nsane, you know. That is an evil
which must be patiently endured, without noticing too much the ludicrous
side of it."

Then, stepping up to Roma, and handing back the portrait, the Baron
said, with a slight frown:

"I must thank you for a very amusing afternoon, and bid you good-day."

The others looked after him, and interpreted his departure according to
their own feelings. "He is done with her," they whispered. "He'll pay
her out for this." And without more ado they began to follow him.

Roma, flushed and excited, bowed to them as they went out one by one,
with a politeness that was demonstrative to the point of caricature. She
was saying farewell to them for ever, and her face was lighted up with a
look of triumphant joy. They tried to bear themselves bravely as they
passed her, but her blazing eyes and sweeping curtseys made them feel as
if they were being turned out of the house.

When they were all gone, she shut the door with a bang, and then turning
to David Rossi, who alone remained, she burst into a flood of hysterical
tears, and threw herself on to her knees at his feet.

XIV

"David!" she cried.

"Don't do that. Get up," he answered.

His thoughts were in a whirl. He had been standing aside, trembling for
Roma as he had never trembled for himself in the hottest moments of his
public life. And now he was alone with her, and his blood was beating in
his breast in stabs.

"Haven't I done enough?" she cried. "You taunted me with my wealth, but
I am as poor as you are now. Every penny I had in the world came from
the Baron. He allowed me to use part of the revenues of my father's
estates, but the income was under his control, and now he will stop it
altogether. I am in debt. I have always been in debt. That was my
benefactor's way of reminding me of my dependence on his bounty. And now
all _I_ have will be sold to satisfy my creditors, and I shall be turned
out homeless."

"Roma...." he began, but her tears and passion bore down everything.

"House, furniture, presents, carriages, horses, everything will go soon,
and I shall have nothing whatever! No matter! You said a woman loved
ease and wealth and luxury. Is that all a woman loves? Is there nothing
else in the world for any of us? Aren't you satisfied with me at last?"

"Roma," he answered, breathing hard, "don't talk like that. I cannot
bear it."

But she did not listen. "You taunted me with being a woman,"