there calmly without making an attempt to save this innocent creature! Beltrami, it is infamous!"
I was walking up and down the room in a state of great excitement, for it seemed horrible and incomprehensible to see the Marchese sitting there so calm and composed, when he knew that a reckless, dangerous woman like his wife was in Milan bent on murder.
"Eh! Hugo, keep cool," said Beltrami, quietly. "It is just this affair I have come to see you about. Sit down, mon ami, and I'll tell you all about it."
"But every moment is of value!"
"No doubt, but as it will take madame some time to find out where Signor Pallanza is staying, I think we can safely talk for five minutes."
"Go on, then! I am all impatience!"
"So I see! Ebbene! When I went to Rome I told the Contessa that I had taken away Pallanza's body; but of course I did not say he was alive, and swore that if she did not marry me I would tell everything to the authorities. The sequel you know--she married me."