No! no! he no longer loved her! He no longer desired her! He rose and went away without uttering a word.

At the end of the street he turned back, leaned against her door, and called—

"Margherita!"

But the door remained shut.

[23]A local expression meaning, "nothing but what I wear."

[IX]

"September 20th. Midnight.

"Your behaviour last night has finally revealed your character. I should suppose it needless to declare that all is over between us, were it not that you take my silence for a sign of humiliating expectancy. Good-bye, then, for ever.

M."

"P.S. I wish my letters returned, and I'll send you yours."