will have it so, or to come again if you will. But if you do not
open the window, I will come twice again at the same hour, to-morrow and
the night after that, and wait for you till dawn.'

Ortensia turned from him without speaking and went out into the covered
loggia. It was her instinct to look at the place where he was to be, and
for the moment she could not answer him, for she did not know what to
say; she herself could not have told whether she was angry or pleased,
she only felt that something new was happening to her. Her mood had
changed again in a few seconds.

He followed her to the threshold of the window, and stood behind her in
the flood of sunshine, so near that he could whisper in her ear and be
heard.

'There is love between us,' he said. 'We have seen it in each other's
eyes ever since we first met, we have heard it in one another's voices
every day! I will not leave you without saying it for us both, just as
much for you as for myself! But I must say it all many times, and I must
hear it from you too. Therefore I shall be here an hour before midnight
to wait, and you will come, and you will open the window when you see
me standing outside, and we shall be together! And if you will, we need
never part again, for the world is as wide as heaven itself, for those
who love to find a safe resting-place.'

She raised one hand as if to stop him, without turning round. While he
spoke, she had turned pale again by soft degrees, and she drew her
breath sharply once or twice, with an effort. He caught the hand she put
out and kissed it slowly three times, as if he would leave the print of
his young lips on the smooth white skin for a memory. She let him have
his way, though she shook her head, and would not turn to him.

He was so near her that he could have bent and kissed her, just above
the broad lace collar, behind her little ear, where the strong auburn
hair sprang in silken waves from the ivory of her neck. The scent of
lavender and violets rose from her dress to his nostrils in the warmth.

'You will come,' he whispered.

'How can I?' she asked, very low.

Then they heard Pina's voice behind them, not loud, but sharp and
imperative.

'The Senator is coming back!' she called to them, as she dropped the
curtain after entering and hastened to her seat.

Stradella crossed to the other side of the window in an instant, raising
the lute he still carried in one hand.

'Sing!' he commanded, and he was