"I have got to go away—I have got to go to my home, in Austria. I have come to bid you good-bye," Maria Dolores answered.
Annunziata's eyes were dark with pain. "Oh," she said, in a voice of deep dismay.
"We shan't be separated long, though," Maria Dolores promised. "I have asked your uncle to lend you to me. As soon as you are strong enough to travel, you are coming to Austria to pay me a long visit. Then I will come back with you to Sant' Alessina. And then—well, wherever I go you will always go with me. For of course I can never live happily again without you."
"One moment, please," put in John. "Here is a small difficulty. I can never live happily without her, either. I also have asked her uncle to lend her to me. And wherever I go, she is always to go with me. How are we to adjust our rival claims?"
Annunziata's eyes lighted up.
"Oh, that will be easy enough," she pointed out. "You will have to go everywhere together."