The princess looked doubtful. From the Abbé Roux she would, to quote Shakespeare, "take suggestion as a cat laps milk." Nevertheless, to pretend to Bianca that she was in complete ignorance of her conduct seemed to be derogatory to her own position as the girl's step-mother and guardian.
"I must certainly speak to Bianca sooner or later," she began.
"Then, madame," said the abbé, "let it be later, I beg of you. There will be time enough when you are at Montefiano to explain to Donna Bianca your reasons for your actions. If you go into the subject with her now she may communicate with her lover, and warn him that she is being taken to Montefiano. When she is once safely there, it will not matter. It will, of course, be known that you are residing at Montefiano, but Montefiano is not Villa Acorari. A convent itself could not be a more secure retreat."
"Well," returned the princess, "perhaps you are right. But I must say I do not like the idea of meeting Bianca as if nothing at all had happened. It appears to me to be scarcely—scarcely honorable on my part, and to be encouraging her in maintaining a deception towards me."
"Chère madame," said the Abbé Roux, blandly, "I fully understand your scruples, and they do you credit. But we must remember the end we have in view. This absurd love-affair between a boy and a girl—for it is, after all, nothing more serious—must be put an end to in such a way as to preserve Donna Bianca Acorari's name from any breath of scandal."
"Then," replied Princess Montefiano, "you advise me to say nothing to Bianca at present."
"At present I should say nothing. There is one thing, however, that you should do, madame—a necessary precaution against any further communication passing between Donna Bianca and young Rossano. I believe that Mademoiselle Durand continues giving Donna Bianca lessons, does she not? I think you told me that she was at Albano, and that you had arranged for her to come here two or three days weekly."
"Ah!" exclaimed Princess Montefiano, "Mademoiselle Durand! Do you mean to say that she has been the go-between in this affair?"
"I know nothing for certain," replied the abbé, "but I have been told that young Rossano and she are on intimate terms—that they walk together in Rome—"
"A respectable company, truly, for my step-daughter to find herself in!" said Princess Montefiano—"a professor's son and a daily governess!"