e.

"That's nothing," he said, "nothing at all _now_."

Last night he had dreamed a dream. He thought he was a strong man again,
with his children about him, and beholden to no one. How happy he had
been! But when he awoke, and found it was not true, and that he was old
and feeble, he felt that he could hear it no longer.

"I'm in the way and taking the food of the children, so it can't last
long, Eccellenza," he said in a tremulous voice, smiling with his
toothless mouth, and nodding slightly as he went away.

In the uneasy depths of Roma's soul only one thing was now certain. Her
husband was in danger, and he must not attempt to cross the frontier.
Yet how was he to be prevented? The difficulty was enormous. If only
Rossi had replied to her letter by telegram, as she had asked him to do,
she might have found some means of communication. At length an idea
occurred to her, and she sat down to write a letter.

"Dearest," she wrote, while her eyes shone with a kind of delirium
and tears trickled down her cheeks, "I am very ill, and as you
cannot come to me I must go to you. Don't think me too weak and
womanish, after all my solemn promises to be so strong and brave.
But I can only live by love, dearest, and your absence is more
than I can bear. You will think I ought to be content with your
letters, and certainly they have been very sweet and dear to me;
but they are so few, and they come at such long intervals, and now
they seem to have stopped altogether. Perhaps at the bottom of my
selfish heart, too, I think your letters might be a wee bit more
lover-like, but then men don't write real love letters, and nearly
every woman would confess, if she told the truth, and she is a
little disappointed in that regard.

"I know my husband has other things to think about, great things,
high and noble aims and objects, but I am only a woman in spite of
my loud pretences, and I must be loved, or I shall die. Not that I
am afraid of dying, because I know that if I die I shall be with
you in a moment, and this cruel separation will be at an end. But
I want to live, and I'm certain I shall begin to feel better after
I have passed a few moments at your side. So I shall pack up
immediately and start away on the wings of the morning.

"Don't be alarmed if you find me looking pale and thin and old and
ugly. How could I be anything else when t