The days came and went miserably for nearly a fortnight. In all that time Marcantonio watched her closely, never relaxing in his vigilance. She might have escaped, perhaps, but she would have been missed in half an hour, and she had not the courage to do anything so desperate,--the time must come, she thought, when things should change. But meanwhile she grew haggard and worn.
Marcantonio had abandoned the idea of sending for a friend to deal with Batiscombe. What he had to say could, he thought, best be said directly, and there could then be no difficulty in establishing a pretext for fighting. But first of all he must keep his wife out of danger. Feeling that he held her entirely at his mercy, he was willing to take some time for deliberation. She could not see Julius, and it would be the best possible test to ascertain how she bore the trial. Marcantonio had grown hard and calculating in his jealousy, but he ground his teeth as he watched her and saw that she was falling ill,--and it was not so much for sympathy with her, as for anger that she should so love another. At last he determined upon a new course.
"Leonora," he said briefly, one day, "we will leave this place immediately, since it does not suit you. Will you be so amiable as to give orders to have your things packed?"
Leonora started a little, and looked at him. It was not often that she cared to look at him now.
"Why do you wish to go?" she asked at last.
"Because, as I said, this place does not suit you. You are ill--miserable. Ma foi! do you think I will allow you to stay in a place where you are always pale and eat nothing?"
"I am not ill," said she, "and I have a very good appetite. I do not wish to go away. Besides, you have taken the villa for the whole summer. It would be such a useless waste of money to move again."
"Ah! You become economical. It is very well; but economy does not enter into this case at all. We will go to Cadenabbia, or to any place in the lakes, where it is far cooler."
"I do not mind the heat," said Leonora, "as you know. Why not say at once that you are tired of Sorrento, and wish to go away to please yourself? It would be much simpler and more honest."
"Pardon me, my dear, I am perfectly well here. I could spend the rest of my life at Sorrento. But you are not well--whatever the cause may be--and there is a possibility that you may be better elsewhere. Donc"--