“At daybreak I’ll be several miles from Rome.”
“Indeed,” said Vanina coldly, “and where are you going to?”
“To Romagna, to take my revenge.”
“Seeing that I am rich,” Vanina said with the calmest air imaginable, “I hope that you will accept some arms and some money from me.”
Missirilli looked at her for a moment without moving a muscle; then, throwing himself into her arms:
“Soul of my soul, you make me forget everything else, even my duty. But, the nobler your heart is, the better you should understand me.”
Vanina wept copiously, and it was settled that he should not leave Rome for another two days yet.
“Pietro,” she said to him next day, “you have often told me that a well-known man, a Roman prince for example, who had command of plenty of money, could render great service to the cause of liberty, if ever Austria should be involved in any great war at a distance from us.”
“Undoubtedly,” said Pietro in astonishment.
“Well then, you have courage; all you lack is position: I am going to offer you my hand and two hundred thousand livres a year. I undertake to get my father’s consent.”