seemed hatefully cruel to him to believe it. She spoke to Agostino,
begging him to remain with her on the height awhile to see whether the
Signor Antonio-Pericles was right; to see whether Luigi was a truth-
teller; to see whether these English persons were really coming.
"Because," she said, "if they do come, it will at once dissolve any
suspicions you may have of this Luigi. And I always long so much to know
if the Signor Antonio is correct. I have never yet known him to be
wrong."

"And you want to see these English," said Agostino. He frowned.

"Only to hear them. They shall not recognize me. I have now another
name; and I am changed. My hat is enough to hide me. Let me hear them
talk a little. You and the Signor Carlo will stay with me, and when they
come, if they do come, I will remain no longer than just sufficient to
make sure. I would refuse to know any of them before the night of the
fifteenth; I want my strength too much. I shall have to hear a misery
from them; I know it, I feel it; it turns my blood. But let me hear
their voices! England is half my country, though I am so willing to
forget her and give all my life to Italy. Stay with me, dear friend, my
best father! humour me, for you know that I am always charming when I am
humoured."

Agostino pressed his finger on a dimple in her cheeks. "You can afford
to make such a confession as that to a greybeard. The day is your own.
Bear in mind that you are so situated that it will be prudent for you to
have no fresh relations, either with foreigners or others, until your
work is done,--in which, my dear child, may God bless you!"

"I pray to him with all my might," Vittoria said in reply.