t possible! It is certain death.'

'No, it is not certain death, by any means, but you will admit the
risk.'

Giovanni was beside himself in an instant.

'She shall not go!' he cried furiously. 'You shall not make her kill
herself, make her commit suicide, for your glorification--that what you
call your Church may add another martyr to its death-roll! You shall
not, I say! Do you hear me?' He grasped the prelate's arm roughly. 'If
you must have martyrs, go yourselves! Risk your own lives for your own
glory, instead of sacrificing women on your altars--women who should
live to be wives and mothers, an honour to mankind!'

'You are utterly unjust----'

'No, I am human, and I will not tolerate your human sacrifice! I am a
man, and I will not let the woman I love be sent to a horrible death, to
delight your Moloch of a God!'

'Captain Severi, you are raving.'

Giovanni's fiery rage leapt from invective to sarcasm.

'Raving! That is your answer, that is the sum of your churchman's
argument! A man who will not let you make a martyr of the woman he
adores is raving! Do you find that in Saint Thomas Aquinas, or in Saint
Augustine, or in Saint Jerome?' He dropped his voice and suddenly spoke
with cold deliberation. 'She shall not go. I swear that I will make it
impossible.'

Monsignor Saracinesca shook his head.

'If that is an oath,' he said, 'it is a foolish one. If it is a threat,
it is unworthy of you.'

'Take it how you will. It is my last word.'

'May you never regret it,' answered the prelate, lifting his
three-cornered hat; for Giovanni was saluting, with the evident
intention of leaving him at once.

So they parted.

CHAPTER XV

A carriage came early for Sister Giovanna that evening, and the
footman sent in a message by the portress. The patient was worse, he
said, and the doctor hoped that the nurse would come as soon as she
conveniently could. She came down in less than five minutes, in her
wide black cloak, carrying her little black bag in her hand. It was
raining heavily and she drew the hood up over her head before she left
the threshold, though the servant was holding up a large umbrella.

The portress had asked the usual questions of him as soon as he
presented himself, but Sister Giovanna repeated them. Was the carriage
from the Villino Barini? It was. To take the nurse who was wanted for
Baroness Barini? Yes; the Signora Baronessa was worse, and that was
why the carriage had come h