"Back to fight," the Captain replied, "and perhaps I shall be gone for a long, long time, and of course, while I am gone I shall expect you to take care of your sister."
"Oh, Lucia can take care of herself," Beppi laughed, "she always has, and of Nana and me, too, but I'll be good if you say so, only can't I go down to the shore once in a while?"
"Of course, darling," Lucia answered for the Captain, "but you must tell Nana where you are going."
"No, I will tell you I think," Beppi said gravely.
The Captain got up and he walked beside him to the house. There was a chance that the bright sword might be taken from its chamois case, and Beppi never missed a chance of seeing it if he could help it.
Lucia, left alone in the garden, looked out over the low wall to the west. The bay of Naples stretched out blue and glistening in the last rays of the sun, and the gray of the old house took on a soft pink tint.
"It is a fairy palace, I believe." Lucia buried her face in her basket and whispered to the flowers.
"I wonder if it will disappear when my fairy godfather goes away, or if it will stay and be ours to keep for him until he comes back, for he must come back, he must, he must, he must," she finished almost angrily.