"

He was never so happy as in this little study. Gemma's friendship, her
grave unconsciousness of the charm she exercised over him, her frank and
simple comradeship were the brightest things for him in a life that
was none too bright; and whenever he began to feel more than usually
depressed he would come in here after business hours and sit with her,
generally in silence, watching her as she bent over her needlework or
poured out tea. She never questioned him about his troubles or expressed
any sympathy in words; but he always went away stronger and calmer,
feeling, as he put it to himself, that he could "trudge through another
fortnight quite respectably." She possessed, without knowing it, the
rare gift of consolation; and when, two years ago, his dearest friends
had been betrayed in Calabria and shot down like wolves, her steady
faith had been perhaps the thing which had saved him from despair.

On Sunday mornings he sometimes came in to "talk business," that
expression standing for anything connected with the practical work of
the Mazzinian party, of which they both were active and devoted members.
She was quite a different creature then; keen, cool, and logical,
perfectly accurate and perfectly neutral. Those who saw her only at her
political work regarded her as a trained and disciplined conspirator,
trustworthy, courageous, in every way a valuable member of the
party, but somehow lacking in life and individuality. "She's a born
conspirator, worth any dozen of us; and she is nothing more," Galli had
said of her. The "Madonna Gemma" whom Martini knew was very difficult to
get at.

"Well, and what is your 'new satirist' like?" she asked, glancing back
over her shoulder as she opened the sideboard. "There, Cesare, there
are barley-sugar and candied angelica for you. I wonder, by the way, why
revolutionary men are always so fond of sweets."

"Other men are, too, only they think it beneath their dignity to confess
it. The new satirist? Oh, the kind of man that ordinary women will
rave over and you will dislike. A sort of professional dealer in sharp
speeches, that goes about the world with a lackadaisical manner and a
handsome ballet-girl dangling on to his coat-tails."

"Do you mean that there is really a ballet-girl, or simply that you feel
cross and want to imitate the sharp speeches?"

"The Lord defend me! No; the ballet-girl is real enough and handsome
enough, too, for those who like shrewish beauty. Perso