“Fear nothing; I will not say another word. Come to yourself, I beseech you. If you care for me at all, come to yourself. Shall we go to the cattle-show? It is crowded. You will be safe there. Will you come?”
“Lead me where you please,” she replied faintly, while her bosom heaved and her nostrils quivered in the struggle for breath.
They did not exchange a word on the way. They met several persons, who, seeing Andrea with a lady, bowed profoundly to him. Two young men made whispered remarks to each other.
“They take me for your wife.”
“Do not say that to me, I entreat you.”
“You are not brave, Signor Lieti; you are afraid to hear the truth.”
“You have called me your friend....”
“Do you wish to make me repent it?”
“Oh! don’t torment me. Dialectics are your strong point; your thoughts are deep, weird, and often too cruel for me to fathom. I am at your mercy. You invest me, you capture me, and then you torture me. Remember that I am a child, an ignorant child—a child all muscle and no imagination. Spare me.”
He raised his hand to his collar as if he were choking; while he spoke, the tears had gathered in his eyes and voice.