Her mother examined her from head to foot, and, after finding everything right, she said:
"Now, my children, you can go." Then turning to the girl, she said: "Be sure you are back by ten o'clock to-night; you know the door is locked then." The answer was:
"All right, mamma; don't alarm yourself."
She took my arm, and we went wandering about the streets, just as I had done the previous year with her sister.
We returned to the hotel for lunch, and then I took my new friend to Santa Margarita, just as I had done with her sister the year previously.
And she did not go home that night, although the door was to be closed at ten o'clock!
During the whole fortnight which I had at my disposal I took Carlotta to all the places of interest in and about Genoa. She gave me no cause to regret the other.
She cried when I left her, and the morning of my departure I gave her four bracelets for her mother, besides a substantial token of my affection for herself.
One of these days I intend to return to Italy, and I cannot help remembering, with a certain amount of uneasiness, mingled with hope, that Mme. Rondoli has two more daughters.