“I,” added Scossi, “shall remain with Cedebonis outside the door on guard; and you may be sure that I will not let you escape.”
“You may all be sure that I shall not escape,” replied Biagio Speranza, accompanying his fellow boarders to the door.
Carolinona began to feel uneasy, not knowing what this crazy fellow would do next.
“What fools, eh?” said Biagio, once more entering the dining-room. “And they are really capable of waiting outside in the street, do you know it?”
Carolinona tried to smile and look at him, but she lowered her eyes promptly.
“Do you know that our position is actually ridiculous?” resumed Biagio, breaking out into his sonorous laughter. “But we must do this in order to have peace. Otherwise they will never have done. I will wait a half hour before I go; you must have patience.”
“Oh, as for me, of course,” said she, without raising her eyes, and faintly.
Biagio Speranza looked at her. He was very calm himself, and thought that she ought to be so, too. But noting Carolinona’s embarrassment he laughed again. Wounded by this laugh, she raised her eyes, and, trying as best she could to hide the bitterness with a smile, said:
“You are a man, and they all know that you are only doing this to make them laugh. Although, if I am to tell the truth, I do not see that it is a joke any longer, now that it has arrived at this point—They are all laughing at you and me—”
“Let us laugh too!” concluded Biagio. “Why not?”