“That will be good of you,” she murmured gratefully. She added, “Perhaps Cristina will put the few things I have out in my room in my trunk. It was arranged that the carriage which brings your father and mother back from the station should come on to the Home.”
“Yes, that will be quite all right!” said Beppo cheerfully. “But, Lily, only one thing troubles me—are you fit for that further big walk?”
“Yes, I am quite fit for it,” said Lily.
She straightened herself, already feeling better and calmer. And, as she walked slowly on, she told herself how amazed she would have been two days ago had an angel descended from heaven and told her that a time would soon, very soon, come when her heart would be filled, not only with affectionate gratitude, but also with the deepest pity, towards Beppo Polda.
Then she strove to fix her mind on the real foundation for her wild, disordered thoughts and horrible suspicions. She longed to be alone, free to think things over. But still, deep in her heart, she felt she knew now that the Count and Countess Polda were cold-blooded murderers....
It was impossible for Beppo Polda to remain silent for any length of time, and during that last half-hour they spent together he talked a great deal, trying to tell Lily things that he thought would interest her about his English friends in Rome. And she answered him with a word now and again, her heart wrung with pain for the man by her side, as there crowded on her memory many of the little scenes of the last ten days—Aunt Cosy’s pride and delight in her handsome, good-humoured, attractive son—Beppo’s pretty, caressing ways to his mother and to Cristina.
Cristina? Lily remembered the old woman’s strange and awful self-accusations. Cristina surely—surely was a good woman?
“Beppo,” she said suddenly, “I wish you would tell me something about Cristina.”
“About Cristina?” To her surprise he looked disturbed and uncomfortable. “What is it you want to know, Lily?”
“What sort of people did she come from originally? She is so unlike what I should have supposed servants of her class in Italy or France to be.”