m; no one suspected that there was in him anything
more than the traditional temper of the Saracinesca, with sufficient mind
to make him as fair a representative of his race as his father was.

There was more than mere love and devotion in the complete security she
felt when she saw him attacked by Donna Tullia; there was already the
certainty that he was born to be above small things, and to create a
sphere of his own in which he would move as other men could not.

CHAPTER XXVII.

When Donna Tullia quitted the Palazzo Astrardente her head swam. She had
utterly failed to do what she had expected; and from being the accuser,
she felt that she was suddenly thrust into the position of the accused.
Instead of inspiring terror in Corona, and causing Giovanni the terrible
humiliation she had supposed he would feel at the exposure of his
previous marriage, she had been coldly told that she was mad, and that
her pretended proofs were forgeries. Though she herself felt no doubt
whatever concerning the authenticity of the documents, it was very
disappointing to find that the first mention of them produced no
startling effect upon any one, least of all upon Giovanni himself. The
man, she thought, was a most accomplished villain; since he was capable
of showing such hardened indifference to her accusation, he was capable
also of thwarting her in her demonstration of their truth--and she
trembled at the thought of what she saw. Old Saracinesca was not a man to
be trifled with, nor his son either: they were powerful, and would be
revenged for the insult. But in the meanwhile she had promised to produce
her proofs; and when she regained enough composure to consider the matter
from all its points, she came to the conclusion that after all her game
was not lost, seeing that attested documents are evidence not easily
refuted, even by powerful men like Leone and Giovanni Saracinesca. She
gradually convinced herself that their indifference was a pretence, and
that they were accomplices in the matter, their object being to gain
Corona with all her fortune for Giovanni's wife. But, at the same time,
Donna Tullia felt in the depths of her heart a misgiving: she was clever
enough to recognise, even in spite of herself, the difference between a
liar and an honest man.

She must get possession of these papers--and immediately too; there must
be no delay in showing them to Corona, and in convincing her that this
was no mere fable, but