It was not considered to be a
very dangerous operation, nor one which weakened the patient much.
Regina was not allowed to be present, and when Marcello had been wheeled
out of his room, already under ether, she went and stood before the
window, pressing down her clasped hands upon the marble sill with all
her might, and resting her forehead against the green slats of the
blind. She did not move from this position while the nurse made
Marcello's bed ready to receive him on his return. It was long to wait.
The great clock in the square struck eleven some time after he had been
taken away, then the quarter, then half-past.
Regina felt the blood slowly sinking to her heart. She would have given
anything to move now, but she could not stir hand or foot; she was cold,
yet somehow she could not even shiver; that would have been a relief;
any motion, any shock, any violent pain would have been a thousand times
better than the marble stillness that was like a spell.
Far away on the Janiculum Folco Corbario sat in his splendid library
alone, with strained eyes, waiting for the call of the telephone that
stood on the polished table at his elbow. He, too, was motionless, and
longed for release as he had never thought he could long for anything. A
still unlighted cigar was almost bitten through by his sharp front
teeth; every faculty was tense; and yet it was as if his brain had
stopped thinking at the point where expectation had begun.
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