make Orsino’s position no easier with his father and mother until the papers were actually produced.  People cannot easily be married secretly in Rome, where the law requires the publication of banns by posting them upon the doors of the Capitol, and the name of Orsino Saracinesca would not be easily overlooked.  Orsino was aware of course that he was not in need of his parents’ consent for his marriage, but he had not been brought up in a way to look upon their acquiescence as unnecessary.  He was deeply attached to them both, but especially to his mother who had been his staunch friend in his efforts to do something for himself, and to whom he naturally looked for sympathy if not for actual help.  However certain he might be of the ultimate result of his marriage, the idea of being married in direct opposition to her wishes was so repugnant to him as to be almost an insurmountable barrier.  He might, indeed, and probably would, conceal his engagement for some time, but solely with the intention of so preparing the evidence in favour of it as to make it immediately acceptable to his father and mother when announced.

It seemed possible that, if he could bring Maria Consuelo to see the matter as he saw it, she might at once throw aside her reticence and furnish him with the information he so greatly needed.  But it would be a delicate matter to bring her to that point of view, unconscious as she must be of her equivocal position.  He could not go to her and tell her that in order to announce their engagement he must be able to tell the world who and what she really was.  The most he could do would be to tell her exactly what papers were necessary for her marriage and to prevail upon her to procure them as soon as possible, or to hand them to him at once if they were already in her possession.  But in order to require even this much of her, it was necessary to push matters farther than they had yet gone.  He had certainly pledged himself to her, and he firmly believed that she considered herself bound to him.  But beyond that, nothing definite had passed.

They had been interrupted by the entrance of workmen asking for orders, and he had thought that Maria Consuelo had seemed anxious to detain the men as long as possible.  That such a scene could not be immediately renewed where it had been broken off was clear enough, but Orsino fancied that she had not wished even to attempt a renewal of it.  He had taken her home in the dusk, and she had refused to let him enter the hotel with her.  She said that she wished to be alone, and he had been fain to be satisfied with the pressure of her hand and the look in her eyes, which both said much while not saying half of what he longed to hear and know.

He would see her, of course, at the usual hour on the following day, and he determined to speak plainly and strongly.  She could not ask him to prolong such a state of uncertainty.  Considering how gradual the steps had been which had led up to what had taken place on that rainy afternoon it was not conceivable, he thought, that she would still ask for time to make up her mind.  She would at least consent to some preliminary agreement upon a line of conduct for both to follow.