'Enough--you are killing me,' she murmured, leaning, half fainting,
against the gateway, with a gesture of supreme entreaty.
For a moment, they stood facing one another without touching. All the
silence of the Villa seemed to weigh upon them in this narrow spot
enclosed in its high walls like an open tomb. High above them sounded
the hoarse cawing of the rooks gathering on the roofs of the palaces or
crossing the sky. Once more, a strange fear possessed Maria's heart. She
cast a terror-stricken glance up at the top of the walls. Then, with a
visible effort she said quickly:
'We can go now; will you open the gate!'
And, in her uncontrollable haste to get away, her hand met Andrea's on
the latch of the gate.
As she passed between the two granite columns and under the jasmin,
Andrea said--'Look, the jasmin is just going to blossom!'
She did not turn but she smiled--a smile that was infinitely sad because
of the shadow cast upon her heart by the sudden recollection of the name
she had read in the Belvedere. And while she walked through the
mysterious gloom of the avenue, and she felt his kiss flame in her
blood, a ruthless torture graved deep into her heart, that name--oh,
that name!
CHAPTER VI
Lord Heathfield opened the great book-case containing his private
collection, and turning to Sperelli--
'You should design the clasps for this volume,' he said; 'it is in
quarto and dated from Lampsacus, 1734.
Pages:
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358