"We shall meet again—soon, cara mia."
"I know—in Heaven," cried Stella, refusing to be comforted.
"We shall find you again, child, never fear," said Yvonne.
Stella's eyes brightened. "Then you will return?"
Yvonne patted her cheek softly.
"Have I not said I will see you again, carissima?" she finished.
After supper Philidor went forth and bought supplies which were packed securely upon Clarissa, together with Philidor's knapsack and other personal belongings. Hermia changed her gay apparel for a shirtwaist and dark skirt, and when dusk fell, after a reconnaissance by Luigi, the back of the canvas barrier was raised and the trio quietly departed and were swallowed up in the shadows of a back street.
The weather so far still favored them, but the night was murky and high overhead the clouds were flying fast. Their road, and they chose the first one which led them forth of the town, wound up between a row of hedges and pollard trees to an eminence form which, when they paused for breath, they had a view of the lights of the town. The manège whirled and the barrel organ still wheezed its thin thread of sound across the still air. The Homme Sauvage was roaring again and the deep voice of Cleofonte, their late partner and companion, was heard at intervals in his familiar plaint. There was a fascination in the lights and in the medley of noises—each of which had come to possess an interest and a personality—for behind them were the pale road and the inhospitable darkness.
"It seems a pity to leave them," said Hermia, thinking of Stella, "when we were doing so well. I shall regret the roulotte."
John Markham smiled.