"No, never again! This is the last time I shall go to that house; and neither shall he go there again. It is time to bring it all to an end!"
When she had reached her room, she took off her silk jacket and flung it on the bed.
"Well! it is hot! What a summer we are going to have! Oh, how horrid Rome is in the summer! And they are already going away. Quite right, the poor delicate things! But we—yes, gnawing our bones—if they're left to us——"
"What's that you're muttering?" asked Antonio, but went on, without waiting for an answer, "Hasn't Caterina come in yet?"
Regina undressed, flinging down her things and inveighing against the rich, great people, who abandon Rome at its first heat.
Antonio stood looking out of the window. An angry thought flashed through her mind, the worst of the perverse thoughts which had destroyed her peace.
"He's no longer displeased when I am cross. He's afraid of provoking me to a burst of rage. He guesses that I know, and believes that I'll bear it—up to a certain point."
"Shut the window!" she said, irritated.
He shut the window, patiently.