Annunziata put up her little white arms, and encircled Maria Dolores' neck. Then she kissed her four times--on the brow, on the chin, on the left cheek, on the right. "That is a cross of kisses," she explained. "It is the way my mother used to kiss me. It means may the four Angels of Peace, Grace, Holiness, and Wisdom watch over your sleep." But early next morning, John being still on duty, Maria Dolores came back,--booted and spurred for her journey, in tailor-made tweeds, with a little felt toque and a veil: a costume of which Annunziata's eyes were quick to catch the suggestion. "Why are you dressed like that?" she asked, uneasily. "I never saw you dressed like that before. You look as if you were going away somewhere." "I have got to go away--I have got to go to my home, in Austria. I have come to bid you good-bye," Maria Dolores answered. Annunziata's eyes were dark with pain. "Oh," she said, in a voice of deep dismay. "We shan't be separated long, though," Maria Dolores promised. "I have asked your uncle to lend you to me. As soon as you are strong enough to travel, you are coming to Austria to pay me a long visit. Then I will come back with you to Sant' Alessina. And then--well, wherever I go you will always go with me. For of course I can never live happily again without you." "One moment, please," put in John. "Here is a small difficulty. I can never live happily without her, either. I also have asked her uncle to lend her to me. And wherever _I_ go, she is always to go with me. How are we to adjust our rival claims?" Annunziata's eyes lighted up. "Oh, that will be easy enough," she pointed out. "You will have to go everywhere together." THE END End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My Friend Prospero, by Henry Harland