"I'll ask him to come, too," laughed the man by whom she had become so attracted, and then they returned for another dance. Her ears were open, and so were those of the shrewd old man who controlled the internal affairs of the kingdom. There were whisperings everywhere, regarding the young man's wealth, his good fortune, and his aristocratic family.

His Excellency had not failed to notice the attraction which the young English peer held for his daughter, and also that he paid her marked attention. Therefore the old man was extremely self-satisfied.

Next day after the little family luncheon at the Peruzzi Palace at which only the Signora Boncini, Velia, and her cousin Ethel were present, his Excellency took his guest aside in his small private room for their coffee and cigarettes.

Na.s.sington offered the Minister one of his "Petroffs" which was p.r.o.nounced excellent.

Then, after a brief chat, his Lordship came to the point.

"The fact is, your Excellency," he said, "a suggestion has occurred to me by which the Italian Government could, while benefiting the country to an enormous extent, at the same time secure a very handsome sum annually towards the exchequer."

"How?" inquired the shrewd old statesman.

"By granting to a group of substantial English financiers a monopoly for the whole of the motor-transport of Italy," his Lordship replied, blowing a cloud of smoke from his lips. "You have, in every part of the kingdom, great tracts of productive country without railways or communications. At the same time you have excellent roads everywhere.

The concession, if granted, would be taken up by a great firm who handle motor-traction, and certain districts, approved by your government, would be opened up as an experiment. Would not that be of national benefit?"

"I see," replied the statesman stroking his beard thoughtfully. "And you propose that the earnings of the syndicate should be taxed by our Department of Finance?"

"Exactly."

A keen, eager look was in the old man's eyes, and did not pa.s.s unrecognised by the man lounging in the armchair in picturesque indolence.

"And suppose we were to go into the matter," the Minister said. "What att.i.tude would your Lordship adopt?"

"Well--my att.i.tude would be this," Na.s.sington replied. "You give me the proper concession, signed by the Ministers, and I guarantee to find the capital among my personal friends in financial circles in London. But on one condition," he added. "That the whole matter is kept secret.

Afterwards, I venture to think the whole country, and especially the rural population will be grateful to your Excellency."

Boncini instantly saw that such a move would increase his popularity immensely in the country. The idea appealed to him. If Lord Na.s.sington's friends were ready with capital, they would also be ready, he foresaw, with a very substantial sum for bribery. Personally he cared not a rap for the progress of Italy. While in office, he intended to ama.s.s as much as he could. He was the all-powerful man in Italy at the moment. But next year he might be--well where more than one Minister as powerful as he, had found himself--in prison!

"There are difficulties," his Excellency said with some hesitation. "My colleagues in the Cabinet may raise objections. They may not see matters in the light that I do. And the Senate, too--they--"

"I know. I quite understand your Excellency," exclaimed his Lordship, lowering his voice into a confidential whisper. "Let us speak quite frankly. In a gigantic matter of this sort--a matter of millions-- certain palm-oil has to be applied--eh?"

The old man smiled, placed his hands together and nodded.

"Then let us go further," Lord Na.s.sington went on. "I submit in all deference--and, of course, this conversation is strictly in private between us, that should you think favourably of the scheme--my friends should secretly place a certain sum, say one hundred thousand pounds sterling at your Excellency's command, to apply in whatever way you may think best to secure the success of the proposition. Are you willing?"

The old man rose from his chair, and standing before the younger man stretched forth his hand.

"Perfectly," he said as the other grasped it. "We agree."

"And if I frame the form of the concession you will agree to it and, in return for an undertaking of the payment of one hundred thousand pounds into--where shall we say--into the head office of the Credit Lyonnais in Paris in the name of your nominee, you will hand me the legal concession confirmed by the Italian Government?"

"I agree to hand you the necessary doc.u.ments within a fortnight,"

responded his Excellency. "The adoption of motor-traction in the remote districts for bringing wine and produce to the nearest railways will be of the greatest boon to our country."

"Of course, my friends will leave the whole of the details, as far as finance on your side is concerned, to you," his Lordship said. "You can administer the official backsheesh so much better than any one else."

"Within a fortnight you shall be able, my lord, to hand your friends the actual concession for motor-transport throughout the kingdom of Italy."

For another half-hour they discussed certain details, Lord Na.s.sington talking big about his wealthy friends in London. Then, with his daughter and his niece, his Excellency accepted his guest's invitation for a run out to Tivoli to take tea.

The "sixty" ran splendidly, and the Minister of the Interior was delighted. Before the girls, however, no business was discussed.

Velia's father, who, by the way had once been a clever advocate in Milan, knew better than to mention affairs of State before women.

During the run, however, he found himself counting upon the possibilities of Velia's marriage with the amiable young English aristocrat who, upon his own initiative, had offered to place one hundred thousand sterling unreservedly in his hands. At most the present Cabinet could last another year, and then--well, oblivion if before then he did not line his nest snugly enough. The thought of the poor widows and orphans and starving populace down in Calabria sometimes caused him a twinge of conscience. But he only laughed and placed it aside. He had even been unscrupulous, and this young English peer was his friend, he would use to best advantage.

Though Lord Na.s.sington was an eligible husband for his daughter, yet, after all, he was not a business man, but a wealthy "mug." As such he intended to treat him.

At the little _cafe_, near the falls, where they took tea the conversation ran on motors and motoring, but his Excellency could not disguise from himself that the young peer was entirely fascinated by his good-looking daughter.

They lingered there until the mists began to rise and the red afterglow was fast disappearing; then they ran past the sulphur springs and on the broad highway back to the Eternal City at such a pace that his Excellency's breath was taken away. But Lord Na.s.sington drove, and notwithstanding the accident of two days previously, the Minister felt himself perfectly safe in his hands.

Three weeks went by. His Lordship took a flying visit to London, and quickly returned. Both he and the highly respectable clergyman of the English church, the Reverend Thomas Clayton, became daily visitors at the Peruzzi Palace. In the Corso the pretty Signorina Boncini and her cousin were often seen in his Lordship's car, and already the gossip-loving world of Rome began to whisper that an engagement was about to take place.

The valet, Charles, also made a quick journey to London and back, and many telegrams were exchanged with a registered cable address in London.

One afternoon, in the private cabinet of that colossal building, the Ministry of the Interior, his Excellency handed his English friend a formidable doc.u.ment bearing many signatures with the official seal of the Government embossed, a doc.u.ment which gave Lord Na.s.sington the exclusive right to establish motor-transport for both merchandise and pa.s.sengers upon every highway in the kingdom. In exchange, his Excellency received an undertaking signed by a responsible firm in the City of London to place to the account of Madame Boncini at the Credit Lyonnais in Paris the respectable sum of one hundred thousand pounds within seven days.

"I shall return at once to London," his Lordship said replacing the formidable doc.u.ment in its envelope, "and in exchange for this, the financial group will at once pay in the sum to Madame's account in Paris, while the actual sum for the concession will be paid here, in Rome, to the Department of Finance, on the date stipulated."

"Benissimo," replied the grey-bearded statesman, holding one of his long Toscano cigars in the candle which he had lit for that purpose. "It is all settled. You will dine with us at home to-night."

His Lordship accepted, and after further discussion regarding several minor details of the concession he rose and left.

That night he dined at the Peruzzi Palace, seated next his Excellency's charming daughter, and next morning left the Excelsior in his big red car, to run as far as Bologna and thence return to London by rail.

With her father's consent Velia her cousin and Signora Ciullini, her aunt, accompanied him and they set out across the Maremma for marble-built Pisa, where the girls were to return home by rail.

The more direct road was by Orvieto, but it is not so good as that wide, open road across the fever-marshes of the Maremma, therefore his Lordship resolved on taking the latter.

The day was glorious, and travelling for all they were worth with only two stops to refill with petrol, they ran into Pisa late that same night. The sleeping-car express from Paris to Rome was due in half an hour, therefore after a scrambling meal at the Victoria the aristocratic motorist saw the girls and their aunt safely into the train--kissing Velia in secret by the way--and waving them "addio," watched the train glide out of the big echoing station again.

Then, with Garrett at his side, he turned the big car with its glaring head-lights out of the big gates through the town along the Lung' Arno and into the high road for Florence.

In the early morning he pa.s.sed through the dimly-lit deserted streets of the City of the Medici, and away beyond, through Prato, to the foot-hills of the Appenines where he began to ascend that wonderfully engineered military road which runs, with many dangerous turns for motorists, high up across the mountain range, and ends in the long colonnaded street of old Bologna.

It was noon ere he drew into the Piazza before the station, and giving Garrett instructions to continue on to Milan and north to Berlin where the car was to be garaged, he took the afternoon express for the frontier at Chia.s.so, travelling thence _via_ Bale to Ostend and London.

On entering his snug chambers at five o'clock one afternoon, he found Charles and the Parson smoking and awaiting him. That evening the trio held a long and earnest consultation. The official doc.u.ment was carefully examined, and the names of many city firms mentioned. The Parson seemed to possess a remarkable intimate knowledge of city life.

"Old Boncini is a clever old thief," remarked the reverend gentleman.

"He's feathering his nest finely--all the money in his wife's name."

"My dear fellow, half the Cabinet Ministers of Europe only use their political influence in order to gain fortune. Except the British Government there isn't a single one which isn't corrupt."

"Well, Albert, my dear boy, you certainly seem to have got hold of a good thing," the Parson remarked. "His Corrupt Excellency seems to place every faith in you. Your four-flush was admirable all the time."