Giocanto came here before four o'clock this morning. He
brought me a letter for you, Miss Lydia. Orso hasn't written anything
to me! It is addressed to Colomba, indeed, but underneath that he has
written 'For Miss N.' But sisters are never jealous! Giocanto says it
hurt him dreadfully to write. Giocanto, who writes a splendid hand,
offered to do it at his dictation. But he would not let him. He wrote it
with a pencil, lying on his back. Brandolaccio held the paper for him.
My brother kept trying to raise himself, and then the very slightest
movement gave him the most dreadful agony in his arm. Giocanto says it
was pitiful. Here is his letter."
Miss Nevil read the letter, which, as an extra precaution, no doubt, was
written in English. Its contents were as follows:
"MADEMOISELLE: An unhappy fate has driven me on. I know not what my
enemies will say, what slanders they will invent. I care little, so long
as you, mademoiselle, give them no credence! Ever since I first saw you
I have been nursing wild dreams. I needed this catastrophe to show me my
own folly.
"I have come back to my senses now. I know the future that lies before
me, and I shall face it with resignation.
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