"What is it, signora?"
"Nothing—only—I've walked so fast. Wait one minute!"
She felt the agony of his impatience, and it seemed to her that she was treating him very cruelly to-night.
"You know, Gaspare," she said, "it's not easy for women—this rough walking, I mean. We've got our skirts."
She laughed. How unnatural, how horrible her laugh sounded in the darkness! He did not say any more. She knew he was wondering why she had laughed like that. After a moment she let go the branch. But her legs were trembling, and she stumbled when she began to walk on.
"Signora, you are tired already. You had better let me go alone."
For the first time she told him a lie.
"I should be afraid to wait here all by myself in the night," she said. "I couldn't do that."
"Who would come?"
"I should be frightened."