"My dear Roma!"
"Leave him to me, and within a month you shall know"—she laughed, a little ashamed—"the inmost secrets of his soul."
She was walking to and fro again, to prevent the Baron from looking into her face, which was now red over its white, like a rose moon in a stormy sky.
The Baron thought. "She is going to humble the man by her charms—to draw him on and then fling him away, and thus pay him back for what he has done to-day. So much the better for me if I may stand by and do nothing. A strong Minister should be unmoved by personal attacks. He should appear to regard them with contempt."
He looked at her, and the brilliancy of her eyes set his heart on fire. The terrible attraction of her face at that moment stirred in him the only love he had for her. At the same time it awakened the first spasm of jealousy.
"I understand you, Roma," he said. "You are splendid! You are irresistible! But remember—the man is one of the incorruptible."
She laughed.
"No woman who has yet crossed his path seems to have touched him, and it is the pride of all such men that no woman ever can."
"I've seen him," she said.
"Take care! As you say, he is young and handsome."