"
"I am amazed!" The Baroness looked at the servants timidly, as if she
expected the butler and the footman to express their disapprobation of
the guest.
"I have left politics for the present," Malipieri replied, looking at
Sabina and smiling.
"Of course!" cried the Baroness. "But--" she stopped short.
"My wife," said the financier with a grin, "is afraid you have
dynamite about you."
"How absurd!" The Baroness felt that she was ridiculous. "But I do not
understand how you can be friends," she added, glancing from her
husband to Malipieri.
"We are at least on good terms of acquaintance," said the younger man
a little markedly.
Sabina liked the speech and the way in which it was spoken.
"We have a common ground for it in our interest in antiquities. Is it
not true, Signer Malipieri?"
The Baron looked at him and smiled again, as if there were a secret
between them, and Malipieri glanced at Sabina.
"It is quite true," he said gravely. "The Baron has read all I have
written about Carthage."
Volterra possessed a sort of rough social tact, together with the
native astuteness and great knowledge of men which had made him rich
and a Senator. He suddenly became voluble and led the conversation in
a new direction, which it followed till the end of dinner.
Several people came in afterwards, as often happened, before the
coffee was taken away.
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