She had lost Brigida's answer to Father Rocco's question; but she
was in time to hear her next words.
"We are alone here," said Brigida. "I am a woman, and I don't
know that you may not have come armed. It is only the commonest
precaution on my part not to give you a chance of getting at the
wax mask till I have made my conditions."
"You never said a word about conditions before."
"True. I remember telling you that I wanted nothing but the
novelty of going to the masquerade in the character of my dead
enemy, and the luxury of being able to terrify the man who had
brutally ridiculed me in old days in the studio. That was the
truth. But it is not the less the truth that our experiment on
Count Fabio has detained me in this city much longer than I ever
intended, that I am all but penniless, and that I deserve to be
paid. In plain words, will you buy the mask of me for two hundred
scudi?"
"I have not twenty scudi in the world, at my own free disposal."
"You must find two hundred if you want the wax mask. I don't wish
to threaten--but money I must have. I mention the sum of two
hundred scudi, because that is the exact amount offered in the
public handbills by Count Fabio's friends for the discovery of
the woman who wore the yellow mask at the Marquis Melani's ball.
What have I to do but to earn that money if I please, by going to
the palace, taking the wax mask with me, and telling them that I
am the woman.
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