u?"

"Si, Signora. But the Signorina is growing up now, and she is a little
Sicilian anyhow, Signora."

He paused, looking steadily at his Padrona.

"What is it, Gaspare? What do you want to say to me?"

"Signora, perhaps you will say it is not my business, but in my country
we do not let girls go about by themselves after they are sixteen. We
know it is better not. Ecco!"

Hermione had some difficulty in not smiling. But she knew that if she
smiled he might be offended. So she kept her countenance and said:

"What do you mean, Gaspare? The Signorina is nearly always with me."

"No, Signora. The Signorina can go wherever she likes. She can speak to
any one she pleases. She is free as a boy is free."

"Certainly she is free. I wish her to be free."

"Va bene, Signora, va bene."

A cloud came over his face, and he moved as if to go. But Hermione
stopped him.

"Wait a minute, Gaspare. I want you to understand. I like your care
for the Signorina. You know I trust you and depend on you more than on
almost any one. But you must remember that I am English, and in England,
you know, things in some ways are very different from what they are in
Sicily. Any English girl would be allowed the freedom of the Signorina."

"Why?"

"Why not? What harm does it do? The Signorina does not go to Naples
alone."

"Per Dio!" he interrupted, in a tone almost of horror.

"Of course I should never allow that. But here on the island--why, what
could happen to her here? Come, Gaspare, tell me what it is you are
thinking of. You haven't told me yet. I knew directly you came in that
you had something you wanted to say. What is it?"

"I know it is not my business," he said. "And I should never speak to
the Signorina, but--"

"Well, Gaspare?"

"Signora, all sorts of people come here to the island--men from Naples.
We do not know them. We cannot tell who they are. And they can all see
the Signorina. And they can even talk to her."

"The fishermen, you mean?"

"Any one who comes in a boat."

"Well, but scarcely any one ever comes but the fishermen. You know
that."

"Oh, it was all very well when the Signorina was a little girl, a child,
Signora," he said, almost hotly. "But now it is different. It is quite
different."

Suddenly Hermione understood. She remembered what Vere had said about
Gaspare being jealous. He must certainly be thinking of the boy-diver,
of Ruffo.

"You think the Signorina oughtn't to talk to the fishe