"Ebbene, Vincenzo! What has become of you all this while?"
"Eccellenza," he stammered, "it was the Lacrima; I am not used to wine! I have been asleep."
I laughed, pretended to stifle a yawn on my own account, and rose from my easy-chair.
"Veramente," I said, lightly, "so have I, very nearly! And if I would appear as a gay bridegroom, it is time I went to bed. Buona notte."
"Buona notte, signor."
And we severally retired to rest, he satisfied that I had been in my own room all the evening, and I, thinking with a savage joy at my heart of what I had prepared out there in the darkness, with no witnesses of my work save the whirling wind and rain.