I
saw him there only yesterday."
He paused. No one spoke.
"He was to have come to Rome to-day, and a full explanation of his
absence would have been given. But last night the monastery was set
on fire--"
"Thank God!" said Sovrani.
Gherardi looked at him with an air of admirably affected sorrowful
reproach.
"I grieve for your injustice and cruelty, Prince!" he said--"Some
natural regret there should surely be in your mind at the tragic end
of one so highly gifted--one whom you had accepted as your future
son-in-law. He met with a terrible death! The monastery was set on
fire, as I have told you--but the doors had all been previously
locked within, it is supposed by one of the monks named Ambrosio,
who was subject to fits of insanity--with the tragic result that he
and Varillo perished in the flames, there being no possibility of
rescue."
"Then the guillotine is saved unnecessary soiling," said Sovrani
fiercely. "And you, Monsignor Gherardi, should have a special
'Jubilate' sung for the world being well-rid of an exceptionally
damned and damnable villain!"
There was something terrific in the aspect of Sovrani's face and
threatening attitude, and for a moment Gherardi hesitated to go on
with his prepared sequence of lies.
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