The messenger said he had seen him with the cardinal and that
Sant' Ilario had given the order to use the carriage. Beyond that,
he knew nothing. Corona at once took Faustina to the Palazzo
Montevarchi, and then, with a promise to come back in the course
of the day, she went home to rest.
She needed repose even more than Faustina, who, after all, had
slept soundly on her prison bed, trusting with childlike faith in
her friend's promise that she should be free in the morning.
Corona, on the contrary, had passed a wakeful night, and was
almost worn out with fatigue. She remained in her room until
twelve o'clock, the hour when the members of the family met at the
midday breakfast. She found her father-in-law waiting for her, and
at a glance she saw that he was in a savage humour. His bronzed
face was paler than usual and his movements more sudden and
nervous, while his dark eyes gleamed angrily beneath his bent and
shaggy brows. Corona, on her part, was silent and preoccupied. In
spite of the tragic events of the night, which, after all, only
affected her indirectly at present, and in spite of the constant
moral suffering which now played so important a part in her life,
she could not but be disturbed by the tremendous loss sustained by
her husband and by his father.
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