They quietly moved away from the more crowded part of the garden, walking silently side by side, till they came to a long walk covered by the interlacing branches of ilex trees. Another couple was walking at some distance before them. Orsino glanced down at Vittoria, and tried to say something, but it was not easy. He had not realised how the mere sight of her stirred him, until he found himself speechless when he wished to say many things.
'You are suffering,' he said softly, at last. 'What is it?'
'You know,' she answered. 'What is the use of talking about it? I have said all—but tell me only when you are going.'
'To-morrow morning. I shall be back in a fortnight.'
'You will never come back,' said Vittoria, in a dull and hopeless tone.
She spoke with such conviction that Orsino was silent for a moment. He had not the smallest belief in any danger, but he did not know how to argue with her.
'I have thought it all over,' she went on. 'If you try to live there, you will certainly be killed. But if you only go once, there is a chance—a poor, miserable, little chance. Let them think that you are coming up from Piedimonte, by way of Randazzo. It is above Randazzo that the black lands begin, all lava and ashes, with deep furrows in which a man can lie hidden to shoot. That is where they will try to kill you. Go the other way, round by Catania. It is longer, but they will not expect you, and you can get a guide. They may not find out that you have changed your plan. If they should know it, they could kill you even more easily on that side, in the narrow valley; but they need not know it.'
'Nothing will happen to me on either side,' said Orsino carelessly.
Vittoria bent her head and walked on in silence beside him.
'I did not wish to talk about all that,' he continued. 'There are much more important things. When I come back we must be married soon—'