Leila #960863

"Signorina!" called Giovanni the footman, entering the dining-room breathlessly, after looking for her in the garden, in the drawing-room, and in her own chamber. It was nine o'clock, and his master and Signorina Leila had finished dinner before eight. The master had withdrawn to his study almost immediately; the Signorina had gone into the garden. But now she was in the dining-room again by the window.
Her eyes were fixed on the grove of chestnuts to the east, over beyond the ravine, where a brawling stream makes its way from a small lake hidden behind the green shoulders of the lofty peak of Priaforà. But she was straining her ear to catch a far-away sound that rose and fell—the rumbling of a distant train speeding towards the Val d'Astico above which the villa is situated. She turned suddenly at the servant's call, crushing a letter in her hands.