The scene was well planned and well executed; his voice had a ring of emotion that sounded pleasantly in Donna Tullia's ears, and his hands trembled with excitement.

She did not repulse him, being a vain woman and willing to believe in the reality of the passion so well simulated.

Perhaps, too, it was not wholly put on, for she was a handsome, dashing woman, in the prime of youth, and Del Ferice was a man who had always been susceptible to charms of that kind.

Donna Tullia hesitated, wondering what more he could say.

But he, on his part, knew the danger of trusting too much to eloquence when not backed by a greater strength than his, and he pressed her for an answer.
"Be generous--trust me," he cried.