of Maria Addolorata.

CHAPTER XV.

WHEN Dalrymple came home that evening, he found his supper already on
the table and half cold. Sora Nanna was busier than her daughter, and
less patient of the Scotchman's irregularities. If he could not come
home at a reasonable hour, he must not expect her to keep everything
waiting for him.

He sat down to the table without even going upstairs as usual to wash
his hands, simply because the cooked meat would be cold and greasy if he
let it stand five minutes longer. Being once seated in his place, he did
not move for a long time. Sora Nanna came in more than once. She was
very much preoccupied about the load of wine which her husband had
ordered to be sent, and which, if possible, she meant to send off before
morning, for she did not wish him to be absent in Rome with money in his
pocket a day longer than necessary.

Gloomy and preoccupied, without even a book before him, Dalrymple sat
with his back to the wall, drinking his wine in silence, and staring at
the lamp. Sora Nanna asked him whether he had seen Annetta. He shook
his head without speaking. The woman observed that the girls were quite
capable of spending a second night at Civitella to prolong the
festivities. Dalrymple nodded, not caring at all.

Annetta being absent, Gigetto had not thought it necessary to put in an
appearance. But Sora Nanna wished to see him again about the wine. With
a grin, she asked Dalrymple whether he would keep house if she went out
for half an hour. Again he nodded in silence. He heard her lock from the
inside the door which opened from the staircase upon the street, for it
was already late. Then she came through the common room again, with her
overskirt over her head, went out, and left the door ajar. Dalrymple was
alone in the house, unaware that Annetta was lying dead on the floor of
his room upstairs.

Sora Nanna had not been gone a quarter of an hour when a boy came in
from the street. Dalrymple knew him, for he was the son of the convent
gardener.

The lad said that Dalrymple was wanted immediately, as the abbess was
very ill. That was all he knew. He was rather a dull boy, and he
repeated mechanically what he had been told. The Scotchman started and
was about to speak, when he checked himself. He asked the boy two or
three questions, in the hope of getting more accurate information, but
could only elicit a repetition of the message. He was wanted
immediately, as the abbess