"'And you have had a packet?' I asked.
"'Jesu! Such a packet! May I show the Signor? Look, here is Vincenzo, his very self! And again seven hundred francs. Ah, it is Vincenzo! I can hear him laughing.'
"She laid the photograph before me, and, indeed, you could hear Vincenzo laughing. The merry handsome face was thrown back, with mouth half open.
"'And such news!' she said. 'He has done better than ever this year, and has bought a piece of land, or he would have sent even more money home. And at the end——' she turned over the sheets, 'at the end he writes in English, which he is learning. What does it mean, Signor?'
"This is what Vincenzo had written:
"'My corrospondence must now stopp, my Teresina, but never stopps my love for you. Across the sea come my kisses, O my Teresina, and from the Heart of your Vincenzo. I kiss my corrospondence, and I put it in the envelop.'
"I translated this and turned to the dim-eyed Teresina.
"'And that is better than all the money,' she said.
"Then she became suddenly conscious that she was carrying my trousers, which she was brushing when the knock of the postman came.
"'Dio! What a slut is Teresina!' she exclaimed. 'Scusi, Signor.'