"MY DEAR ROMA,--Your letters and I seem to be running a race which
shall return to you first. I was compelled to leave Berlin before
my long-delayed correspondence could arrive from London, and now
it seems probable that I must leave Zürich before it can follow me
from Berlin. As a consequence I have not heard from you for
weeks--not since your letter about your friend, you remember--and
I am in agonies of impatience to know what has happened to you in
the interval.
"I came to Switzerland the day before yesterday, pushed on by the
urgency of affairs at home. Here we hold the last meeting of our
international committee before I go back to Italy. This will be
to-morrow (Friday) night, and according to present plans I set out
for Rome on Saturday morning.
"How different my return will be from my flight a few weeks ago!
Then I was plunged in despair, now I am buoyed up with hope; then
my soul was furrowed by doubts, now it is braced up with
certainties; then my idea was a dream, now it is a practical
reality.
"O Roma, my Roma, it is a good thing to live. After all, the world
is no Gethsemane, and when a man has a beautiful life like yours
belonging to him he may be forgiven if he forgets the voices which
assail him with fears. They have come to me sometimes, dearest, in
this long and cruel silence, and I have asked myself hideous
questions. What is happening to my dear one in the midst of my
enemies? What sufferings are being inflicted upon her for my sake?
She is brave, and will bear anything, but did I do right to leave
her behind? Bruno died rather than betray me, and she will do
more--infinitely more in her eyes--she will see _me_ die, rather
than imperil a cause which is a thousand times more dear to me
than my life.
"Addio, carissima! Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal
upon thine arm, for love is strong as death. If there were any
possibility of our love increasing it _would_ increase after going
through dangers like these. Keep well, dearest. Preserve that
sweet life which is so precious to me that I cannot live without
it. Do you remember, it was the 2nd of February when we parted in
the darkness at the church door, and now it is Easter, and the day
after to-morrow we shall hear the Easter bells! Spring is here,
and in the unchangeable changeableness of nature I see the
resurrection of humanity and listen to the Gloria of God.
"You cannot answer this letter, dear, because I shall already be
on the way to Rome before it reaches you, but you can send me a
telegram to Chiasso. Do so. I shall look out for the telegraph boy
the moment the train stops at the station. Say you are well and
happy and waiting for me, and it will be like a smile from your
lovely lips and eyes on the frontier of my native land.
"My train is due to arrive on Sunday morning at seven o'clock.
Meet me at the railway station, and let your face be the first I
see when the train draws up in Rome. Then ... let me hear your
voice, and let my heart become a King.
"D.R."
Roma had grown paler and paler as she read this letter. The man's love
and trust were crushing her. Tears filled her eyes and flooded her face.
But her soul, which had been stunned and had fallen, recovered itself
and arose.
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