hen, as I remained in bed, she
sat down at the foot of it, and said in a constrained and hesitating
voice:

"If I do not come back to-night, shall you come and fetch me?"

"Most certainly I shall," was my reply. "Where must I come to?"

Then she explained: "You must go into the Street Victor-Emmanuel, down
the Passage Falene, and go into the furniture shop at the bottom, in a
court, and there you must ask for Mme. Rondoli--That is where it is."

And so she went away, leaving me rather astonished.

When Paul saw that I was alone he stammered out: "Where is Francesca?"
And when I told him what had happened he exclaimed:

"My dear fellow, let us make use of our chance, and bolt; as it is, our
time is up. Two days, more or less, make no difference. Let us start at
once; go and pack up your things. Off we go!"

But I refused. I could not, as I told him, leave the girl in such a
manner, after having lived with her for nearly three weeks. At any rate,
I ought to say good-bye to her, and make her accept a present; I
certainly had no intention of behaving badly to her.

But he would not listen; he pressed and worried me, but I would not give
way.

I remained indoors for several hours, expecting Francesca's return, but
she did not come, and at last, at dinner, Paul said with a triumphant
air: "She has thrown you over, my dear fellow; it is certainly very
strange."

I must acknowledge that I was surprised and rather vexed. He laughed in
my face, and made fun of me.

"It is not exactly a bad way of getting rid of you, though rather
primitive. 'Just wait for me, I shall be back in a moment,' they often
say. How long are you going to wait? I should not wonder if you were
foolish enough to go and look for her at the address she gave you. 'Does
Mme. Rondoli live here, please?' 'No, Sir.' I'll bet that you are
longing to go there."

"Not in the least," I protested, "and I assure you that if she does not
come back to-morrow morning I shall start by the express at eight
o'clock. I shall have waited twenty-four hours, and that is enough; my
conscience will be quite clear."

I spent an uneasy and unpleasant evening, for I really had at heart a
very tender feeling for her. I went to bed at twelve o'clock, and hardly
slept at all. I got up at six, called Paul, packed up my things, and two
hours later we started for France together.

III

The next year, at just about the same period, I was seized, as one is
with a periodi