The Call of the Blood - Page 209/317

"Signorino, there is no light! Look!"

"The signora and Lucrezia must be asleep at this hour."

"If they are, what are we to do? Shall we wake them?"

"No, no."

He spoke quickly, in hope of a respite.

"We will wait--we will not disturb them."

Gaspare looked down at the parcel he was holding with such anxious care.

"I would like to play the 'Tre Colori,'" he said. "I would like the

first thing the signora hears when she wakes to be the 'Tre Colori.'"

"Hush! We must be very quiet."

The noise made on the path by the tripping feet of the donkeys was almost

intolerable to him. It must surely wake the deepest sleeper. They were

now on the last ascent where the mountain-side was bare. Some stones

rattled downward, causing a sharp, continuous sound. It was answered by

another sound, which made both Gaspare and Maurice draw rein and pull up.

As on that first day in Sicily Maurice had been welcomed by the

"Pastorale," so he was welcomed by it now. What an irony that was to him!

For an instant his lips curved in a bitter smile. But the smile died away

as he realized things, and a strange sadness took hold of his heart. For

it was not the ceramella that he heard in this still hour, but a piano

played softly, monotonously, with a dreamy tenderness that made it surely

one with the tenderness of the deep night. And he knew that Hermione had

been watching, that she had heard him coming, that this was her welcome,

a welcome from the depths of her pure, true heart. How much the music

told him! How clearly it spoke to him! And how its caress flagellated his

bare soul! Hermione had returned expectant of welcome and had found

nothing, and instead of coming out upon the terrace, instead of showing

surprise, vexation, jealous curiosity, of assuming the injured air that

even a good woman can scarcely resist displaying in a moment of acute

disappointment, she sent forth this delicate salutation to him from afar,

the sweetest that she knew, the one she herself loved best.

Tears came into his eyes as he listened. Then he shut his eyes and said

to himself, shuddering: "Oh, you beast! You beast!"

"It is the signora!" said Gaspare, turning round on his donkey. "She does

not know we are here, and she is playing to keep herself awake."

He looked down at his clock, and his eyes began to shine.