“Signora, I do not know.”
“But surely—didn’t you ask whom she meant?”
“No, Signora. I told my mamma Don Gaspare had never said that. She was crying. And so I did not say anything more.”
Hermione still held his arm for a moment. Then her hand dropped down.
Ruffo was looking at her steadily with his bright and searching eyes.
“Signora, do you know what she meant?”
“I! How can I tell, Ruffo? I have never seen your mother. How can I know what she meant?”
“No, Signora.”
Again there was a silence. Then Hermione said:
“I should like to see your mother, Ruffo.”