But then he stopped.
"Yes, Maurice!" she said, quickly.
"Where's Gaspare?" he asked. "We'll make him help with the packing. But
you won't take much, will you? It'll only be for a few days, I suppose."
"Who knows?"
"Gaspare! Gaspare!" he called.
"Che vuole?" answered a sleepy voice.
"Come here."
In a moment a languid figure appeared round the corner. Maurice explained
matters. Instantly Gaspare became a thing of quicksilver. He darted to
help Hermione. Every nerve seemed quivering to be useful.
"And the signore?" he said, presently, as he carried a trunk into the
room.
"The signore!" said Hermione.
"Is he going, too?"
"No, no!" said Hermione, swiftly.
She put her finger to her lips. Delarey was just coming into the room.
Gaspare said no more, but he shot a curious glance from padrona to
padrone as he knelt down to lay some things in the trunk.
By dinner-time Hermione's preparations were completed. The one trunk she
meant to take was packed. How hateful it looked standing there in the
white room with the label hanging from the handle! She washed her face
and hands in cold water, and came out onto the terrace where the
dinner-table was laid. It was a warm, still night, like the night of the
fishing, and the moon hung low in a clear sky.
"How exquisite it is here!" she said to Maurice, as they sat down. "We
are in the very heart of calm, majestic calm. Look at that one star over
Etna, and the outlines of the hills and of that old castle--"
She stopped.
"It brings a lump into my throat," she said, after a little pause. "It's
too beautiful and too still to-night."
"I love being here," he said.
They ate their dinner in silence for some time. Presently Maurice began
to crumble his bread.
"Hermione," he said. "Look here--"
"Yes, Maurice."
"I've been thinking--of course I scarcely know Artois, and I could be of
no earthly use, but I've been thinking whether it would not be better for
me to come to Kairouan with you."
For a moment Hermione's rugged face was lit up by a fire of joy that
made her look beautiful. Maurice went on crumbling his bread.
"I didn't say anything at first," he continued, "because I--well, somehow
I felt so fixed here, almost part of the place, and I had never thought
of going till it got too hot, and especially not now, when the best time
is only just beginning. And then it all came so suddenly. I was still
more than half asleep, too, I believe," he added, with a little laugh,
"when you told me. But now I've had time, and--why shouldn't I come, too,
to look after you?"