Artois obeyed and left her.

He knew that just then she would not acknowledge his authority. As he
went slowly up the steps he wondered--he feared. Peppina had cried
with the fury of despair, and the Neapolitan who is desperate knows no
reticence.

Was the red sign of passion to be scored already upon Vere's white
life? Was she to pass even now, in this night, from her beautiful
ignorance to knowledge?



CHAPTER XVII

That night the Marchesino failed in his search for Vere, and he
returned to Naples not merely disappointed but incensed. He had
learned from a fisherman in the Saint's Pool that she was out upon the
sea "with a Signore," and he had little difficulty in guessing who
this Signore was. Of course it was "Caro Emilio," the patron of Maria
Fortunata. He began to consider his friend unfavorably. He remembered
how frankly he had always told Emilio of his little escapades, with
what enthusiasm, in what copious detail. Always he had trusted Emilio.
And now Emilio was trying to play him false--worse, was making
apparently a complete success of the attempt. For Emilio and Vere must
have heard his beautiful singing, must have guessed from whom that
vibrant voice proceeded, must have deliberately concealed themselves
from its possessor. Where had they lain in hiding? His shrewd
suspicion fell upon the very place. Virgilio's Grotto had surely been
their refuge.