The Pope straightened himself up, and said in a firm voice:
"My daughter, you must permit me to keep this warrant."
"No, no!"
"Yes, yes! If I said before that your husband should come out and defend you, I say now that he shall come out and accuse himself."
"Your Holiness!"
"He shall go to the courts and say: 'This lady is innocent. She sacrificed herself to save my life. I do not ask for mercy. I ask for justice. Liberate her and arrest me.'"
Roma had knelt again, and was fingering the skirt of the Pope's cassock.
"But, Holy Father," she said, "there is something I have not told you. He who killed the Minister did so in self-defence...."
"In self-defence!"
"His act was an accident, and if it had not happened the Minister would have killed him, whereas I...."