r. Perhaps you will wait for me; I may have a word to say."

He was absent for little more than the space named. When he returned, he
was careful to hide his face. He locked the door, and leading Merthyr to
an inner room, laid his watch on the table, and said: "Now, friend, you
will see that I have nothing to shrink from, for I am going to do
execution upon myself, and before him whom I would, above all other men,
have think well of me. My wife supposes that I am pledged to this
Brescian business because I am insanely patriotic. If I might join
Luciano tomorrow I would shout like a boy. I would be content to serve as
the lowest in the ranks, if I might be with you all under the Chief. Rome
crowns him, and Brescia is my bloody ditch, and it is deserved! When I
was a little younger--I am a boy still, no doubt--I had the honour to be
distinguished by a handsome woman; and when I grew a little older, I
discovered by chance that she had wit. The lady is the Countess Violetta
d'Isorella. It is a grief to me to know that she is sordid: it hurts my
vanity the more. Perhaps: you begin to perceive that vanity governs me.
The signora Laura has not expressed her opinion on this subject with any
reserve, but to Violetta belongs the merit of having seen it without
waiting for the signs. First--it is a small matter, but you are
English--let me assure you that my wife has had no rival. I have taunted
her with jealousy when I knew that it was neither in her nature to feel
it, nor in mine to give reason for it. No man who has a spark of his
Maker in him could be unfaithful to such a woman. When Lombardy was
crushed, we were in the dust. I fancy we none of us knew how miserably we
had fallen--we, as men. The purest--I dare say, the bravest--marched to
Rome. God bless my Luciano there! But I, sir, I, my friend, I, Merthyr, I
said proudly that I would not abandon a beaten country: and I was admired
for my devotion. The dear old poet, Agostino, praised me. It stopped his
epigrams--during a certain time, at least. Colonel Corte admired me.
Marco Sana, Giulio Bandinelli admired me. Vast numbers admired me. I need
not add that I admired myself. I plunged into intrigues with princes, and
priests, and republicans. A clever woman was at my elbow. In the midst of
all this, my marriage: I had seven weeks of peace; and then I saw what I
was. You feel that you are tired, when you want to go another way and you
feel that you have been mad when you want t