"Signora," he repeated, with a certain, almost ugly doggedness, "I was tired. Forgive me."
She felt sure that he had chosen deliberately not to come to her for the evening salutation. It was a trifle, yet to-night it hurt her. For a moment she was silent, and he was silent, looking down at the floor.
Then she opened her lips to dismiss him. She intended to say a curt "Good-night"; but--no--she could not let Gaspare retreat from her behind impenetrable walls of obstinate reserve. And she did know his nature through and through. If he was odd to-night, unlike himself, there was some reason for it; and it could not be a reason that, known to her, would make her think badly of him. She was certain of that.
"Never mind, Gaspare," she said gently. "But I like you to come and say good-night to me. I am accustomed to that, and I miss it if you don"t come."
"Si, Signora," he said, in a very low voice.
He turned a little away from her, and made a small noise with his nose as if he had a cold.
"Gaspare," she said, with an impulse to be frank, "I saw Ruffo to-night."
He turned round quickly. She saw moisture in his eyes, but they were shining almost fiercely.
"He told me something about his Patrigno. Did you know it?"
"His Patrigno and Peppina?"
Hermione nodded.
"Si Signora; Ruffo told me."
"I gave the boy something for his mother."
"His mother--why?"
There was quick suspicion in Gaspare"s voice.
"Poor woman! Because of all this trouble. Her husband is in prison."
"Lo so. But he will soon be out again. He is "protected.""
"Who protects him?"
But Gaspare evaded the answer, and subst.i.tuted something that was almost a rebuke.
"Signora," he said, bluntly, "if I were you I would not have anything to do with these people. Ruffo"s Patrigno is a bad man. Better leave them alone."
"But, Ruffo?"
"Signora?"
"You like him, don"t you?"
"Si, Signora. There is no harm in him."
"And the poor mother?"
"I am not friends with his mother, Signora. I do not want to be."
Hermione was surprised by his harshness.
"But why not?"
"There are people at Mergellina who are bad people," he said. "We are not Neapolitan. We had better keep to ourselves. You have too much heart, Signora, a great deal too much heart, and you do not always know what people are."
"Do you think I ought not to have given Ruffo that money for his mother?" Hermione asked, almost meekly.
"Si, Signora. It is not for you to give his mother money. It is not for you."
"Well, Gaspare, it"s done now."
"Si, it"s done now."
"You don"t think Ruffo bad, do you?"
After a pause, Gaspare answered:
"No, Signora. Ruffo is not bad."
Hermione hesitated. She wanted to ask Gaspare something, but she was not sure that the opportunity was a good one. He was odd to-night. His temper had surely been upset. Perhaps it would be better to wait. She decided not to speak of what was in her mind.
"Well, Gaspare, good-night," she said.
"Good-night, Signora."
She smiled at him.
"You see, after all, you have had to say good-night to me!"
"Signora," he answered, earnestly, "even if I do not come to say good-night to you always, I shall stay with you till death."
Again he made the little noise with his nose, as he turned away and went out of the room.
That night, as she got into bed, Hermione called down on that faithful watch-dog"s dark head a blessing, the best that heaven contained for him. Then she put out the light, and lay awake so long that when a boat came round the cliff from the Saint"s Pool to the open sea, in the hour before the dawn, she heard the soft splash of the oars in the water and the sound of a boy"s voice singing.
"Oh, dolce luna bianca de l" Estate Mi fugge il sonno accanto a la marina: Mi destan le dolcissime serate Gli occhi di Rosa e il mar di Mergellina."
She lifted herself up on her pillow and listened--listened until across the sea, going towards the dawn, the song was lost.
"Gli occhi di Rosa e il mar di Mergellina."
When the voice was near, had not Maurice seemed near to her? And when it died away, did not he fade with it--fade until the Ionian waters took him?
She sat up in the darkness until long after the song was hushed. But she heard it still in the whisper of the sea.