“To be sure; what else? It is easy thus to get rid of any one that is too much in the way.”
“Good night, good night,” he replied in great fear.
“Stay a moment,” she answered, somewhat propitiated: “Corvinus, I gave you two pieces of advice worth all your gold that night. One you have acted against; the other you have not followed.”
“How?”
“Did I not tell you not to hunt the Christians, but to catch them in your toils? Fulvius has done the second, and has gained something. You have done the first, and what have you earned?”
“Nothing but rage, confusion, and stripes.”
“Then I was a good counsellor in the one advice; follow me in the second.”
“What was it?”
“When you had become rich enough by Christian spoil, to offer yourself, with your wealth, to Fabiola. She has till now coldly rejected every offer; but I have observed one thing carefully. Not a single suit has been accompanied by riches. Every spendthrift has sought her fortune to repair his own; depend upon it, he that wins the prize must come on the principle that two and two make four. Do you understand me?”
“Too well, for where are my two to come from?”