Silvio glanced at him with surprise.
"Not a good reason!" he repeated. "And why not? It seems to me to be a very natural reason. I want Bianca Acorari herself. I do not want her money, and I would not accept one of her titles."
"It is a very natural reason, yes—for a galantuomo," returned Don Agostino, "but it is not one that will appeal to those who are not galantuomini. You must remember that dishonest people do not easily credit others with honesty. In this case I cannot help suspecting—it is a suspicion only—that Monsieur d'Antin has some hold over his sister, and perhaps also over the Abbé Roux. Moreover, you must recollect that Donna Bianca has evidently aroused—well, a certain passion in him; and the passion of an elderly man for a young girl—"
Silvio Rossano muttered something under his breath. It was not complimentary to Baron d'Antin.
"It is no use to fly into a rage—none at all," proceeded Don Agostino, tranquilly. "We must look at things as they are, and human nature is a complicated affair. What we have to do is to find out, so to speak, all the cards that Monsieur d'Antin holds in his hand. I do not wish to be uncharitable, but it is scarcely credible that the princess would encourage, or even tolerate, her brother's aspirations, were he not able to bring some more convincing argument to bear upon her and the Abbé Roux than the mere fact that he had conceived a sudden passion for her step-daughter."
"Yes," said Silvio, thoughtfully; "I see what you mean. You are more clever at reasoning than I am," he added.
Don Agostino smiled. "I am considerably older than you are, ragazzo mio," he replied; "and," he continued, "I am not in love with Bianca Acorari, though her welfare is very dear to me, for—for her mother's sake." He paused, and Silvio saw him make the sign of the cross almost imperceptibly.
"I think," Don Agostino continued, "that you would do well not to return with me to Montefiano to-morrow. If Baron d'Antin knew that you were in the neighborhood, and especially if he knew that you were in my house—it would certainly not make things easier."
Silvio's face fell. "But what am I to do?" he exclaimed. "I had meant—"
"Yes," interrupted Don Agostino, "let us hear what you had meant to do at Montefiano—or rather, I will tell you. You had meant by some means to obtain another interview with Donna Bianca—to persuade her to escape with you, perhaps—and that I should marry you. In fact, you had a whole romance in your head. Is it not true?"