Page:Idalia, by 'Ouida' volume 2.djvu/93

82 His smile was answered in his listener's eyes; in that instant Víctor almost forgave him the animosities of lengthened years, in that instant almost loved him and admired him; their natures were so kindred, they could stab so well with the same weapon.

"Precisely!" he said, with that persuasive tact which, never save once, under the contempt of Idalia, had deserted him. "Then pardon me, Monsignore; but will it not be well to conduct this matter with as little publicity as may be? Where there is danger for her, there will she remain; I know what she is. She has all the finesse of a Greek, but she has none of a Greek's cowardice! Moreover, it is to secure Viana that she is here (we will come to his affair afterwards); he is all but gained to her, and he is rash and reckless to foolhardiness. At his villa of Antina, in the interior, there is, the day after to-morrow, a reunion of the 'Alpe al Mar' confederates, and, under cover of a masquerade, its political purpose has been kept strictly secret. Had even you not known of it through me, you would never have heard of it in any other light than as one of Carlo's splendid eccentricities and extravagant entertainments. There is a password which, also, but through me, your Grace's choicest experts