"A dangerous man! I do not like his
book--it is written in melodramatic style, with heat and with
enthusiasm, and will attract the vulgar. He must be suppressed--but
how?"
He rose and paced the room slowly, his long white hands clasped
behind his back, and the frown on his brows deepened;--how suppress
a man who had announced himself as free of every Church and Creed,
and who was resolved to stand by the moral ethics of Christ only? A
man who desired nothing for himself, not even money;--"But stop!"
thought Gherardi,--"that is absurd! Every man wants money! Every man
must have it, and the more he has, the more he seeks. There is no
one in the world who cannot be bought or bribed!"
At that moment the green hangings of the door were lifted, and the
Italian man-servant announced,--
"Il Signor Aubri Lee!"
Gherardi, who in his pacing to and fro had reached the window,
wheeled round abruptly and faced his entering visitor. The light
fell aslant upon his stately figure as he drew himself up to his
full height, and greeted Leigh with a suavely condescending bow and
smile, while Aubrey in turn glanced him up and down with a
pleasurable consciousness of his intellectual appearance, and
evident combative temperament.
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