"A doctor has been sent for, of course?"
"Yes, eccellenza. So Giacomo said. But--"
"But WHAT?" I asked, quickly.
"Nothing, eccellenza! Only the old man said the doctor had come too late."
My heart sunk heavily, and a sob rose in my throat. I stopped in my rapid walk and bade Vincenzo call a carriage, one of the ordinary vehicles that are everywhere standing about for hire in the principal thoroughfares of Naples. I sprung into this and told the driver to take me as quickly as possible to the Villa Romani, and adding to Vincenzo that I should not return to the hotel all day, I was soon rattling along the uphill road. On my arrival at the villa I found the gates open, as though in expectation of my visit, and as I approached the entrance door of the house, Giacomo himself met me.
"How is the child?" I asked him eagerly.
He made no reply, but shook his head gravely, and pointed to a kindly looking man who was at that moment descending the stairs--a man whom I instantly recognized as a celebrated English doctor resident in the neighborhood. To him I repeated my inquiry--he beckoned me into a side room and closed the door.
"The fact is," he said, simply, "it is a case of gross neglect. The child has evidently been in a weakly condition for some time past, and therefore is an easy prey to any disease that may be lurking about. She was naturally strong--I can see that--and had I been called in when the symptoms first developed themselves, I could have cured her. The nurse tells me she dared not enter the mother's room to disturb her after midnight, otherwise she would have called her to see the child--it is unfortunate, for now I can do nothing."
I listened like one in a dream. Not even old Assunta dared to enter her mistress's room after midnight--no! not though the child might be seriously ill and suffering. I knew the reason well--too well! And so while Ferrari had taken his fill of rapturous embraces and lingering farewells, my little one had been allowed to struggle in pain and fever without her mother's care or comfort. Not that such consolation would have been much at its best, but I was fool enough to wish there had been this one faint spark of womanhood left in her upon whom I had wasted all the first and only love of my life. The doctor watched me as I remained silent, and after a pause he spoke again.