"I like being here."
"Why do you want to stay?"
For once Maurice felt as if he could not meet the boy's great, steady eyes frankly. He looked away.
"I like the sun," he answered. "I love it! I should like to live in the sunshine forever."
"And I should like to live always in London," reiterated Gaspare. "You want to live here because you have always been in London, and I want to live in London because I have always been here. Ecco!"
Maurice tried to laugh.
"Perhaps that is it. We wish for what we can't have. Dio mio!"
He threw out his arms.
"But, anyhow, I've not done with Sicily yet! Come on, Gaspare! Now for the rocks! Ciao! Ciao! Ciao! Morettina bella ciao!"
He burst out into a song, but his voice hardly rang true, and Gaspare looked at him again with a keen inquiry.