"Non lo so."
"Oh, Gaspare!" she exclaimed. "Don't—don't be like this to-night. Do you know that you are frightening me?"
He did not answer.
"What is the matter with you? What has been the matter with you all day?"
"Niente."
His voice was hard, and he fell behind again.
Hermione knew that he was concealing something from her. She wondered what it was. It must be something surely in connection with his anxiety. Her mind worked rapidly. Maurice—the sea—bathing—Gaspare's fear—Maurice and Gaspare had bathed together often while she had been in Africa.
"Gaspare," she said. "Walk beside me—I wish it."
He came up reluctantly.
"You've bathed with the padrone lately?"