en the voice was near, had not Maurice seemed near to her? And when
it died away, did not he fade with it--fade until the Ionian waters took
him?

She sat up in the darkness until long after the song was hushed. But she
heard it still in the whisper of the sea.

CHAPTER XXI

The Marchesino had really been unwell, as he had told Hermione.
The Panacci disposition, of which he had once spoken to Artois, was
certainly not a calm one, and Isidoro, was, perhaps, the most excitable
member of an abundantly excitable family. Although changeable, he was
vehement. He knew not the meaning of the word patience, and had always
been accustomed to get what he wanted exactly when he wanted it. Delay
in the gratification of his desires, opposition to his demands, rendered
him as indignant as if he were a spoiled child unable to understand the
fixed position and function of the moon. And since the night of his
vain singing along the shore to the Nisida he had been ill with fever,
brought on by jealousy and disappointment, brought on partly also by the
busy workings of a heated imagination which painted his friend Emilio in
colors of inky black.

The Marchesino had not the faintest doubt that Artois was in love with
Vere. He believed this not from any evidence of his eyes, for, even now,
in not very lucid moments, he could not recall any occasion on which he
had seen Emilio paying court to the pretty English girl. But, then, he
had only seen them together twice--on the night of his first visit to
the island and on the night of the storm. It was the general conduct of
his friend that convinced him, conduct in connection not with Vere, but
with himself--apart from that one occasion when Emilio must have lain
hidden with Vere among the shadows of the grotto of Virgil. He had been
deceived by Emilio. He had thought of him as an intellectual, who was
also a bon vivant and interested in Neapolitan life. But he had not
thought of him as a libertine. Yet that was what he certainly was. The
interview with Maria Fortunata in the alley beyond the Via Roma had
quite convinced the Marchesino. He had no objection whatever to loose
conduct, but he had a contempt for hypocrisy which was strong and
genuine. He had trusted Emilio. Now he distrusted him, and was ready to
see subtlety, deceit, and guile in all his undertakings.

Emilio had been trying to play with him. Emilio looked upon him as a boy
who knew nothing of the world. The difference in t