He felt that he was no match for Del Ferice.  The keen banker was making use of him for his own purposes in a way which neither Orsino nor Contini had ever suspected.  It could not be supposed that Ugo had foreseen from the first the advantage he might reap from the firm he had created and which was so wholly dependent on him.  Orsino might have turned out ignorant and incapable.  Contini might have proved idle and even dishonest.  But, instead of this, the experiment had succeeded admirably and Ugo found himself possessed of an instrument, as it were, precisely adapted to his end, which was to make worthless property valuable at the smallest possible expense, in fact, at the lowest cost price.  He had secured a first-rate architect and a first-rate accountant, both men of spotless integrity, both young, energetic and unusually industrious.  He paid nothing for their services and he entirely controlled their expenditure.  It was clear that he would do his utmost to maintain an arrangement so immensely profitable to himself.  If Orsino had realised exactly how profitable it was, he might have forced Del Ferice to share the gain with him, and would have done so for the sake of Contini, if not for his own.  He suspected, indeed, that Ugo was certain beforehand, in each case, of selling or letting the houses, but he had no proof of the fact.  Ugo did not leave everything to his confidential clerk, and the secrets he kept to himself were well kept.

Orsino consulted Contini, as a matter of necessity, before accepting Del Ferice’s last offer.  The architect went into a tragic-comic rage, bit his cigar through several times, ground his teeth, drank several glasses of cold water, talked of the blood of Cola di Rienzo, vowed vengeance on Del Ferice and finally submitted.

The signing of the new contract determined the course of Orsino’s life for another year.  It is surprising to see, in the existence of others, how periods of monotonous calm succeed seasons of storm and danger.  In our own they do not astonish us so much, if at all.  Orsino continued to work hard, to live regularly and to do all those things which, under the circumstances he ought to have done and earned the reputation of being a model young man, a fact which surprised him on one or two occasions when it came to his ears.  Yet when he reflected upon it, he saw that he was in reality not like other young men, and that his conduct was undoubtedly abnormally good as viewed by those around him.  His grandfather began to look upon him as something almost unnatural, and more than once hinted to Giovanni that the boy, as he still called him, ought to behave like other boys.

“He is more like San Giacinto than any of us,” said Giovanni, thoughtfully.  “He has taken after that branch.”

“If that is the case, he might have done worse,” answered the old man.  “I like San Giacinto.  But you always judge superficially, Giovanni—­you always did.  And the worst of it is, you are always perfectly well satisfied with your own judgments.”