"Did you see his face?" asked Taddeo, who was himself struck with the poverty of his reasons, and contended against his convictions.
"But, are not the driver and carriage his?"
"The driver may have been bribed," said Taddeo, who, like many others, became enthusiastic in favor of a bad cause. "I need something more, I must be certain, and will be. In two hours I will see you at Matheus's." He entered a hackney-coach and drove away; bidding the coachman go to the Neapolitan embassy.
"I know his plan," said Von Apsberg, "for if Monte-Leone was not at the embassy, the driver was mistaken, and it was not Monte-Leone we saw."
"What now shall we do?" asked the Vicomte, whose cough became more violent, and more frequent.
"Go home," said Von Apsberg, "for both your body and mind suffer. You remember I am accountable to your father, and to—your sister, for your health."
"But what will you do?" said the Vicomte.
"I will wait."
"Where—here? at this door?"
"Yes; at this door, deserted as it is. I will wait here, for the phantom or the reality. I will wait and tear off the hat which covers his brow, and read with my own eyes the shame there, and thus throw from my soul the last remnant of faith in the honor of my friend."