"Lord have mercy!" exclaimed the young girl and began to pray.
"Alas! hapless spirit!" murmured the surgeon. "You were but ill-lodged indeed...."
They both bent over her, watching her closely.
"Her lips are moving," cried Florentina. "She is speaking."
Yes, her lips parted; she said something—a word, two, three.
"What is she saying?" each asked the other; but neither of them could understand her.
She spoke perhaps in the tongue that is known to those who live the life eternal.
This was the end; her lips moved no more; they remained half-open showing a row of little white teeth. Teodoro bent over her and, kissing Nela's forehead, he said in a steady voice:
"Woman, you did well to quit this world." But Florentina's voice was choked with tears and sobs as she said: "I wanted to make her happy, and she would not be."