The conquest of Rome

by Matilde Serao

'And shall you really never come back?'

'I will come back.'

'Oh yes, you say so, but you will not come!' he exclaimed in deep agitation, and totally carried away by this idea. 'Why deceive me? You are going away, and I shall never see you here again. I have a presentiment of it; I feel it in me!'

'I shall come back—I shall come back,' she assured him, with that gentle, firm voice that had the power of assuring him. And to reassure him she allowed the freshness of a smile to dwell on him for a moment, the serenity of her glance.

This calmed and appeased him.

'Promise me, then, that you will come back. Will you promise?'

'I promise you.'

'For the sake of the thing or person interesting you most in the whole world?'

'For the sake of the thing or person interesting me most in the whole world, I promise you.'