you did, when he was a boy. Can one who knew him then mean harm to him?
I am not capable of imagining it. No; he will not abandon poor broken
Lombardy, and he is right; and it is my duty to sit and wait. No shadow
shall come between us. He has said it, and I have said it. We have but
one thing to fear, which is contemptible to fear; so I am at peace."

"Love-sick," was Laura's mental comment. Yet when Carlo explained his
position to her next day, she was milder in her condemnation of him, and
even admitted that a man must be guided by such brains as he possesses.
He had conceived that his mother had a right to claim one month from him
at the close of the war; he said this reddening. Laura nodded. He
confessed that he was irritated when he met the Countess d'Isorella, with
whom, to his astonishment, he found Barto Rizzo. She had picked him up,
weak from a paroxysm, on the high-road to Milan. "And she tamed the
brute," said Carlo, in admiration of her ability; "she saw that he was
plot-mad, and she set him at work on a stupendous plot; agents running
nowhere, and scribblings concentring in her work-basket. You smile at
me, as if I were a similar patient, signora. But I am my own agent.
I have personally seen all my men in Turin and elsewhere. Violetta has
not one grain of love for her country; but she can be made to serve it.
As for me, I have gone too far to think of turning aside and drilling
with Luciano. He may yet be diverted from Rome, to strike another blow
for Lombardy. The Chief, I know, has some religious sentiment about
Rome. So might I have; it is the Head of Italy. Let us raise the body
first. And we have been beaten here. Great Gods! we will have another
fight for it on the same spot, and quickly. Besides, I cannot face
Luciano and tell him why I was away from him in the dark hour. How can I
tell him that I was lingering to bear a bride to the altar? while he and
the rest--poor fellows! Hard enough to have to mention it to you,
signora!"