So that young man has left, you say ?" "Yes, unless he has postponed his departure.

However, I don't expect to find him at the palazzo when I get there." For a moment the only sound was that of the continuous rumble of the wheels.

Prada again felt worried, a prey to the discomfort of uncertainty.

Why should he mix himself up in the affair if Dario were really absent?
All the ideas which came to him tired his brain, and he ended by thinking aloud: "If he has gone away it must be for propriety's sake, so as to avoid attending the Buongiovanni reception, for the Congregation of the Council met this morning to give its decision in the suit which the Countess has brought against me.

Yes, I shall know by and by whether our marriage is to be dissolved." It was in a somewhat hoarse voice that he spoke these words, and one could realise that the old wound was again bleeding within him.