"That she will not!" exclaimed Don Agostino, emphatically.
Sor Beppe drank half of his glass of wine.
"They have brought her here to Montefiano," he said, "and they will keep her here till she gives way. For the rest, the baron, as they call him, is madly in love with the girl—at least, he is—"
"I understand," Don Agostino, interrupted. "It is monstrous," he added—"a crime!"
"Altrocchè! Who knows what may be the motives?"
Don Agostino glanced at Sor Beppe quickly.
"The motives?" he repeated.
"Sicuro! Concetta has heard things—oh, but very strange things. Sa, reverendo, the castle is a curious building, and especially that part of it in which the family resides. There is not one of them who knows it; but we know it—I and Concetta. Diamine! We have lived in it for more than twenty years, so how should we not know it? Ebbene! Concetta has overheard things—conversations between the baron and that cursed priest, carried on when they thought themselves secure. At first she could not understand very clearly, for they talked in French; and Concetta understands a little French, but not much. She learned all she knows when she went to a family in Rome. Occasionally, however, the Abbé Roux and the princess spoke in Italian, and by degrees she has been able to learn a great deal of what is going on. The baron and the Abbé Roux are working together, I tell you; the one for lust, the other for money—or both for money. Che ne so io?"
Don Agostino looked at him steadily.
"Adagio, Signor Fontana!" he said, quietly. "These are very serious allegations to make. Are you sure that in your very natural indignation at being dismissed for no offence but that of doing what your conscience told you was just, you are not exaggerating? Your daughter may have been mistaken, and the things she overheard may not have applied to Donna Bianca at all. As to the Baron d'Antin, it is possible that he may have conceived a passion for Donna Bianca, who is, I believe, a very beautiful girl. After all, the fact, although perhaps somewhat repugnant, would not be unprecedented."