Of all
this, the poor Baroness was in ignorance. The one fact stared her in
the face, that the Princess had come to claim Sabina, and Sabina had
disappeared.
She had learned that the porter had come to say that the cellars of
the Palazzo Conti were flooded, and she knew that her husband would be
there some time. She found Sassi's card, on which his address was
printed, and she drove there in a cab, climbed the stairs and rang the
bell. The old woman who opened was in terrible trouble, and was just
going out. She showed the Baroness the news of Sassi's mysterious
accident shortly given in a paragraph of the _Messaggero_, the little
morning paper which is universally read greedily by the lower classes.
She was just going to the accident hospital, the "Consolazione," to
see her poor master. He had gone out at half past four on the previous
afternoon, and she had sat up all night, hoping that he would come in.
She was quite sure that he had not returned at all after he had gone
out. She was quite sure, too, that he had been knocked down and
robbed, for he had a gold watch and chain, and always carried money in
his pocket.
The Baroness looked at her, and saw that she was speaking the truth
and was in real distress. It would be quite useless to search the
rooms for Sabina. The old woman-servant had no idea who the Baroness
was, and in her sudden trouble would certainly have confided to her
that there was a young lady in the house, who had not been able to get
home.
Pages:
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298