"Go! You can be of no assistance here."
I glanced at my mother's eyes. She seemed restless, anxious, compassionate.
"Yes, Tullio," she said. "It will be better for you to go. Federico is downstairs waiting for you."
I looked at Juliana. Without concerning herself with the others present, she fixed on me her large eyes, which were animated with an extraordinary brilliancy. They expressed all the passion of a despairing soul.
"I will not leave the adjoining room," I declared resolutely, without removing my gaze from Juliana.
As I turned to go out I noticed the midwife disposing the pillows on the bed of pain, on the bed of misery, and I shuddered as if from a breath of death.
XXXI.
It was between four and five o'clock in the morning. The pains had lasted until then, with a few intermissions of relief. I was lying on the lounge in the adjoining room, and about three o'clock sleep had overcome me unexpectedly. Cristina awoke me; she told me that Juliana wished to see me.
My eyes still heavy from sleep, I started to my feet.
"Was I asleep? What has happened?"