He knew why he had never treated her in that way.  She was a peasant girl, she had been a servant in an inn; it was natural that she should serve him too.  She often brought him his shoes when he was going out, and she would have put them on for him and laced them if he would have let her do it.  It seemed natural that she should answer the bell and open the door, as it seemed unnatural that she should ever be his wife.  The thought stung him, and again, he was ashamed.

While these things were passing in his mind, he heard a familiar voice in the dark entry.

“Signora, you will excuse me,” Ercole was saying.  “I asked the Professor and he told me.  I beg the favour of a few words.”

“Come in,” Regina answered, and a moment later they both entered the sitting-room.

Ercole stood still when he saw Marcello, and began to turn his hat in his hands, as if it were a rosary, which he generally did when he was embarrassed.  Marcello wondered what the man wanted.

“Were you looking for me?” he asked.  “Come in!  What is it?  Has anything happened?”

“No, sir, nothing new has happened,” answered Ercole.

“What is it, then?  Why did you come here?”

Ercole had dressed himself for the occasion in his best clothes.  He had on a snowy shirt and a new keeper’s jacket, and his boots were blacked.  Furthermore, he had just been shaved, and his shaggy hair had been cut rather close.  He did not carry his gun about with him in the streets of Rome, though he felt that it was slightly derogatory to his dignity to be seen without it, and Nino was not with him, having been temporarily chained to the wall in the court of the stables at the villa.

He stood still, and looked from Marcello to Regina, and back to Marcello again.

“It cannot be done,” he said suddenly.  “It is useless.  It cannot be done.”

Without another word he turned abruptly and was going to leave the room, when Marcello stopped him authoritatively.

“Come here, Ercole!” he cried, as the man was disappearing into the entry.

“Did you speak to me, sir?” Ercole inquired, stopping in the doorway.

“Yes.  Shut the door and come here.”  Ercole obeyed with evident reluctance.  “Now, then,” Marcello continued, “come here and tell me what you want, and what it is that cannot be done.”

“I desire a few words with this lady, and I did not know that you were here, sir.  Therefore I said, it cannot be done.  I mean that while you are here, sir, I cannot speak alone with this lady.”

“That is clear,” Marcello answered.  “You cannot be alone with this lady while I am in the room.  That certainly cannot be done.  Why do you wish to be alone with her?  You can speak before me.”

“It will not be so easy, sir.  I will come at another time.”

“No,” Marcello answered, not liking his manner.  “You will say what you have to say now, or you will say nothing, for you will not come at another time.  The lady will not let you in, if you come again.  Now speak.”