"Gaspare!" said the doctor. "Where is the padrona?"
The boy sobbed and sobbed, always in the same dry and terribly mechanical way.
"Gaspare!" repeated the doctor, touching him. "Gaspare!"
"E' morto!" the boy suddenly cried out, in a loud voice.
And he flung himself down on the ground.
The doctor felt a thrill of cold in his veins. He went up the steps into the little sitting-room. As he did so Hermione came to the door of the bedroom. Her dripping skirts clung about her. She looked quite calm. Without greeting the doctor she said, quietly:
"You heard what Gaspare said?"
"Si, signora, ma—"
The doctor stopped, staring at her. He began to feel almost dazed. The fishermen had followed him and stood crowding together on the steps and staring into the room.
"He is dead. I am sorry you came all this way."