Giacinta was more than ready to fall in with the idea. She was about to ring the bell in order to tell the servants not to prepare dinner, when the door opened and Silvio walked into the room.
The professor gazed at him placidly.
"I thought that you were at Terni," he said.
"So I was," replied Silvio, smiling, "a fortnight ago. But I completed my business there, and placed the order for the steel girders. Since then I have been in the Sabina. I came from Montefiano this morning."
Giacinta started. "From Montefiano?" she exclaimed.
"From Montefiano—yes," repeated Silvio. "I have not been staying at the castle there," he added, dryly.
"You have been committing some folly, I suppose," remarked the professor, "and I do not wish to hear about it. You will have the goodness, Silvio, not to mention the subject."
"I have been staying with a friend of yours, Babbo," Silvio replied, laughing. "Don Agostino—"
"Don Agostino?" repeated his father. "The devil take your Don Agostino! I do not know whom you mean."
"Monsignor Lelli, then," returned Silvio. "He has come to Rome with me, and he is here—in the house. I left him in the drawing-room. I suppose you will go there to see him; or shall I tell him that you hope the devil may take him?"