Perhaps
Signor Malipieri likes me very much. I do not know. He has never told
me he loved me."
The Baroness's large figure shook with fury, but she did not turn
round. What more was the girl going to say? That she did not even care
a little for the man with whom she had ruined herself? Yes. That was
what she was going on to explain. It was beyond belief.
"I have only seen him a few times," Sabina said. "I daresay I shall be
very fond of him if I see him often. I think he is very like my ideal
of what a man should be."
The Baroness turned her face half round with an expression that was
positively savage. But she said nothing, and again looked through the
panes. She remembered afterwards that the room smelt slightly of stale
cigar smoke, soap and leather.
"He wished me to see the things he has found before any one else
should," Sabina continued. "So he got Sassi to bring me here. While we
were in the vaults, the water came, and we could not get out. He
worked for hours to break a hole, and it was two o'clock in the
morning when we were free. I had not had any dinner, and of course I
could not go with him to your house at that hour, even if I had not
been worn out. So he brought me here and gave me something to eat, and
his room to sleep in. As for the door not being locked, he told me
twice to lock it, and I was so sleepy that I forgot to.
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