But the same idea that occurred to
you just now, that Paolina might not have liked to see me driving
with La Bianca, has suggested itself to some other wiseacre,--I beg
your pardon, Manutoli,--and it seems that an absurd notion--a notion
the monstrous absurdity of which is a matter of amazement to me--has
been engendered that my poor Paolina may have been the perpetrator
of the crime. The idea! If they only knew her! But the Commissary
here has been cross-questioning me in a way that shows that is the
notion he has in his head. Whether they know that Paolina really did
see us in the bagarino together--she did so from the window in the
Church of St. Apollinare--or whether they only know that she left
the city by that gate early in the morning, I can't tell; but it is
sure to be found out that she did really see us,--the more so, that
she will say so to the first person who asks her" the poor innocent
darling. And what I want you do is to see her, and prepare her, poor
child, for the possibility of being arrested, and make her
understand that no harm can possibly come to her. Try to save her
from being frightened. She knows well enough, just as well as I know
myself, that I have not done this thing. Try to make her understand
that a little time only is necessary for the finding out of the real
culprit; that it is sure to be discovered, and that, as far as we
are concerned, it is all sure to come right.
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