As Nobili spoke, his voice sounded changed. He waited for an answer with a look as if he had been wronged. Enrica's answer did not come immediately. She felt frightened.
"Oh! why," she thought, "had she mentioned Marescotti's name?" Nobili was angry with her—she was sure he was angry with her.
"I met him at my aunt's one evening," she said at last, gathering courage as she stole her little hand into one of his, and knit her fingers tightly within his own. "We went up into the Guinigi Tower together. There were dear old Trenta and Baldassare Lena with us."
"Indeed!" replied Nobili, coldly. "I did not know that the Marchesa
Guinigi ever received young men."
As Nobili said this he fixed his eyes upon Enrica's face. What could he read there but assurance of the perfect innocence within? Yet the name of Count Marescotti had grated upon his ear like a discord clashing among sweet sounds. He shook the feeling off, however, for the time. Again he was her gracious lover.
"Tell me, love," he said, drawing Enrica to him, "did you hear my signal last night?—the shot I fired below, out of the woods?"
"Yes, I heard a shot. Something told me it must be you. I thought I should have died when I heard my aunt order Adamo to unloose those dreadful dogs. How did you escape them?"
"The cunning beasts! They were upon my track. How I did it in the darkness I cannot tell, but I managed to scramble down the cliff and to reach the opposite mountain. The chasm was then between us. So the dogs lost the scent upon the rocks, and missed me. I left Lucca almost as soon as you. Trenta told me that the marchesa had brought you here because you would not give me up. Dear heart, how I grieved that I had brought suffering on you!"
He seized her hand and pressed it to his lips, then continued:
"As long as it was day, I prowled about under the cliffs in the shadow of the chasm. I watched the stars come out. There was one star that shone brightly above the tower; to me that star was you, Enrica. I could have knelt to it."