As he went on speaking the light in Hermione's face flickered and died
out. It was when he laughed that it vanished quite away.
"Thank you, Maurice," she said, quietly. "Thank you, dear. I should love
to have you with me, but it would be a shame!"
"Why?"
"Why? Why--the best time here is only just beginning, as you say. It
would be selfish to drag you across the sea to a sick-bed, or perhaps to
a death-bed."
"But the journey?"
"Oh, I am accustomed to being a lonely woman. Think how short a time
we've been married! I've nearly always travelled alone."
"Yes, I know," he said. "Of course there's no danger. I didn't mean that,
only--"
"Only you were ready to be unselfish," she said. "Bless you for it. But
this time I want to be unselfish. You must stay here to keep house, and
I'll come back the first moment I can--the very first. Let's try to think
of that--of the day when I come up the mountain again to my--to our
garden of paradise. All the time I'm away I shall pray for the moment
when I see these columns of the terrace above me, and the geraniums,
and--and the white wall of our little--home."
She stopped. Then she added: "And you."
"Yes," he said. "But you won't see me on the terrace."
"Why not?"
"Because, of course, I shall come to the station to meet you. That day
will be a festa."
She said nothing more. Her heart was very full, and of conflicting
feelings and of voices that spoke in contradiction one of another. One or
two of these voices she longed to hush to silence, but they were
persistent. Then she tried not to listen to what they were saying. But
they were pitilessly distinct.
Dinner was soon over, and Gaspare came to clear away. His face was very
grave, even troubled. He did not like this abrupt departure of his
padrona.
"You will come back, signora?" he said, as he drew away the cloth and
prepared to fold up the table and carry it in-doors.
Hermione managed to laugh.
"Why, of course, Gaspare! Did you think I was going away forever?"
"Africa is a long way off."
"Only nine hours from Trapani. I may be back very soon. Will you forget
me?"
"Did I forget my padrona when she was in England?" the boy replied, his
expressive face suddenly hardening and his great eyes glittering with
sullen fires.