"Cecil!... Do come out!"
She could see his face plainly. All at once she gave a startled movement. He was answering her with grimaces ... frightful grimaces. She knew his sardonic ideas of "fun," but this struck her as unnatural ... cruel.
"Don't ... don't...." she cried to him. "You frighten me.... Come back!"
The Padrone had approached again.
"Il signore ama scherzare" (The gentleman likes fun), he observed, smiling. Sophy did not hear him. Half frightened, half indignant, she was staring at the grimacing face. All this had passed within a few seconds. Suddenly Cecil went under—— She held her breath.
"Che Ercole!" (What a Hercules!), observed the Padrone admiringly.
But she was holding her breath with the man under water. It seemed to her as though he would never come up again. Then she saw him. And still he made those odious grimaces. But now he called something. What was it? Her heart checked. It seemed to her that he cried "Help!" and as he cried it, he went under the second time.
All at once the Padrone gave a howl of terror.
"Ma! s'annega! s'annega!" (He's drowning! He's drowning!), screamed the man.
In an instant the terrace swarmed with shouting people. Sophy rushed blindly for the shore. The crowd, still shouting, pressed after her. The water for yards out was horribly smooth. No object broke its surface.