"For heaven's sake, Signor Giovacchino, don't talk in that sort of
way, even in jest," replied the young man, looking round at the
lawyer with an uneasy eye. "After all, nothing can have happened to
her, you know, worse than losing herself in the Pineta."
"Pooh! happen to her. What should happen to her? Either you did not
go back to the place where you left her; or, likely enough, after
strolling a little away from it, and not finding you, she sat down,
and two to one, fell asleep again. I would wager that she is, at
this moment, fast asleep under the shadow of a pine-tree, making up
for last night."
"But what had I better do? If she is still either sleeping or waking
in the forest, I must find her."
"Let us just step as far as the gate, and make some inquiry there.
If she returned to the city she must have come to the Porta Nuova.
And she could hardly have entered the town without drawing the
attention of the men at the gate. Just let us make inquiry there in
the first place."
So they went together to the Porta Nuova, and nothing more was said
between them during the short walk. But it seemed as if the manifest
uneasiness of Ludovico had infected his companion. Yet it was
evident that thoughts of a different nature were busy in their
minds. The Marchese Ludovico pressed on faster than the old lawyer
could keep up with him, and was very unmistakably anxious about the
object of his quest, and the tidings which he should be able to hear
at the gate.
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