Neither did she communicate to Noemi her intention of sending the carriage to the Ministry of the Interior.

It did occur to her to propose that they take Piero to their house, but the idea did not please her; the terms upon which Piero and Giovanni Selva stood were too well known for his house to be a safe hiding-place.

Within this prudent consideration lurked a secret jealousy of Noemi, a jealousy of a special nature, neither violent nor burning, for Noemi did not love Piero with a love like hers, but perhaps--for this very reason--even more painful, because she understood that Piero might accept Noemi's mystic sentiment; because she herself was incapable of such a sentiment, and because she had no just cause of complaint against her friend, no reason to reproach her, to give way to this feeling.
Another possible hiding-place occurred to her, the house of an elderly senator with whom she was acquainted, and who had been an intimate friend of her father's.

He was very religious, and full of affectionate admiration for Maironi.

She held fast to this idea.