“I will have anything to please you,” assented Caterina, to avoid discussion.
“Send an ice for me, Alberto.”
“In this cold weather? I shiver to think of it.”
“I am burning; feel my hand.” And she put the poor creature’s finger in the opening of her glove. “Now, go and send me an ice at once. Take care of draughts.... That poor Alberto is not long for this life,” she added, addressing Caterina, when he was gone.
“Why not?”
“He is threatened with consumption. His mother and two sisters died of it. Don’t you see how thin he is?”
“Then don’t be cruel to him.”
“I? Why, I’m devotedly attached to him. I sympathise with suffering of every kind. All the people about me are sickly creatures.”
“Andrea would say that such an atmosphere cannot but be injurious to your health.”
“Oh! how strong your Andrea is! That is what I call strength. You saw to-day that he was the strongest of them all. But he never comes to see me.”