"
"You will, of course, ignore it."
"I will certainly send the money at once."
"What a cowardly attitude!" Lavinia declared contemptuously. "You allow
yourself to be blackmailed like a common criminal."
Orsi laughed, his equilibrium quickly restored.
"I warned you that a stranger could not understand," he reminded her.
"If the money weren't sent, in ten days or two weeks perhaps, there
would be a little accident on the Chiaja--your carriage would be run
into; you would be upset, confused, angry. There would be profuse
apologies, investigation, perhaps arrests; but nothing would come of
it. If the money was still held back something a little more serious
would occur. Nothing really dangerous, you understand; but finally the
two thousand lire would be gladly paid over and the accidents would
mysteriously cease."
"An outrage!" Lavinia asserted, and Orsi nodded.
"If you had an enemy," he continued, "you could have her gown ruined in
the foyer of the San Carlos; if it were a man he would be caught at his
club with an uncomfortable ace in his cuff. At least so I'm assured. I
haven't had any reason to look the society up yet." He laughed
prodigiously. "Even murders are ascribed to it. Careful, Cesare, or a
new valet will cut your throat some fine morning and your widow walk
away with a more graceful man!"
"Your jokes are so stupid." Lavinia shrugged her shoulders.
He laid the letter on the table's edge and a wandering air bore it
slanting to the floor, but he promptly recovered it.
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