"I understand you--yes," she said at last. "If you are right in your surmises, I should have some influence over your son. If I can advise him, and he will take my advice, I will give him the best counsel I can. You have placed me in a very embarrassing position, and you have shown little courtesy in the way you have spoken to me; but I will try to do as you request me, if the opportunity offers, for the sake of--of turning what is very bad into something which may at last be good." "Thank you, thank you, Duchessa!" cried the Prince. "I will never forget--" "Do not thank me," said Corona, coldly. "I am not in a mood to appreciate your gratitude. There is too much blood of those honest gentlemen upon your hands." "Pardon me, Duchessa, I wish there were on my hands and head the blood of that gentleman you call honest--the gentleman who twice tried to murder my son this morning, and twice nearly succeeded." "What!" cried Corona, in sudden terror. "That fellow thrust at Giovanni once to kill him while they were halting and his sword was hanging lowered in his hand; and once again he threw himself upon his knee and tried to stab him in the body--which is a dastardly trick not permitted in any country. Even in duelling, such things are called murder; and it is their right name." Corona was very pale. Giovanni's danger had been suddenly brought before her in a very vivid light, and she was horror-struck at the thought of it. "Is--is Don Giovanni very badly wounded?" she asked. "No, thank heaven; he will be wall in a week. But either one of those attempts might have killed him; and he would have died, I think--pardon me, no insult this time--I think, on your account. Do you see why for him I dread this attachment to you, which leads him to risk his life at every turn for a word about you? Do you see why I implore you to take the matter into your serious consideration, and to use your influence to bring him to his senses?" "I see; but in this question of the duel you have no proof that I was concerned." "No,--no proof, perhaps. I will not weary you with surmises; but even if it was not for you this time, you see that it might have been." "Perhaps," said Corona, very sadly. "I have to thank you, even if you will not listen to me," said the Prince, rising. "You have understood me. It was all I asked. Good night." "Good night," answered Corona, who did not move from her seat nor extend her hand this time. She was too much agitated to think of formalities. Saracinesca bowed low and left the room. It was characteristic of him that he had come to see the Duchessa not knowing what he should say, and that he had blurted out the whole truth, and then lost his temper in support of it. He was a hasty man, of noble instincts, but always inclined rather to cut a knot than to unloose it--to do by force what another man would do by skill--angry at opposition, and yet craving it by his combative nature.