"What!" I cried; "am I to leave you thus? for how long a time must I eat my heart out in this horrible uncertainty?"
"Come to the park to-night," she said; "the wall is not very high. I will be in the narrow path that runs by the wall, near a statue which you will easily find by turning to your right from the gate. At one o'clock!"
Again I kissed the signora's hands.
"Oh! signora! signora!" exclaimed Lila, in a mild, sad tone of reproach.
"Do not thwart me, Lila," said the signora, vehemently; "you know what I told you this morning."
Lila seemed utterly dismayed.
"What did the signora say?" I asked her.
"She wanted to kill herself," sobbed Lila.
"Kill yourself, signora!" I cried. "You who are so lovely, so light-hearted, so happy, so dearly loved!"
"So dearly loved, Lelio!" she replied, in a despairing tone. "By whom am I loved, pray? only by my poor mother and by this dear Lila."