"I hear nothing as yet, do you?"
"Nothing!"
"We could hear if it were not for that dreadful pounding yonder in the jail."
"Hush! They are building barricades."
The peasant girl gasped and seized the iron railing in front of her.
"Madonna mia! I am dying. Do you think Signore Blake will yield to your appeal and turn the mob?"
"I'm afraid not," said Vittoria, faintly.
"He can do more than any other, for he is powerful; they will listen to him. If Caesar should escape! I am shamed through and through to have loved such a man, and yet to have him killed like a rat in a hole! I pray, and I know not what I pray for—my thoughts are whirling so. Do you hear anything from the city?"
"No, no!"
There was a moment's pause.