"Do you expect me to speak to my friend in this place and under these conditions?" she asked.
"It is the usual place, and these are the usual conditions," he answered.
"If you are unable to allow me to speak to him in some other place under some other conditions, I must go to the Minister of the Interior."
The Director bowed. "That will be unnecessary," he said. "There is a room reserved for special circumstances," and, calling a warder, he gave the necessary instructions. He was a good man in the toils of a vicious system.
A few minutes afterwards Roma was alone in a small bare room with Bruno, except for two warders who stood in the door. She was shocked at the change in him. His cheeks, which used to be full and almost florid, were shrunken and pale; a short grizzly beard had grown over his chin, and his eyes, which had been frank and humorous, were fierce and evasive. Six weeks in prison had made a different man of him, and, like a dog which has been changed by sickness and neglect, he knew it and growled.
"What do you want with me?" he said angrily, as Roma looked at him without speaking.
She flushed and begged his pardon, and at that his jaw trembled and he turned his head away.
"I trust you received the note I sent in to you, Bruno?"
"When? What note?"
"On the day after your arrest, saying your dear ones should be cared for and comforted."