"Because I have never sat to an artist, and, moreover, the lady is wearing a dress such as I have never worn. She carries a sceptre in her hand and on her head is a diadem. Who ever saw me with sceptre and diadem? No; the portrait is not mine. Whose can it be? Do you know, Lambro?"
The old Palicar shook his head, but Paul felt that little reliance could be placed on his denial.
"In a distant corner," continued Barbara, "was another portrait, less easy to examine since it hung in the shadows. As I was moving forward a sudden gleam illumined the dusky chamber, bringing every line of the portrait into clear relief. I recognized the face of my enemy, Cardinal Ravenna; he seemed to be smiling at me with wicked satisfaction. Such fear and trembling took hold of me that I fainted."
"And that is all you have seen?" said Lambro, with evident relief, a feeling in which Jacintha seemed to share.
"What else was there to see, then?" asked Paul, fixing a significant look on the Palicar, who remained mute to the question.
"And this place, you say, belongs to Cardinal Ravenna?" said Barbara. "I must leave to-morrow."
"Oh! my lady, so soon?" cried Jacintha sorrowfully, for she had become very fond of Barbara.
"If the cardinal should appear he will take me back to the convent."
"By whose authority?" asked Paul, hotly.