"Bene!" he said, smiling and showing his white teeth; "it is as I said it would be. Il marito has said 'Depart,' and you, my Lucrezia, have come back to the faithful one. Ah, che gioja! We will now leave this fog land and go to my beautiful Italy--dolce Napoli. The waiting is over, cara mia. You are to me at last, ah felicita!"
"You go too fast, my friend," replied Mrs. Belswin, with a cold look of disapproval on her expressive face. "Do you think I will marry a coward?"
"I am no coward! If a man to me dared to speak the word I would show him I am Italian. It is your eyes--your evil eyes--that make me afraid. But you will not be cruel to me again, bellissima," he added, in a caressing tone. "You have come to say, 'I love thee.'"
"Listen, Stephano," said Mrs. Belswin, rising to her feet and crossing to the Italian. "I wish to tell you what he said. No! do not touch me! Wait! I saw my husband. He spoke cruelly to me; he made me leave his house--yes, turned me out like a dog!"
"Cospetto!"
"Ah, that stirs your blood! I see your eyes flash! Can you see me--the woman you love--treated in this manner? No! I am sure you love me too much. You are Italian! You have a strong arm and a warm heart! Is it not so?"
"But what wish you, Signora?"
"Kill him!"
She had caught the Italian by the coat with her two hands, and her face was so close to his own that he felt her hot breath on his pale cheek. With a gesture of alarm he shrank away, and was about to speak, but she prevented him.
"You are afraid of the law," she went on hurriedly. "Do not be afraid. Listen! He--that man I hate--the man who has treated me like a dog--is in a room with open windows that lead on a terrace. Go there without noise--wait in the shadow. Within all is light--without all is darkness. Draw him to the window by some trick. When his figure is in the light, shoot him with this!"