"Athenaeum Club," he shouted to the driver, and sprang in beside the trembling woman. It was evident from her manner that she held him in repugnance, while he, cool and triumphant, regarded her with satisfaction. During the drive they exchanged few words. She was pensive and sullen, while he addressed her in a strangely rough manner for one of such outward refinement. They alighted, and descending the steps into the Mall at the point where a relic of old-time London still remains in the cow-sheds where fresh milk can be obtained, crossed the roadway and entered the Park by one of the deserted paths which ran down to the ornamental water. "You thought to escape me--eh?" her companion exclaimed when at last they halted at one of the seats near the water. He was well acquainted with that quarter of London, for he had served as attache at the Court of St James twenty years ago. "I had no object in so doing," she answered boldly. In their drive she had decided upon a definite plan, and now spoke fearlessly. "Why, then, have you not answered my letters?" "I never answer letters that are either reproachful or abusive," she replied, "even though they may be from the Marquis Montelupo, His Majesty's Minister for Foreign Affairs." "If you had deigned to do so, it would have obviated the necessity of me coming from Rome to see you at all this personal risk." "It's well that you risk something, as well as myself. I've risked enough, Heaven knows!" she answered. "And you've found at last a confounded idiot of a lover who will prove our ruin." "My love is no concern of yours," she cried quickly. "He may be left entirely out of the question. He knows nothing; and further, I've parted from him." "Because he has ascertained who you really are," the great statesman said. "For that I have to thank you," she retorted quickly. "If you had been a trifle more considerate and had not allowed the police of Livorno to act as they did, he would still have been in ignorance." "I acted as I thought fit," her companion said in an authoritative tone, lighting another cigarette from the still burning end of the one he had just consumed. "You've brought me here to abuse me!" she cried, her eyes flashing fiercely upon him. "Because you played me false," he answered bitterly. "You thought it possible to conceal your identity, marry this young fool of an Englishman, and get away somewhere where you would not be discovered. For that reason you've played this double game." Then he added meaningly, "It's only what I ought to have expected of a woman with such a reputation as yours." "Charles Armytage is no fool," she protested. "If he found you here, speaking like this to me, he'd strangle you." The Marquis, whose dark eyes seemed to flash with a fierce light, laughed sarcastically. "No doubt by this time he's heard lots of stories concerning you," he said. "A man of his stamp never marries an adventuress."