“Do you remember, Lucia, if I locked the jewel-safe?”
“No, dear, I do not remember. It will be quite safe, even if you have not locked it.”
“Do you, Signor Sanna?”
“Yes; you locked it, and put the key under the clock.”
“Thanks, thank you; you take a load off my mind.”
“Signora Lucia, Caterina, I must go and speak to the Prime Minister.”
“Are you going to leave us?”
“I shall be here opposite to you. Caterina, don’t yawn, child, remember that you are the wife of the vice-president of a committee.”
She smiled absently, and nodded to him.
A treble hedge of ladies, and then a multitude of black coats, on which the light dresses stood out like splashes of colour: a vivid, undulating crowd, disported itself under the gildings of the regal ceiling.
“Oh! it’s lovely, Caterina,” said Lucia
