When the door was shut, Hadrian remained quite motionless on the throne; and set Himself to review what He had said. He wondered whether He for once had got-down to and laid-bare the root of the matter: whether He for once had made His argument clear and convincing.—Good God! Who even could hope to be convincing?—He flung the thing away from Him; and for ever closed that volume of the book of His life.
He rose; and went straight into the bedroom. Here He stripped, and stood erect, knees and feet close: gripped a pair of ten-pound dumb-bells; and swung them with the alternating gesture of a right and left overhand bowler, rhythmically swaying from the hips. He counted up to a hundred; and went to another movement: a full round over-head sweep of both arms together, expanding the long-breathing lungs, quickening the pulses, brightening the eyes. His skin became moist and warm. He washed His face and hands in oatmeal-water with no soap; and went into the bath-room, turning on the high tap and letting the cold soft water rain-down upon Him until He was numbed. He quickly dried Himself; and put on completely clean clothes, rolling up those which He had discarded and thrusting them into a linen bag. Then, He emerged all flushed and white and fresh; and summoned Sir Iulo to the secret chamber.
"And so you are thinking of marriage, carino;" Hadrian said, putting the young man into a chair and bestowing fumificables.
Sir Iulo went almost as scarlet as his uniform: his eyes and teeth gleamed. Hadrian handed to him a sheet of paper containing six stanzas of passionate expression in rhyme, under the heading "Vorrei che tu ascoltassi la mia voce."
"Don't leave your sonnets about. And don't be so terrified, you silly boy. Well: is it true?"
The lover's face twitched rather. "I l-o-v-e her," he said with an enormous vocal expansion of the middle word. "But I will not to abandon You, Santità:" he added with fixed eyes.
"Who is she? Is she good? Has she any money?"
"She is the little daughter of the dentist. But good? But, yes. But no money:" was the categorical reply.
"Does she love you?"