"You would like her to think that?"
Maurice denied it vigorously, but Gaspare only shook his head and said:
"I know, I know. Girls are nicest when they think that, because they are pleased and they want us to go on. You think I see nothing, signorino, but I saw it all in Maddalena's face. Per Dio!"
And he laughed aloud, with the delight of a boy who has discovered something, and feels that he is clever and a man. And Maurice laughed too, not without a pride that was joyous. The heart of his youth, the wild heart, bounded within him, and the glory of the sun, and the passionate blue of the sea seemed suddenly deeper, more intense, more sympathetic, as if they felt with him, as if they knew the rapture of youth, as if they were created to call it forth, to condone its carelessness, to urge it to some almost fierce fulfilment.
"Salvatore is there, signorino."
"How do you know?"
"I saw the smoke from his pipe. Look, there it is again!"
A tiny trail of smoke curled up; and faded in the blue.
"I will go first because of Maddalena. Girls are silly. If I do this at her she will understand. If not she may show her father you have been here before."
He closed one eye in a large and expressive wink.