“Yes. She loves being here. You talked to her to-night, didn’t you?”
“Si, Signora.”
“And to Gaspare?”
“Si, Signora. And this afternoon, too. Gaspare was at Mergellina this afternoon.”
“And you met there, did you?”
“Si, Signora. I had been with my mamma, and when I left my mamma—poveretta—I met Gaspare.”
“I hope your mother is well.”
“Signora, she is not very well just now. She is a little sad just now.”
Hermione felt that the boy had some trouble which, perhaps, he would like to tell her. Perhaps some instinct made him know that she felt tender towards him, very tender that night.
“I am sorry for that,” she said—“very sorry.”