Up to this time the strictest
secrecy was preserved, at the request of San Giacinto himself. He
said that in such an important matter he wished nothing to
transpire until he was ready to act; more especially as the
Saracinesca themselves could not be ignorant of the true state of
the case and had no right to receive notice of the action
beforehand. As Corona had foreseen, San Giacinto intended to
obtain the decision by means of a perfectly legal trial, and was
honestly ready to court enquiry into the rights he was about to
assert. When the moment came and all was ready, he went to the
Palazzo Saracinesca and asked for the prince, who received him in
the same room in which the two had met when the ex-innkeeper had
made his appearance in Rome nearly three months earlier. As San
Giacinto entered he felt that he had not wasted his time during
that short interval.
"I have come to talk with you upon a business which must be
unpleasant to you," he began. "Unfortunately it cannot be avoided.
I beg you to believe that it is my wish to act loyally and
fairly."
"I hope so," said Saracinesca, bending his bushy gray eyebrows and
fixing his keen old eyes upon his visitor.
"You need not doubt it," replied San Giacinto rather proudly.
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