he pamphlet: may I tell the
committee that you consent to make a few alterations and soften it a
little, or that----"

"Don't you think the alterations may succeed in spoiling the beauty
of the 'literary composition,' signora, as well as in reducing the
vehemence of the tone?"

"You are asking my personal opinion. What I have come here to express is
that of the committee as a whole."

"Does that imply that y-y-you disagree with the committee as a whole?"
He had put the letter into his pocket and was now leaning forward
and looking at her with an eager, concentrated expression which quite
changed the character of his face. "You think----"

"If you care to know what I personally think--I disagree with the
majority on both points. I do not at all admire the pamphlet from a
literary point of view, and I do think it true as a presentation of
facts and wise as a matter of tactics."

"That is------"

"I quite agree with you that Italy is being led away by a
will-o'-the-wisp and that all this enthusiasm and rejoicing will
probably land her in a terrible bog; and I should be most heartily glad
to have that openly and boldly said, even at the cost of offending or
alienating some of our present supporters. But as a member of a body the
large majority of which holds the opposite view, I cannot insist upon my
personal opinion; and I certainly think that if things of that kind are
to be said at all, they should be said temperately and quietly; not in
the tone adopted in this pamphlet."

"Will you wait a minute while I look through the manuscript?"

He took it up and glanced down the pages. A dissatisfied frown settled
on his face.

"Yes, of course, you are perfectly right. The thing's written like a
cafe chantant skit, not a political satire. But what's a man to do? If
I write decently the public won't understand it; they will say it's dull
if it isn't spiteful enough."

"Don't you think spitefulness manages to be dull when we get too much of
it?"

He threw a keen, rapid glance at her, and burst out laughing.

"Apparently the signora belongs to the dreadful category of people who
are always right! Then if I yield to the temptation to be spiteful,
I may come in time to be as dull as Signora Grassini? Heavens, what a
fate! No, you needn't frown. I know you don't like me, and I am going to
keep to business. What it comes to, then, is practically this: if I cut
out the personalities and leave the essential part of the thi