“You are silent,” she said. “What has happened?”
“Nothing evil has happened, signorina,” was his reply, for he spoke in the distinctive dialect of Umbria, very different indeed to the polite language of Rome. “Only I am surprised—that is all.”
“Surprised! Why?”
“I feared that the signorina would not be in Rome.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw the Signor Enrico to-night, and he told me you had left.”
“Enrico! He has not been here?”
“I saw him at eleven o’clock. He arrived from Firenze by the north express at half-past eight. He had come from far away—from Milano, I think.”
“He has been at the signora’s then?” asked Her Highness quickly.
“Yes—with the Signorina Velia. I was with him an hour ago.”