If he had caught Del Ferice he would have thanked the Prince instead of waiting for any expressions of gratitude; but he did not catch Del Ferice, for certain very good reasons which will appear in the last scene of this comedy.
Three days after Ugo's disappearance, the old Prince got into his carriage and drove out to Saracinesca.

More than a month had elapsed since the marriage, and he felt that he must see his son, even at the risk of interrupting the honeymoon.

On the whole, he felt that his revenge had been inadequate.

Del Fence had escaped the Holy Office, no one knew how; and Donna Tullia, instead of being profoundly humiliated, as she would have been had Del Ferice been tried as a common spy, was become a centre of attraction and interest, because her affianced husband had for some unknown cause incurred the displeasure of the great Cardinal, almost on the eve of her marriage--a state of things significant as regards the tone of Roman society.

Indeed the whole circumstance, which, was soon bruited about among all classes with the most lively adornment and exaggeration, tended greatly to increase the fear and hatred which high and low alike felt for Cardinal Antonelli--the man who was always accused and never heard in his own defence..