d on the
point where the path from Cadate turns into the Calcinera. No movement
of thought was going on within her. Her whole soul was watching and
waiting, that was all. People passed her on the left going up to
Albogasio or coming down, but each time she inclined her umbrella so
that she was hidden from view, so that they might not recognise her,
thus avoiding greetings and conversations.

At last a group of people appeared at the bend of the path. Luisa could
distinguish the litter, and behind the litter Pasotti and Don Giuseppe,
and the Marchesa's boatmen bringing up the rear. Still she did not move,
but followed the litter with her eyes as it slowly advanced. Presently
she closed her umbrella, for the rain had almost ceased. Five or six
children from Albogasio reappeared. She ordered them off sharply. They
hesitated to obey, but a sudden downpour of rain, unaccompanied by wind
or thunder, put them to flight. The litter had now reached the foot of
the steps. Luisa moved forward.

Her eyes glittered coldly, and she held herself very erect. Absorbed in
one thought, she heeded not at all the pelting rain, which beat upon
her head and shoulders, which surrounded her with a misty veil and loud
noise. Perhaps she was glad of this outburst of passion in the elements,
which was in keeping with the passion within her. She went slowly down,
clasping the handle of her closed umbrella very tightly, as if it had
been the handle of a weapon. There is a somewhat sharp bend in the
stairway, and the bottom is not visible until this bend is reached. Upon
arriving there she saw the litter had stopped. The two boatmen were
taking the places of two of the bearers.

Luisa went down as far as the spot where a great walnut-tree spreads its
branches above the stairs. Here she stopped just as the Marchesa's
bearers began coming upwards. Everything was as Luisa wished. Pasotti
and Don Giuseppe, bringing up the rear with open umbrellas, could not
see her. The bearers, on reaching the spot where she stood, would be
obliged to stop to let her pass.

As they drew nearer she recognised the two who carried the front of the
litter; one was Ismaele's brother, the other a cousin of Veronica's.
When they were within a yard or two of her she ordered them, by an
imperious gesture, to stop. They obeyed at once, and set the litter
down, the two other bearers doing the same without knowing why. Pasotti
raised his umbrella, and seeing Luisa, made a movem