The abbé looked angry for an instant. Then he smiled. "Perhaps," he replied. "After all, we have to regard Donna Bianca's position from a business point of view."
"Precisely, my dear friend, from a business point of view. Let us confine it to that, if you please. Let us assume, for example, that you are—a layman. It will simplify matters very much."
The abbé looked at him suspiciously, and his black eyebrows contracted disagreeably. He was never quite sure whether he were managing Monsieur d'Antin or whether Monsieur d'Antin were managing him.
"It would appear," he observed, presently, "from what Donna Bianca has said to Madame la Princesse, that you have introduced—what shall I say!—a little too much sentiment into your business point of view."
Monsieur d'Antin smiled complacently.
"What would you have, my dear abbé?" he replied. "You know my little secret. If I remember rightly, I confessed to you, and you gave me absolution—is it not so? Yes. I admit that I have perhaps been a little indiscreet, a little premature. But one cannot always control one's feelings. The soutane is one thing, and the pantalons are another. You must make allowance for those who do not wear the soutane."
"The question is," said the Abbé Roux, a little irritably, "that Donna Bianca will have none of it."
"None of which, my dear friend?" asked Monsieur d'Antin, imperturbably. "Of the soutane, or—"
The abbé laughed in spite of himself. "You have frightened her," he said. "She understands; and she has told the princess—oh, told her very plainly! It was a mistake. You should have waited—a month—six months. Moreover, she has found out that it was you who saw her and young Rossano together at the Villa Acorari; and now she feels that you have deceived her throughout the whole business. She will never forgive that. It would have been better to have told her that it was through you the affair became known, that you had felt bound to warn Madame la Princesse of what you believed to be a great peril threatening her step-daughter. Now, Donna Bianca has said that even if she is kept here for three years it will make no difference; that she will not be made love to by you; and that you are a liar and a coward."
Monsieur d'Antin started up from his chair.