A few moments later
he was on the ground, running for the great entrance. No one was
there, no one saw him.
He let himself out quietly, shut the postern door after him, and
slouched away towards the Vicolo dei Soldati.
CHAPTER XIII
Sabina had the delightful sensation of doing something she ought not
to do, but which was perfectly innocent; she had moreover the rarer
pleasure, quite new to her, of committing the little social misdeed in
the company of the first man she had ever liked in her life. She knew
very well that old Sassi would not be able to reach the inner chamber
of the excavation, and she inwardly hoped that Malipieri's servant
would discreetly wait outside of it, so that she might be alone with
Malipieri when she first set eyes on the wonderful statue. It was
amusing to think how the nuns would have scolded her for the mere
wish, and how her pious sister would have condemned her to eternal
flames for entertaining the temptation.
Malipieri had told her to put on an old frock, as she might spoil her
clothes in spite of the efforts he had made to enlarge and smooth the
way for her to pass. Her mother had a way of calling everything old
which she had possessed three months, and for once Sabina was of her
mother's opinion. She had a very smart cloth costume, with a rather
short skirt, which had come home in February, and which she had worn
only four times because the spring had been warm.
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