"Oh, Herbert," she cried, "that you should think it of me, when I love you as though my heart would break!"
With a movement that would have cost him a painful effort at any other time, Arden rose and clasped her to him and tried to soothe her, caressing her thick black hair, and kissing her forehead tenderly, with a sort of passionate reverence that was his own, and speaking such words as came to his lips in the deep emotion of the moment.
"Forgive me, darling, how could I hurt you? Laura—sweetheart Laura—beloved—do not cry—I know it now—I shall never think of it again. No, dear, no—there, say you have forgiven me!"
"Forgiven you, dear—what is there to forgive?" She looked up with streaming eyes.
"Everything, love—those tears of yours, first of all—"
She dried her eyes and made him sit down again before she spoke, looking out of the window at the flowers.
"It is not your fault," she said at last. "I have not shown you how I love yet—that is all. But I will, soon."
"You have shown it already, dear—far more than you know."
The world might have been surprised could it have seen the two together—the tipsy cripple, as it called Arden, and the girl who loved Francesco Savelli, as it unhesitatingly denominated Laura. It would have been a little surprised at first, and then, on mature reflection, it would have said that it was all a comedy, and that both acted it very well. Was it not natural that Arden should want a pretty wife and that Laura should take any husband that presented himself, since she could get no better? And in that case why should not each act a comedy to gain the other's hand? The world did that sort of thing every day, and what the world did Arden and Laura could very well afford to do; and after all, it was not of the slightest importance, since they were both going away, so why should one talk about them? The answer to that last question is so very hard to find that it may be left to those who put it. Donna Adele seemed satisfied, and that was the principal consideration for the present.
"My poor sister!" she exclaimed to Ghisleri one day.