Maria Vittoria received the name of her visitor with a profound
astonishment. Then she stamped her foot and said violently, "Send him
away! I hate him." But curiosity got the better of her hate. She felt a
strong desire to see the meddlesome man who had thrust himself between
her and her lover; and before her woman had got so far as the door, she
said, "Let him up to me!" She was again surprised when Wogan was
admitted, for she expected a stout and burly soldier, stupid and
confident, of the type which blunders into success through sheer
ignorance of the probabilities of defeat. Mr. Wogan, for his part, saw
the glowing original of the picture at Bologna, but armed at all points
with hostility.

"Your business," said she, curtly. Wogan no less curtly replied that he
had a wish to escort Mlle. de Caprara to Bologna. He spoke as though he
was suggesting a walk on the Campagna.

"And why should I travel to Bologna?" she asked. Wogan explained. The
explanation required delicacy, but he put it in as few words as might
be. There were slanderers at work. Her Highness the Princess Clementina
was in great distress; a word from Mlle. de Caprara would make all
clear.

"Why should I trouble because the Princess Clementina has a crumpled
rose-leaf in her bed? I will not go," said Mlle. de Caprara.