“He only hinted at it, and sent me straight to see you. I had to travel by way of Holland and London—quite a long journey.”
“Then you shall tell him that I refuse,” she answered. “I will never betray Italy, and more especially through Guilio, who believes in my patriotism, and never dreams that I am anything but an Italian born and bred.”
“That makes it all the easier. He will never suspect you,” remarked the sallow-faced man, with a sinister smile upon his lips.
“I tell you,” she cried angrily, “I decline to enter into it at all. I—”
The door suddenly opened as she spoke, and there entered the Admiral, a smart, good-looking, middle-aged man in uniform with decorations, whose appearance was so unexpected that they both started.
“Decline what, my dear?” he asked sharply. “What is the matter?”
“Oh, nothing, Guilio,” she laughed lightly. “You recollect Signor Corradini, who used to come to see us in Livorno?”
“Why, of course,” said the Admiral, as the two men bowed to each other.
A lie rose readily to her lips, and she said:
“Well, Signor Corradini has called in order to try and induce me to take part in the Princess di Paliano’s tableaux vivants at Bologna, in aid of the Croce-Rosso. But I am far too busy with hospital work here in Sarzana, so I have declined.