himself.

"What do you say to that?" the Professor exclaimed.

At this point Gilardoni's intense excitement reached a climax.

"Why did I not speak before, eh?" he continued. "The thing is that I
can't possibly give a clear, precise and positive reason for not having
done so. Those papers were a horror to me! If I myself and my own father
and mother had been involved in such a question, I would rather have
let a million slip than ask for it with those documents in my hand.
There! I have been a fool again, to have said that! Just forget those
last words, for in your place ... it is a different thing. I was
speaking for myself. Good Lord, of course I was speaking for myself!
Well, I thought--see what an ass I was--I thought your grandmother just
doted on you, and that your grandfather's property would go to you
anyway. And with that idea...! After a while I consulted Signora Teresa,
and showed her the letter and the will. She said I should have informed
you at once, as soon as I had made the discovery, but that she could not
give me any advice because now her daughter was, in a way, an interested
party. Besides, she said.... But that is of no consequence. In short I
saw the will was a horror to her also. Anyway, I was convinced your
grandmother would end by accepting this marriage, and I did not speak.
Tonight you come and tell me the Marchesa has used threats. Fancy that!
Now you understand that I could not wait, that I could not keep these
documents a moment longer. There--they are yours--take them!"

Franco, absorbed in his own thoughts, heard only these last words. "No,"
said he, "I will not take them. I know myself too well. With them in my
possession I might be led into doing something rash, or into acting
prematurely. You keep them for the present." Gilardoni would not hear
of keeping them, and drove Franco into one of his fits of impatience.
There was indeed nothing so irritating to his nerves as the inconclusive
outpourings of kind-hearted but brainless persons. Gilardoni's
opposition angered him, and he gave him to understand that this wish to
rid himself of the documents at all costs, was selfishness pure and
simple, and that those who have blundered must bear the consequences.
The words he uttered amounted to this, but the angry and harsh
expression of his face said much more. Gilardoni, whose face was
crimson, shuddered at the accusation of selfishness, but controlled
himself and putting on a grim frown in