A smile flickered over the young artist’s face as he quoted Musset’s lines in answer to Giovanni’s question.  Giovanni himself laughed, and looked at Anastase with somewhat increased interest.

“Do you mean that we are revelling under the sword of Damocles—­dancing on the eve of our execution?”

“Not precisely.  A delicate flavour of uncertainty about to-morrow gives zest to the appetite of to-day.  It is impossible that such a large society should be wholly unconscious of its own imminent danger—­and yet these men and women go about to-night as if they were Romans of old, rulers of the world, only less sure of themselves than of the stability of their empire.”

“Why not?” asked Giovanni, glancing curiously at the pale young man beside him.  “In answer to your quotation, I can say that I am as free as I care to be; that the laws are sufficiently respected; that no one has hitherto thought it worth while to plunder my acres; that I have a modest roof of my own; and that, as far as I am aware, there are no workmen starving in the streets at present.  You are answered, it seems to me, Monsieur Gouache.”

“Is that really your belief?” asked the artist, quietly.

“Yes.  As for my freedom, I am as free as air; no one thinks of hindering my movements.  As for the laws, they are made for good citizens, and good citizens will respect them; if bad citizens do not, that is their loss.  My acres are safe, possibly because they are not worth taking, though they yield me a modest competence sufficient for my needs and for the needs of those who cultivate them for me.”

“And yet there is a great deal of talk in Rome about misery and injustice and oppression—­”

“There will be a great deal more talk about those evils, with much better cause, if people who think like you succeed in bringing about a revolution, Monsieur Gouache,” answered Giovanni, coldly.

“If many people think like you, prince, a revolution is not to be thought of.  As for me I am a foreigner and I see what I can, and listen to what I hear.”

“A revolution is not to be thought of.  It was tried here and failed.  If we are overcome by a great power from without, we shall have no choice but to yield, if any of us survive—­for we would fight.  But we have nothing to fear from within.”

“Perhaps not,” returned Gouache, thoughtfully.  “I hear such opposite opinions that I hardly know what to think.”

“I hear that you are to paint Cardinal Antonelli’s portrait,” said Giovanni.  “Perhaps his Eminence will help you to decide.”

“Yes; they say he is the cleverest man in Europe.”

“In that opinion they—­whoever they may be—­are mistaken,” replied Giovanni.  “But he is a man of immense intellect, nevertheless.”

“I am not sure whether I will paint his portrait after all,” said Gouache.

“You do not wish to be persuaded?”

“No.  My own ideas please me very well for the present.  I would not exchange them for those of any one else.”