The arrangements for the flight were already complete.
That momentary view of Mrs. Gallilee’s face, reflected in the glass, had confirmed Miss Minerva’s resolution to interfere. Closeted with Carmina on the Sunday morning, she had proposed a scheme of escape, which would even set Mrs. Gallilee’s vigilance and cunning at defiance. No pecuniary obstacle stood in the way. The first quarterly payment of Carmina’s allowance of five hundred a year had been already made, by Mool’s advice. Enough was left—even without the assistance which the nurse’s resources would render—to purchase the necessary outfit, and to take the two women to Quebec. On the day after Teresa’s arrival (at an hour of the morning while the servants were still in bed) Carmina and her companion could escape from the house on foot—and not leave a trace behind them.
Meanwhile, Fortune befriended Mrs. Gallilee’s maid. No questions were put to her; no notice even was taken of the late return.
Five minutes before the carriage drew up at the house, a learned female friend from the country called, by appointment, on Mrs. Gallilee. On the coming Tuesday afternoon, an event of the deepest scientific interest was to take place. A new Professor had undertaken to deliver himself, by means of a lecture, of subversive opinions on “Matter.” A general discussion was to follow; and in that discussion (upon certain conditions) Mrs. Gallilee herself proposed to take part.
“If the Professor attempts to account for the mutual action of separate atoms,” she said, “I defy him to do it, without assuming the existence of a continuous material medium in space. And this point of view being accepted—follow me here! what is the result? In plain words,” cried Mrs. Gallilee, rising excitedly to her feet, “we dispense with the idea of atoms!”
The friend looked infinitely relieved by the prospect of dispensing with atoms.
“Now observe!” Mrs. Gallilee proceeded. “In connection with this part of the subject, I shall wait to see if the Professor adopts Thomson’s theory. You are acquainted with Thomson’s theory? No? Let me put it briefly. Mere heterogeneity, together with gravitation, is sufficient to explain all the apparently discordant laws of molecular action. You understand? Very well. If the Professor passes over Thomson, then, I rise in the body of the Hall, and take my stand—follow me again!—on these grounds.”
While Mrs. Gallilee’s grounds were being laid out for the benefit of her friend, the coachman took the carriage back to the stables; the maid went downstairs to tea; and Carmina joined Miss Minerva in the schoolroom—all three being protected from discovery, by Mrs. Gallilee’s rehearsal of her performance in the Comedy of Atoms.
The Monday morning brought with it news from Rome—serious news which confirmed Miss Minerva’s misgivings.
Carmina received a letter, bearing the Italian postmark, but not addressed to her in Teresa’s handwriting. She looked to the signature before she began to read. Her correspondent was the old priest—Father Patrizio. He wrote in these words: