* * * * *
In the morning, when all preparations were made, the gondoliers waiting
below, Ashe's telegram sent, and the circular notes handed over to
Margaret French, who had discreetly left the room, William approached
his wife.
"Good-bye!" said Kitty, and gave him her hand, with a strange look and
smile.
Ashe, however, drew her to him and kissed her--against her will. "I'll
do my best, Kitty," he said, in a would-be cheery voice--"to pull us
through. Perhaps--I don't know!--things may turn out better than I
think. Good-bye. Take care of yourself. I'll write, of course. Don't
hurry home. You'll want a fortnight or three weeks yet."
Kitty said not a word, and in another minute he was gone. The Italian
servants congregated below at the water-gate sent laughing "A
rivederlas" after the handsome, good-tempered Englishman, whom they
liked and regretted; the gondola moved off; Kitty heard the plash of the
water. But she held back from the window.
Half-way to the bend of the canal beyond the Accademia, Ashe turned and
gave a long look at the balcony. No one was there. But just as the
gondola was passing out of sight, Kitty slipped onto the balcony.
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