After a prolonged silence he stirred, and stretched a thin hand to touch the girl’s head.
“Go and rest awhile, my Tacita!” he said. “I will recall thee. Go, Elena. I will recall thee.”
The two rose at once and went out of the room, hand in hand, closing the door.
“I charge thee to let the girl alone!” Professor Mora exclaimed the moment they were gone.
The young man started.
“This is no time for idle compliments,” the other pursued with a certain vehemence. “I know that thou hast taken a fancy to Tacita because she is beautiful and good. She is of a tender nature, and may have some leaning toward thee. I should have been a more jealous guardian of both.”
“I know that my mother has been here to-day,” Don Claudio said bitterly.
“Thy mother is a worldly woman,” the old man replied. “But in this she is right. Marry the girl they have chosen for thee. It is not in thy nature, boy, to be immovable and persistent in rebellion even against manifest injustice. Thy protest would be the passion of a moment. They would wear out thy courage and endurance. But even with their consent, Tacita is not for thee. I forbid it! Dost thou hear, Don Claudio Loredan? I forbid it!”
“You seemed to like me!” Don Claudio exclaimed reproachfully.
The professor moved his hand toward the speaker. “I love thee, Claudio. But that makes no difference. He who would have Tacita must live even as I have, without luxury or splendor, striving to learn what human life means, and following the best law that his soul knows.”