f bipeds to whom men in their senses would have us throw the
treasures of civilisation and hand over the delicate machinery of
government."

He laughed bitterly, and drew back the curtain with an impatient hand.

"Democracy! _Christian_ Democracy! _Vox Populi vox Dei!_ The sovereignty
and infallibility of the people! Pshaw! I would as soon believe in the
infallibility of the Pope!"

The crowds increased in the piazza until the triangular space looked
like the rapids of a swollen river, and the noise that came up from it
was like the noise of falling cliffs and uprooted trees.

"Fools! Rabble! Too ignorant to know what you really want, and at the
mercy of every rascal who sows the wind and leaves you to reap the
whirlwind."

Roma crept away from the Baron with a sense of physical repulsion, and
at the next moment, from the other window, she heard the blast of a
trumpet. A dreadful silence followed the trumpet blast, and then a clear
voice cried:

"In the name of the law I command you to disperse."

It was the voice of a delegate of the police. Roma could see the man on
the lowest stage of the steps with his tricoloured scarf of office about
him. A second blast came from the trumpet, and again the delegate cried:

"In the name of the law I command you to disperse."

At that moment somebody cried, "Long live the Republic of Man!" and
there was great cheering. In the midst of the cheering the trumpet
sounded a third time, and then a loud voice cried "Fire!"

At the next moment a volley was fired from somewhere, a cloud of white
smoke was coiling in front of the window at which Roma stood, and women
and children in the vagueness below were uttering acute cries.

"Oh! oh! oh!"

"Don't be afraid, my child. Nothing has happened yet. The police had
orders to fire first over the people's heads."

In her fear and agitation Roma ran back to the outer room, and a moment
afterwards Angelelli opened the door and stood face to face with her.

"What have you done?" she demanded.

"An unfortunate incident, Excellency," said Angelelli, as the Baron
appeared. "After the warning of the delegate the mob laughed and threw
stones, and the Carabineers fired. They were in the piazza and fired up
the steps."

"Well?"

"Unluckily there were a few persons on the upper flights at the moment,
and some of them are wounded, and a child is dead."

Roma muttered a low moan and sank on to the stool.

"Whose child is it?"

"We don