"Did he tell you how it happened that I could not get home?" she
asked, almost calmly.
"No one has told me anything. Your mother arrived in Rome last night.
She is at the Russian Embassy and wishes to see you at eleven
o'clock."
"My mother?" Sabina raised herself on one hand in surprise.
"Yes. And I find you here."
The Baroness folded her arms like a man, her brows contracted, and her
face was almost livid.
"Have you the face to meet your mother, after this?" she asked
sternly.
"Yes--of course," answered Sabina. "But I must go home and dress. My
frock is ruined."
"You are a brazen creature," said the Baroness in disgust and anger.
"You do not seem to know what shame means."
Sabina's deep young eyes flashed; it was not safe to say such things
to her.
"I have done nothing to be ashamed of," she answered proudly, "and you
shall not speak to me like that. Do you understand?"
"Nothing to be ashamed of!" The Baroness stared at her in genuine
amazement. "Nothing to be ashamed of!" she repeated, and her voice
shook with emotion. "You leave my house by stealth, you let no one
know where you are going, and the next morning I find you here, in
your lover's house, in your lover's room, the door not even locked,
your head upon your lover's pillow! Nothing to be ashamed of! Merciful
heavens! And you have not only ruined yourself, but you have done an
irreparable injury to honest people who took you in when you were
starving!"
The poor woman paused for breath, and in her horror, she hid her face
in her hands.
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