“Without any one but herself seeing you do it?”
“Oh, yes, sir!”
“Then, little darling of my eyes and heart, will you take this to her?” said Vittorio, handing his prepared letter to the little girl.
“Yes, indeed, I will, sir! and nobody shall know anything about it but Miss Goldsborough,” answered the child, with her countenance all radiant with the delight of delighting, as she hid the letter in her bosom.
“I shall be here this evening, when the school is dismissed, waiting to see you. Will you bring me the answer to that letter?”
“Oh, yes, indeed, sir, that I will, if she writes it and gives it to me.”
“Thanks, little Seraph! And now look here! here are some delicious French bonbons—whole boxes full of them. Take them, my dear, and share them with your schoolmates,” said Vittorio, emptying his pockets of their sweet contents.
CHAPTER XX.
SUCCESS IN THE CHASE.
Alberta Goldsborough had been a pupil in the convent school for somewhat more than four months. In all that time she had not once heard from her lover. She bore her trial with great stoicism, disdaining to complain, and doing all that was required of her with quiet indifference. She made no friends either among the teachers or the pupils. She was, as the little girl described her to be, proud and still. She felt sure that some time or other Vittorio would, with his Italian craft, succeed in discovering her retreat and effecting her deliverance. And she calmly awaited the time.
Julie McKnight, the little girl whom Vittorio had intrusted with the letter to his ladylove, watched all the afternoon for an opportunity of delivering it to Miss Goldsborough. Chance favored her. She was sent by her class mistress into one of the small music-rooms to practice her lesson on the piano. As she passed on the long hall, flanked on each side by a row of such rooms, she saw the door of one of them open and Miss Goldsborough seated at the piano. The child cast a hurried look up and down the hall, and, seeing no one near, she slipped in and thrust the letter into Alberta’s hands, whispering eagerly: