The Rising Storm

other guests in Italian, and as they took their leave Signor Babaroni said to him:

'I doubts verri much eef 'is 'ighness consent to a London season for 'is company. But I much like to veesit London again; so I wish you most well.'

Quick to realize the excuse Donna Livia had made to talk with him alone, Roger thanked the ballet master politely and said that he had good hopes of arranging matters, but had naturally felt it proper to ascertain the inclinations of the prima donna before proceeding further.

When they had gone the beautiful Tuscan resumed her indolent pose on the day-bed and beckoned Roger to a seat beside her. Knowing that, sooner or later, he must show himself in his true colours, he decided that he had better do so before she had any further opportunity to give proof of the favour with which she evidently regarded him, and so spare her an increased embarrassment when he disclosed that he was not in love with her. Approaching the thorny subject as tactfully as possible, he said:

'Gracious lady; first I must tell you that my real name is Roger Brook, and that I come not from England but from France. While there I had the honour to be entrusted with a commission by Queen Marie Antoinette, and it is that which has brought me to Florence. I bear a secret despatch from Her Majesty to His Highness, and certain of Her Majesty's enemies have resorted to most desperate measures in the hope of preventing its delivery. I beg that you will not think too hardly of me when I admit that it was to seek your aid in completing my mission that I resorted to my recent imposture.'

For a moment her green eyes narrowed and her arched brows drew together; then she laughed.

'After such a blow to my pride I suppose I ought to show a sad confusion, or by a cold detachment endeavour to pretend that the thoughts to which I so recently gave expression had never entered my head. But having admitted that your looks pleased me, why should I now deny it ? Call me a bold, forward creature if you will; but whatever the reason for your coming, I am glad you came.'

On such a handsome admission Roger could do no less than his best to restore her amour propre, so he smiled at her and murmured: 'I count it my misfortune now that my entry here was not inspired by sentiments more delicate than the delivering of a letter to another. For I have never seen a lady to gain whose favours I would more willingly risk a prison.'

'I thank you, Miester Brook. Your manners match your looks. But a truce to compliments. In what way can I serve you?'

' 'Tis said that His Highness sups here several times a week. If he proposes to do so tonight, and you would do me the great kindness to present me to him on his coming, I could then deliver this letter to him personally.'

She nodded. 'That I will do with pleasure, but he will not arrive before ten o'clock, and 'tis as yet not seven.'

'I am indeed grateful, Donna Livia. May I take it then that I have your permission to return at ten?'

For a moment she considered the matter, then her eyes became mischievous. 'Why should you not remain here till he comes? You can have no idea what a pleasant change it is for me to talk with a personable man alone.'

'Is His Highness so jealous, then?' Roger asked with a smile.

'Jealous!' She threw up her hands, and the draperies of her robe fell away from her beautifully rounded arms. 'He treats me like a nun. Whenever I appear in Opera I am escorted to the theatre and back by a posse of his servants who spy upon my every movement. At my con­versazioni no man under fifty dare talk with me for more than two minutes together without incurring the royal displeasure. And even when in the company of ladies, as you found me tonight, I am allowed to receive only elderly pussy-cats like Babaroni. Had they not been here, and your excuse for asking an interview been both so good and so pressing, I would never have risked permitting you to enter.'

'Then, will not His Highness be much annoyed at finding me here?'

'This secret letter that you carry should prove your passport to immunity from that. Moreover, as you have never before seen me and are leaving Florence at once he will have no grounds for suspecting that our being together is the result of an assignation. But at times he is unpredictable; so I guarantee nothing. The choice is yours, and you are free to go if you prefer not to risk it.'

It was the sort of dare that Roger had never been able to resist, and he replied without hesitation: 'Provided my remaining brings no trouble to yourself the prospect of angering all the crowned heads in Europe would not drive me from you.'

The corners of her mouth twitched. 'For that I like you better than ever, Miester Brook. And now I will set your mind at rest. Some little time before His Highness is due to arrive here I shall put you to wait in a room apart. So you need be in no apprehension that he will think naughty thoughts about us.'

'He is said to be an intelligent man,' Roger remarked. 'If so, no doubt you find his company a compensation for his monopoly of you.'

She pouted. 'He is well enough, and would be a pleasant com­panion were he not so atrociously suspicious that everyone is for ever hiding something from him. Even his own brother, the Emperor Joseph, once wrote to him: 'Let people deceive you sometimes rather than torment yourself constantly and vainly.' Yet he will not take such advice, and undoes the effects of his natural kindness by his unremitting itch to pry into everything.'

'Far from putting a check upon deception, contact with such a nature usually irritates others into practising it.'

No sooner had Roger uttered the truism than he regretted having done so; as Donna Livia gave him a swift glance, and replied: 'I can imagine circumstances in which I might well be tempted to amuse myself at his expense.'

Roger found her glance perturbing, but before he could turn the conversation she went on smoothly: 'At one time or another he has suspected me of wanting to have an affaire with practically every presentable man in Florence; but there is not one of them who could keep a still tongue in his head afterwards, and I am not quite such a fool as to wish to be deprived of my jewels, and a secure old age on a handsome pension, for the sake of a few hours' pleasure. Yet were there a man I liked enough—and one whom I might regard as gone out of my life for good, tomorrow—then, the very fact of deceiving my royal lover under his nose would lend zest to such an adventure.'

'I can well understand your feeling,' Roger nodded; but he hastily continued: 'I wonder if he ever suspects his Grand Duchess; though from what I hear the poor creature is so plain that he can have little cause to do so.'

'You are right in that,' Donna Livia smiled. 'And she is a model wife. She has had sixteen children by him—the same number as the brood of which he was one himself—and despite his infidelities she still dotes upon him. But even she and I in combination are not sufficient to hold his entire interest. He often lies to me about it, but I know quite well that whenever he fails to come here, apart from Fridays and Sundays, it is because he is supping with some young thing who has caught his eye.'

For the best part of an hour they talked on in the same intimate vein. Donna Livia was making the most of this unforeseen opportunity to unburden herself to a sympathetic and attractive stranger; and Roger, both intrigued by the extraordinary situation in which he found himself and fascinated by her beauty, had not given a single thought to Isabella. Neither of them sought to disguise from themselves that they were physically attracted to the other.

Several times they got on to dangerous ground when one word too much would have proved the spark to ignite them; but somehow, one or the other always turned the conversation just in time, and the electric current that threatened to flash between them was checked by a transfer of the subject from the personal to the general.

At length she asked him if he would like a glass of wine. On his accepting she stood up, and he followed her to a low, curtained doorway at one side of the room. The old woman who had been there when he arrived was still dozing in her corner. With a casual glance in her direction Donna Livia said:

'Do not concern yourself about old Pippa. She was His Highness's nurse, and is the one person he trusts; but I have long since bought her. Besides, she was once young herself, and knows that occasionally I must have a little recreation.'

As Roger passed through the curtains, he swallowed hard, for he saw that she had brought him into a small room that he presumed few people except the Grand Duke were permitted to enter. It was obviously a