This thing, too, which the Marchese Lamberto had announced his
intention of doing, sinned against all those virtues which, let the
professions of the moral code say what they may, stand really
highest in an Italian estimation. It was eminently unwise; it was
imprudent; it was indecorous; it was calculated to produce scandal;
it would bring disgrace upon a noble name; it was ridiculous; and,
besides all this, it necessarily drove another to "desperation."
"A fool! An insane idiot! Worst of all fools--an old fool! To think
that a man, who had stood so many years in the eyes of all men as he
had stood, should come to such a downfall. It would serve him no
more than right, if it were possible, that all the consequences of
what had been done should fall on his own head."
Still, during all the musings which seemed to force him to the
conclusion that the crime which had been committed was the deed of
the Marchese Ludovico, the old lawyer did not lose sight of the idea
which had been suggested to his mind by that exclamation of Ludovico
on the first sight of the murdered woman. He did not, in truth, as
yet think that it was worth much; but he kept it safe at the bottom
of his mind, ready for being produced if subsequent circumstances
should seem to give any value to it.
After musing an hour while these thoughts passed through his mind,
the old lawyer thought he would go as far as the Palazzo del Governo
to learn what steps had been taken, and whether--though he had very
little doubt on that point--his unfortunate young friend had been
detained in custody.
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