"
"Alarm, Carlo!"
"Or, at least, distrust; for these wily senators do no act of mercy
without a motive. But it is now too late to recall the past if we would;
and in that which relates to thee I would not lose the memory of a
moment. Let us proceed."
The slight cloud vanished from the face of the mild auditor of the
Bravo; but still she did not move.
"Few pass this bridge, they say," she added tremulously, "and enter the
world again; and yet thou dost not even ask why we are here, Carlo!"
There was a transient gleam of distrust in the hasty glance of the
Bravo, as he shot a look at the undisturbed eye of the innocent being
who put this question. But it scarcely remained long enough to change
the expression of manly interest she was accustomed to meet in his look.
"Since thou wilt have me curious," he said, "why hast thou come hither,
and more than all, being here, why dost thou linger?"
"The season is advanced, Carlo," she answered, speaking scarcely above
her breath, "and we should look in vain among the cells."
"I understand thee," he said; "we will proceed."
Gelsomina lingered to gaze wistfully into the face of her companion, but
finding no visible sign of the agony he endured she went on. Jacopo
spoke hoarsely, but he was too long accustomed to disguise to permit the
weakness to escape, when he knew how much it would pain the sensitive
and faithful being who had yielded her affections to him with a
singleness and devotion which arose nearly as much from her manner of
life as from natural ingenuousness.
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