ll die," he said once
to Olive when his mother was not in the room. "My father gave me a
spirit that burns like Greek fire and a body like--like a spent
shell."

The easy, desultory lessons were often prolonged, and then the girl
stayed to dinner and played dominoes afterwards with him or with his
mother until ten o'clock, when old Carolina came to fetch her home.
The withered little serving-woman was voluble, and always cheerfully
ready to lighten the way with descriptions of the last moments of her
children. She had had thirteen, and two were still surviving. "One
grows accustomed, _signorina mia_--"

CHAPTER VI

"You have been crying," Astorre said abruptly.

Olive leant against the balustrade of the little terrace. She was
watching the fireflies that sparkled in the dusk of the vineyards in
the valley below. A breeze had risen from the sea at sunset, and it
stirred the leaves of the climbing roses and brought a faint sound of
convent bells far away. Some stars shone in the clear pale sky.

Dinner had been cleared away, and Signora Aurelia had gone in to
finish a white dress she was making for a bride. Olive had offered to
help her. "I would rather you amused yourself with Astorre. I can see
you are tired," she had answered as she left them together.

"You have been crying," the boy repeated insistently.

She smiled at him then. "May I not shed tears if I choose?"

"I must know why," he answered.

"Oh, a castle in Spain."

He looked at her searchingly. "And a castellan?"

"Yes. I want a man, and I cannot have him. _Ecco!_"

She did not expect him to take her seriously, but he was often
perversely inclined. "Of course," he said in a matter-of-fact tone,
"all women want a man or men. Do you think I have been lying here all
these years without finding that out? That need is the mainspring of
life, the key to heaven, and the root of all evil. If--if I were
different someone would want me--" His voice broke.

Olive looked away from him. "How still the night is," she said. "The
nightingales are singing in the woods below, Astorre. Do you hear
them?"

"I am not deaf," he answered in a muffled voice, "I hear them. Will
you hear me?"

Watching her closely he saw that she shrank from him. "Do not be
afraid," he said gruffly. "I am not going to be a fool. No man on
earth is worth your tears. That is all I wanted to say."

"Ah, child, you are young for all your wisdom. I was not sorry for him
but fo