Something made Donna Micaela look up. She was standing in the cloister garden, and a window was thrown open in one of the buildings above her. Donna Micaela saw a middle-aged man of an attractive appearance standing up there and looking down at her.
“There he is, Donna Micaela,” said Gandolfo.
She was happy. She felt as if she had redeemed and saved the man. And it was more than that. People who have no imagination will not understand it. But Donna Micaela trembled and longed all day; she considered how she would be dressed. It was as if she had expected Gaetano.
Donna Micaela soon had something else to do than to dream; the livelong day a succession of calamities streamed over her.
The first was a communication from the old Etna brigand, Falco Falcone:—
Dear friend, Donna Micaela,—As I have heard that you intend to build a railway along Etna, I wish to tell you that with my consent it will never be. I tell you this now so that you need not waste any more money and trouble on the matter.
Enlightened and most nobly born signora, I remain
Your humble servant,
Falco Falcone.