“How!”
“He is here.”
“Here! where? how do you know?”
“I have just spoken with him; a man like him it appears to me——”
“He is here! to assist the afflicted, no doubt. Has he had the plague?”
“Ah! Lucy! I fear, I greatly fear——” As Renzo hesitated to utter his fears, she had unconsciously again approached him, with a look of anxious enquiry——“I fear he has it now!”
“Oh! poor man! But what do I say? poor man! he is rich, rich in the favour of God! How is he? Is he confined to his bed? Has he assistance?”
“He is, on the contrary, still assisting others——but if you were to see him! Alas! there can be no mistake!”
“Oh! is he indeed within these walls?” said Lucy.
“Here, and not far off; hardly farther than from your cottage to mine——if you remember——”