o.

"You cannot suppose this is very agreeable to me?" she said in an
agitated voice.

"Wait! I shall not be long ... Ah, General Morra! Roma, you know the
General, I think. Sit down, both of you.... Well, General, you hear of
this _levee-en-masse_?"

"I do."

"The Prefect is satisfied that the people are moved by a revolutionary
organisation, and he is anxious to know what force we can put at his
service to control it."

The General detailed his resources. There were sixteen thousand men
always under arms in Rome, and the War Office had called up the
old-timers of two successive years--perhaps fifty thousand in all.

"As a Minister of State and your colleague," said the General, "I am at
one with you in your desire to safeguard the cause of order and protect
public institutions, but as a man and a Roman I cannot but hope that you
will not call upon me to act without the conditions required by law."

"Indeed, no," said the Baron; "and in order to make sure that our
instructions are carried out with wisdom and humanity, let these be the
orders you issue to your staff: First, that in case of disturbance
to-morrow night, whether at the Coliseum or elsewhere, the officers must
wait for the proper signal from the delegate of police."

"Good!"

"Next, that on receiving the order to fire, the soldiers must be careful
that their first volley goes over the heads of the people."

"Excellent!"

"If that does not disperse the crowds, if they throw stones at the
soldiers or otherwise resist, the second volley--I see no help for
it--the second volley, I say, must be fired at the persons who are
leading on the ignorant and deluded mob."

"Ah!"

The General hesitated, and Roma, whose breathing came quick and short,
gave him a look of tenderness and gratitude.

"You agree, General Morra?"

"I'm afraid I see no alternative. But if the blood of their leader only
infuriates the people, is the third volley...."

"That," said the Baron, "is a contingency too terrible to contemplate.
My prediction would be that when their leader falls, the poor, misguided
people will fly. But in all human enterprises the last word has to be
left to destiny. Let us leave it to destiny in the present instance.
Adieu, dear General! Be good enough to tell my secretary to send in the
Chief of Police."

The Minister of War left the room, and once more Roma rose to go.

"You cannot possibly imagine that a conversation like this...." she
bega