"No doubt she took my look of surprise for consent, for she opened the inner door and called out up the dark stairs which I could not see:
"'Carlotta! Carlotta! come down, quickly, my dear child.'
"I tried to protest, but she would not listen.
"'No; she will be very glad to go with you; she is very nice, and much more cheerful than her sister, and she is a good girl, a very good girl, whom I love very much.'
"I heard the clatter of slippers on the stairs, and a tall, slender, dark girl appeared, also with her hair hanging down, and whose youthful figure showed unmistakably beneath an old dress of her mother.
"The latter at once told her how matters stood.
"'This is Francesca's Frenchman, you know, the one whom she knew last year. He is quite alone, and has come to look for her, poor fellow; so I told him that you would go with him to keep him company.'
"The girl looked at me with her handsome dark eyes, and said, smiling:
"'I have no objection, if he wishes it.'
"I could not possibly refuse, and merely said: