"I know!" she whispered. "You haven't forgotten!"
She was alluding to that morning on the terrace when he came up from the fishing. They loosed their hands. Gaspare set the clock playing again.
"What a beauty!" Hermione said, glad to hide her emotion for a moment till she and Maurice could be alone. "What a marvel! Where did you find it, Gaspare—at the fair?"
"Si, signora!"
Solemnly he handed it, still playing brightly, to his padrona, just a little reluctantly, perhaps, but very gallantly.
"It is for you, signora."
"A present—oh, Gaspare!"
Again her voice was veiled. She put out her hand and touched the boy's hand.
"Grazie! How sweetly it plays! You thought of me!"
There was a silence till the tune was finished. Then Maurice said: