With a sudden movement Giacinta turned and kissed him. "Why should I mind?" she exclaimed; "only—"
"Only what?" asked Silvio, as she paused.
"Only I wish you had sought for a wife elsewhere," she continued, earnestly. "Those people—they will despise you, because they are noble and we are not. You will never be allowed to marry Donna Bianca Acorari, Silvio! Never, I tell you! That priest and Baron d'Antin, they will never permit it. The girl will not be allowed to marry anybody, unless it be Monsieur d'Antin. You will see."
"Sciocchezze!" exclaimed Silvio, contemptuously. "What have I often told you, Giacinta?" he continued. "Bianca and I can afford to wait until she is her own mistress. If they were to attempt to force her to marry Baron d'Antin or anybody else, then we would go away and get some priest to marry us. The civil marriage could wait. I have told you so a hundred times."
Giacinta was silent for a moment. Then she said, suddenly:
"I am glad you are not going back to Montefiano. It was wise of Don Agostino, as you call him, to advise you to remain here."
"Oh, but I shall go back there very soon," returned Silvio. "In a few days Don Agostino will write to me to come. You see, Bianca must be protected from that old baron. She will be glad to know that I am near her, even if we cannot see each other."
"Do not go, Silvio!" Giacinta exclaimed, almost passionately. "You will be mad to go! Ah, but I saw Baron d'Antin's expression when he recognized you! I could see that he recognized you—and you, you looked at him as if you would have struck him."
Silvio laughed. "And I could have struck him—very hard," he replied, "for he stared at me in an insolent manner. Of course, I shall return to Montefiano, Giacinta, whenever Don Agostino writes to me that I can do so. I cannot imagine what you are afraid of."
Giacinta smiled slightly. "After all," she said, "I hardly know myself! But there is some mystery—something I do not understand. I am afraid that it is money—that they want to keep Donna Bianca's money. Oh, not the princess! She is only a fool. But these others, the Abbé Roux and Monsieur d'Antin, they are not fools. And if it is money, and you stand in their way—well, who knows what people will not do for money? They might murder you at Montefiano, and who would be the wiser?"