ay what I will."

Marcello withdrew his hands and pointed to the door.

"Go!" he said, in a voice of command.

Ercole backed away a little, and then stood still again.

"I have to tell you that I have spent five francs of that money," he
said, speaking to Regina. "But it was spent for you. I found a good
monk, and I gave him the five francs to say three masses for your soul.
The masses were said in August, and now it is November, and you are
still alive!"

"Go!" cried Marcello, understanding, and advancing upon him once more.

"I go," answered Ercole hoarsely. "Let her live, till you are tired of
her, and she dies in a ditch! I told the monk to say the masses for a
female. They will do for the woman who was killed last night. One female
is worth another, and evil befall them all, as many as they are! Why did
the Eternal Father ever create them?"

He had turned before he spoke the last words, and he went out
deliberately, shutting the door behind him. They heard him go out upon
the landing, and they were alone again. Regina leaned back against the
mantelpiece, but Marcello began to walk up and down the room.

"You have seen," she said, in a rather unsteady voice. "Now you know of
what blood I am, and that what I said was true. The son of your mother
cannot marry the daughter of that man."

"What have you to do with him?" Marcello asked sharply, stopping in his
walk.

But Regina only shook her head, and turned away. She knew that she was
right, and that he knew it too, or would know it soon.

"You will never see him again," he said. "Forget that you have seen him
at all!"

Again she shook her head, not looking at him.

"You will not forget," she answered, "and I shall always remember. He
should have killed me, as he meant to do. It would have been the end. It
would have been better, and quicker."

"God forbid!"

"Why? Would it not have been better?"

She came close to him and laid one hand upon his shoulder and gazed into
his eyes. They were full of trouble and pain, and they did not lighten
for her; his brow did not relax and his lips did not part. After a
little while she turned again and went back to the fireplace.

"It would have been better," she said in a low voice. "I knew it this
morning."

There was silence in the room for a while. Marcello stood beside her,
holding her hand in his, and trying to see her face. He was very tender
with her, but there was no thrill in his touch. Something was