“Oh, don’t make me look at you!” she sobbed; but it was on his bosom that she hid from his gaze. He held her there a breathing-space, as he might have clasped a weeping child; then she drew back and put him gently from her. “What humiliation!” she lamented. “Do you think I blame you for what has happened?” “Alas, was it not my foolish letter that brought you to this plight? And how nobly you defended me! How generous it was of you not to show the letter! If my father knew I had written to the Ambassador to save me from this dreadful marriage his anger against me would be even greater.” “Ah--it was that you wrote for?” cried Tony with unaccountable relief. “Of course--what else did you think?” “But is it too late for the Ambassador to save you?” “From YOU?” A smile flashed through her tears. “Alas, yes.” She drew back and hid her face again, as though overcome by a fresh wave of shame. Tony glanced about him. “If I could wrench a bar out of that window--” he muttered. “Impossible! The court is guarded. You are a prisoner, alas.--Oh, I must speak!” She sprang up and paced the room. “But indeed you can scarce think worse of me than you do already--” “I think ill of you?” “Alas, you must! To be unwilling to marry the man my father has chosen for me--” “Such a beetle-browed lout! It would be a burning shame if you married him.” “Ah, you come from a free country. Here a girl is allowed no choice.” “It is infamous, I say--infamous!” “No, no--I ought to have resigned myself, like so many others.” “Resigned yourself to that brute! Impossible!” “He has a dreadful name for violence--his gondolier has told my little maid such tales of him! But why do I talk of myself, when it is of you I should be thinking?” “Of me, poor child?” cried Tony, losing his head. “Yes, and how to save you--for I CAN save you! But every moment counts--and yet what I have to say is so dreadful.” “Nothing from your lips could seem dreadful.” “Ah, if he had had your way of speaking!” “Well, now at least you are free of him,” said Tony, a little wildly; but at this she stood up and bent a grave look on him. “No, I am not free,” she said; “but you are, if you will do as I tell you.” Tony, at this, felt a sudden dizziness; as though, from a mad flight through clouds and darkness, he had dropped to safety again, and the fall had stunned him. “What am I to do?” he said. “Look away from me, or I can never tell you.” He thought at first that this was a jest, but her eyes commanded him, and reluctantly he walked away and leaned in the embrasure of the window. She stood in the middle of the room, and as soon as his back was turned she began to speak in a quick monotonous voice, as though she were reciting a lesson.