"We can settle that afterwards," she said, drawing off her gloves: "meanwhile let us talk sense. I shall be up in town for a fortnight." "And you stay, cara?" "At an hotel in the Strand. I'll give you the address before I leave." "Bene! I will then have you to myself for two weeks." "It all depends on whether you will help me in what I wish to do." "Ebbene! Is it il marito?" Mrs. Belswin nodded, and the Italian burst out laughing. "Povero diavolo. He has then come again." "No! but he arrives next week." "How pleased you are," said Ferrari, mockingly. "Oh, yes, he will be so sweet to behold you." "That's the very question! I don't want him to see me." "Then return not to the little daughter." "I must! I must!" cried Mrs. Belswin in despair. "I can't give up my child after meeting her again. Twenty years, Stephano, and I have not seen her; now I am beside her every day. She loves me--not as her mother, but as her friend. I can't give up all this because my husband is returning." Signor Ferrari shrugged his shoulders and lighted a cigarette. "But there is nothing more you can do," he said, spreading out his hands with a dramatic gesture, "eh, carrissima? Think of what is this affair. Il marito has said to you, 'Good-bye.' The little daughter thinks you to be dead. If then you come to reveal yourself, il marito--eh, amica mia! it is a trouble for all." "What can I do?" "Nothing! oh no, certainly! You have beheld the little daughter for a time. Now you are to me again. I say, Stella 'dora, with me remain and forget all." "No, I will not! I will not!" cried Mrs. Belswin, savagely, rising to her feet. "Cannot you see how I suffer? If you love me as you say, you must see how I suffer. Give up my child, my life, my happiness! I cannot do it." "Dio! you cannot make the miracles." "I can! I must! Do you think I will stay with you while my child calls me?" "With me you must stay, my Norma. I love thee. I will not leave you no more." "You can't stop me." "Ebbene," said Ferrari, conscious that he held the advantage. "Go, then, and see how il marito will behold you." Mrs. Belswin felt her helplessness, and clenched her hands with a savage cry of despair, that seemed to be torn out of her throbbing heart. Up and down the gaudy room she paced, with her face convulsed with rage, and her fierce eyes flashing with an unholy fire, while Ferrari, secure in his position, sat quietly near the window, smoking leisurely. His self-possession seemed to provoke her, ready as she was to vent her impotent anger on anything, and, stopping abruptly she poured forth all her anger. "Why do you sit there smiling, and smiling, like a fool?" she shrieked, stamping her foot. "Can you not suggest something? Can you not do something?" "Eh, carissima, I would say, 'Be quiet' The people below will hear you cry out."