"Ilaria—can you guess the import of this hour? Can you guess why we are here at this moment?"
She looked up at him questioningly, but did not speak.
"We are here," he stammered, looking helplessly into her face,—"to say farewell."
"Farewell?" she repeated with wonderment. "Do you not ride with us?"
A negative gesture was slowly followed by the words:
"I do not ride with you."
"I do not understand!" she said, hesitation in her tone. "Has the Viceroy—"
"I am no longer of the court!"
She started. He saw the roses fade from her cheeks.
"Dismissed?"