ess, bareheaded, and in his
slippers.

"Father!" cried Elena.

"It's she. She's coming up."

At the next moment a lady in evening dress was standing in the hall. It
was Donna Roma. She had unclasped her ermine cloak, and her bosom was
heaving with the exertion of the ascent.

"May I speak to Mr. Rossi?" she began, and then looking beyond Elena and
seeing him, where he stood above the sleeping child, a qualm of
faintness seemed to seize her, and she closed her eyes for a moment.

David Rossi's face flushed to the roots of his hair, but he stepped
forward, bowed deeply, led the way to the sitting-room, and, with a
certain incoherency in his speech, said:

"Come in! Elena will bring the lamp. I shall be back presently."

Then, lifting little Joseph in his arms, he carried him up to bed,
tucked him in his cot, smoothed his pillow, made the sign of the cross
over his forehead, and came back to the sitting-room with the air of a
man walking in a dream.

VIII

Being left alone, Roma looked around, and at a glance she took in
everything--the thin carpet, the plain chintz, the prints, the
incongruous furniture. She saw the photograph on the piano, still
standing open, with a cylinder exposed, and in the interval of waiting
she felt almost tempted to touch the spring. She saw herself, too, in
the mirror above the mantel-piece, with her glossy black hair rolled up
like a tower, from which one curly lock escaped on to her forehead, and
with the ermine cloak on her shoulders over the white silk muslin which
clung to her full figure.

Then she heard David Rossi's footsteps returning, and though she was now
completely self-possessed she was conscious of a certain shiver of fear,
such as an actress feels in her dressing-room at the tuning-up of the
orchestra. Her back was to the door and she heard the whirl of her skirt
as he entered, and then he was before her, and they were alone.

He was looking at her out of large, pensive eyes, and she saw him pass
his hand over them and then bow and motion her to a seat, and go to the
mantel-piece and lean on it. She was tingling all over, and a certain
glow was going up to her face, but when she spoke she was mistress of
herself, and her voice was soft and natural.

"I am doing a very unusual thing in coming to see you," she said, "but
you have forced me to it, and I am quite helpless."

A faint sound came from him, and she was aware that he was