n to Del Ferice's
lodgings, as Temistocle had anticipated, and the servant brought back
word that he had not seen the Neapolitan, and that the house was held in
possession by strangers, who refused him admittance. Madame Mayer
understood well enough what had happened, and began to tremble for
herself. Indeed she began to think of packing together her own valuables,
in case she should be ordered to leave Rome, for she did not doubt that
the Holy Office was in pursuit of Del Ferice, in consequence of some
discovery relating to her little club of malcontents. She trembled for
Ugo with an anxiety more genuine than any feeling of hers had been for
many a day, not knowing whether he had escaped or not. But on the
following evening she was partially reassured by hearing from Valdarno
that the police had offered a large reward for Del Ferice's apprehension.
Valdarno declared his intention of leaving Rome at once. His life,
he said, was not safe for a moment. That villain Gouache, who had turned
Zouave, had betrayed them all, and they might be lodged in the Sant'
Uffizio any day. As a matter of fact, after he discovered how egregiously
he had been deceived by Del Ferice, the Cardinal grew more suspicious,
and his emissaries were more busy than they had been before. But Valdarno
had never manifested enough wisdom, nor enough folly, to make him a cause
of anxiety to the Prime Minister. Nevertheless he actually left Rome and
spent a long time in Paris before he was induced to believe that he might
safely return to his home.

Roman society was shaken to its foundations by the news of the attempted
arrest, and Donna Tullia found some slight compensation in becoming for a
time the centre of interest. She felt, indeed, great anxiety for the man
she was engaged to marry; but for the first time in her life she felt
also that she was living in an element of real romance, of which she had
long dreamed, but of which she had never found the smallest realisation.
Society saw, and speculated, and gossiped, after its fashion; but its
gossip was more subdued than of yore, for men began to ask who was safe,
since the harmless Del Ferice had been proscribed. Old Saracinesca said
little. He would have gone to see the Cardinal and to offer him his
congratulations, since it would not be decent to offer his thanks; but
the Cardinal was not in a position to be congratulated. If he had caught
Del Ferice he would have thanked the Prince instead of waiting