“Papa! Wake up, Papa! His Lordship is here, and I know you want to thank him for his kindness.”
“Let him sleep – ” the Marquis began to say.
Then he saw laid out on the table the food he had sent from the Palazzo, and thought that as Lucia was building up her father’s strength, it would be a good idea for him to be fed again before he went back to sleep.
He was sure she felt the same thing as she leaned over her father and said,
“Wake up, Papa! You have slept for quite a long time.”
Then the Marquis, watching her, saw her put out her hand to touch her father’s where it lay outside the sheet, and as she did so she stiffened.
He anticipated what she felt and moved towards her.
Then, holding on to her father’s hand, she said in a different tone of voice,
“Papa! Papa!”
There was no r
