"I knew not you were concerned in your former rival!"
Her utterance seemed part of the incomprehensible cruelty of life. His face was hard and white as he regarded her.
"Perchance my concern is all for my present one!"
"I do not understand—" she faltered, her hands over her bosom. Yet her tone had lost its defiant ring.
As in mute questioning her eyes were on his face.
"As I passed down the Via Forinara last night, I passed a woman and a man. The woman was garbed in crimson, and there was no sign of recognition in her eyes. The woman I knew. Who was the man?"
Ilaria's face was very pale.
"What is he to you,—the monk?"
He came a step nearer.
"Who was the man?"