"Ah, then you come from the south, too?" Lucia laughed. "I knew it."
"No, my mother came from Napoli. When I was a little girl she used to tell me all about the sunshine and the flowers, and the blue water in the bay, and old grandfather Vesuvius always frowning and puffing in the distance. Oh, I tell you I feel sometimes as if I had been there, but, of course, that is silly," she broke off, laughing, "for I have never been away from Cellino."
"Would you like to go away to the south and live there?" Captain Riccardi asked slowly.
"Oh, yes, of course. I dream sometimes that I am a princess and that a wicked fairy has turned me into a goat-herder and forced me to live here where it is so very cold sometimes, and then I wish hard for a good fairy to come and set me free, and take me on a magic carpet away to a garden full of flowers. There," she smiled shyly, "that is what I was thinking of out loud when you came a minute ago."
The Captain did not laugh, except with his eyes. His voice was very grave as he asked.
"Wouldn't a prince or a fairy godfather do just as well?"
"Oh, yes, even better," Lucia replied seriously.
"Well then, what would you say if I told you that I am a fairy godfather, and that I can spirit you to a garden even nicer than this, where it is always summer?"
"I would surely say you were telling me fairy tales," Lucia replied frankly.
"But I'm not, Lucia," he said seriously. "I'm telling you the truth. Down in the south I have a big house set in the very heart of a beautiful garden, and I live there all by myself."
"Oh!" Lucia's big eyes were full of genuine sympathy.
"A long time ago, I used to have a little sister like you, but she died, and since then I have been ever and ever so lonely. How would you like to come and be my sister? I'd take awfully good care of you, and Garibaldi."
For an instant Lucia's eyes danced with happiness, but it was only for an instant, then her face fell.
"Oh, I would like that Captain, so very much," she said, "but I could not leave Beppino and Nana."
Captain Riccardi looked at her in silence for a moment, then he said slowly, "Of course, you couldn't. I forgot them for the moment. But of course I meant to include them in the invitation. I am very fond of Beppino already. We had quite a chat that day in the cave."