y laid aside the
handkerchief. Resting his arms and his clasped hands on the little
table, he went to the heart of the matter, keeping his eyes fixed upon
Franco, who now, in his turn, leaning back in his chair, returned the
gaze, his face pale, his attitude one of hostile defiance.

"You must know that the old friendship I bear your family has long been
urging me to do something to put an end to a most painful quarrel. Your
good father, Don Alessandro!--What a heart of gold!--How fond he was of
me!" (Franco was aware that his father had once threatened Pasotti with
his cane, for meddling overmuch in his family affairs.) "Never mind!
Having learned that your grandmother was at Lodi, I said to myself last
Sunday: After all the trouble the Maironis have had, perhaps this is the
right moment. Let us go and make the attempt. And I went."

There was a pause. Franco was quivering. What a mediator he had had! And
who had asked for mediation?

"I must tell you," Pasotti went on, "that I feel satisfied. Your
grandmother has her own opinions, and she has reached an age when
opinions are not easily changed; you know her character; she is very
firm, but after all, she is not heartless. She loves you, you know, and
she suffers. There is a continuous struggle going on within her, between
her sentiments and her principles; or, one might rather say, between her
sentiments and her resentment. Poor Marchesa, it is painful to see how
she suffers! But anyhow she is beginning to yield. Of course we must not
expect too much. She is indeed yielding, but not sufficiently to break
what sustains her--her principles I mean, especially her political
principles."

Franco's eyes, his twitching jaws, a quivering of his whole person said
to Pasotti: "Woe to you if you touch upon that point!" Pasotti stopped.
Perhaps he was thinking of the cane of the late Don Alessandro.

"I understand your feelings," he continued. "Do you think I don't? I eat
the government's bread, and must keep what I feel shut up in my heart,
but, nevertheless, I am with you. I sigh for the moment when certain
colours shall replace certain others. But your grandmother holds
different opinions, and there is nothing for it but to take her as she
is. If we want to arrive at an understanding we must take her as she is.
You may seek to oppose her as I myself did, but----"

"All this talk appears to me perfectly useless," Franco exclaimed,
rising.

"Wait!" Pasotti added. "The af