The servant who brought his breakfast handed him a note,
and told him that the ladies of the island had just left the hotel
with Gaspare. As Artois took the note he was conscious of a mingled
feeling of relief and disappointment. This swift, almost hurried
departure left him lonely, yet he could not have met Hermione and Vere
happily in the light of morning. To-day he felt a self-consciousness
that was unusual in him, and that the keen eyes of women could not
surely fail to observe. He wanted a little time. He wanted to think
quietly, calmly, to reach a decision that he had not reached at night.
Hermione and Vere had a very silent voyage. Gaspare's tragic humor
cast a cloud about his mistresses. He had met them in the morning with
a look of heavy, almost sullen scrutiny in his great eyes, which
seemed to develop into a definite demand for information. But he asked
nothing. He made no allusion to the night before. To Vere his manner
was almost cold. When they were getting into the boat at Santa Lucia
she said, with none of her usual simplicity and self-possession, but
like one making an effort which was repugnant:
"I'm very sorry about last night, Gaspare.
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