It would be almost a miracle if she did not fall ill,
even if she were well taken care of at once.
There was only one thing to be done: she must go up to his apartment,
and have something to eat, and then she must rest. In the meantime
they would make some plan in order to explain her absence.
The porter's wife might have been of some use, if she could have been
trusted with what must for ever remain a dead secret, namely, that
Sabina had spent the night in Malipieri's rooms; for that would be the
plain fact to-morrow morning. What had happened to Sassi and Masin was
a mystery, but it was inconceivable that either of them should have
been free to act during the past eight or nine hours and should have
made no effort to save the two persons to whom they were respectively
devoted as to no one else in the world.
Exhausted though he was, Malipieri would have gone down into the
cellars at once to try and find some trace of them, if he had not felt
that Sabina must be cared for first; and moreover he was sure that if
he found them at all, he should find them both dead.
All this had been clear to him before he had at last succeeded in
bringing her out into the open air.
"There is no help for it," he whispered, "you must come upstairs. Do
you think you can walk so far?"
"Of course I can!" she answered, straightening herself bravely.
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