"Laurent!" exclaimed Thérèse, sternly.
"Yes, yes, don't be afraid, my dear, I am perfectly calm. Don't you know that all I need now is a glance from you, to obey with joy? Call the boat! Come, it is all over! I am calm, I am content! Give me your hand, Thérèse. Remember, I have not asked you for a single kiss in these three days we have been together! I only ask you for this loyal hand. Do you remember the day you said to me: 'Never forget that before being your mistress, I was your friend!'—Well, it is as you wished: I am no longer anything to you, but I am yours forever!"
He jumped into the boat, thinking that Thérèse would remain on the island, and that the boat would return for her when he had been put aboard the Ferruccio; but she jumped in after him. She wanted to make sure, she said, that the servant who was to accompany Laurent, and who should have gone aboard with the luggage at Spezzia, had forgotten nothing that his master needed for the voyage.
So she took advantage of the brief stop the little steamer made at Porto Venere to go aboard with Laurent. Vicentino, the servant in question, awaited them. He was a trustworthy man, selected by Monsieur Palmer, it will be remembered. Thérèse took him aside.
"You have your master's purse, have you not?" she said. "I know that he told you to look after all the expenses of the trip. How much money did he give you?"
"Two hundred Florentine lire, signora; but I think that he has his wallet with him."
Thérèse had examined Laurent's pockets while he slept. She had found the wallet, and knew that it was almost empty. Laurent had spent a large amount in Florence; the expenses of his illness had been very considerable. He had placed the remainder of his little fortune in Palmer's hands, bidding him make up the accounts, and he had not glanced at them. In money matters, Laurent was a genuine child, who knew the value of nothing at all outside of France, not even the comparative value of the coins of the different Italian provinces. The amount he had handed to Vicentino seemed to him enough to last a long while, but it was not enough to reach the frontier for a man who had not the slightest idea of prudence.
Thérèse gave Vicentino all the money that she had in Italy, not even retaining what she herself would require for a few days; for, seeing that Laurent was coming toward her, she had no time to take one or two gold pieces from the roll which she slipped hurriedly into the servant's hand, saying:
"This is what he had in his pockets; he is very absent-minded, and prefers that you should take charge of it."
And she turned to the artist to exchange a last grasp of the hand. She deceived him this time without remorse. He had been distressed and irritated once before when she wished to pay his debts; now, she was no more than a mother to him, and she had the right to do as she was doing.