Yet she had written and sent me money, as if I were a mere tradesman; and from the tone of her note, it seemed as if our friendship existed no longer. Every day she had come to my studio, bringing with her that breath of stephanotis that always pervaded her; and because she was not averse to a mild flirtation, I had believed she loved me! Bah! I had been fooled! The iron of a wasted love, of a useless sacrifice, was in my heart. This sudden awakening had crushed me; and I stood gazing aimlessly out of the window, unaware of the presence of a visitor, until I felt a hearty slap on the shoulder, and, turning quickly, faced my old friend, Pietro Barolini. "_Chi vide mai tanto_!" he cried cheerily. "Why, my dear fellow, you look as if you've got a very bad attack of melancholia. What's the matter?" "Read that," I said, pointing to the crumpled letter on the floor. "Tell me, what am I to do?" Picking up the note, he read it through, drew a heavy breath, and remained silent and thoughtful. Pietro and I had been companions ever since our childhood days, when, as bare-legged urchins, sons of honest fishermen, we had played on the beach at our quiet home in rural Tuscany. When we set out together to seek our fortunes, Fate directed us to Genoa; and in "La Superba" we still lived, Pietro having become a well-known musician; while I, Gasparo Corazzini, had, by a vagary of chance, attracted the notice of the great _maestro_ Verga, under whose tuition I had developed into a successful sculptor. "It is unfortunate," my friend said at last, twisting his pointed black moustache; "yet she is not of our world, and, after all, perhaps it is best that you should part." "Ah!" I said. "Your words are well meant, Pietro; but I love her too passionately to cast aside her memory so lightly. I must see her. She must tell me from her own lips that she no longer cares for me!" I cried, starting up impetuously. "Very well--go. Take her back the money with which she has insulted you, and bid adieu to her forever. You will soon forget." "Yes," I said; "I will." Snatching up my hat, and crushing the letter into the pocket of my blouse, I rushed out and down the stairs into the street, without a thought of personal appearance, my only desire being to catch her before she departed. Blindly I hurried across the Piazza del Principe, then out of the town into the open country, never slackening my pace for a moment until I entered the grounds of a great white villa that stood on the hillside at Comigliano, overlooking the moonlit sea. Then, with a firm determination to be calm, I advanced towards the house cautiously, and, swinging myself upon the low verandah, peered in at a glass door that stood open.