Ruffino Author:Ouida Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: girl at the window, standing, as Beatrice Cenci may oftentimes have stood, steeped in the sweetness and the fragrance of the air. She was, he thought, waiting... more » there on purpose to see him, for she was not working : her lamp was unlighted, and her hands rested on the rough stone sill of the casement. She started a little as she perceived his eyes looking at her, and heard his voice addressing her through the leaves between the marble columns. ' You found my letter ?' he asked her, softly. ' Pardon the rude fashion of its arrival for the sake of the sincerity of its contents.' ' I found it,' she answered, her voice reaching him in return, low and clear, across the chasm of the passage which divided them. ' I thank you very much for what you say. I did but little for your dog, and there is no need that you should think of what I did for a moment.' ' I rejoice to think of it,' replied Castiglione, warmly. ' It was a noble and courageous action. Let it be a strong and enduring link between us; will you not ?' The extreme sadness of her face grew still more pathetically grave as she shook her head. ' There cannot be even any acquaintance betweenus, Signer Duca. You are a great nobleman, and I am a poor person, a work-girl. I only speak to you to-night because it seemed so churlish, so ill-bred, to say nothing in answer to your generous words. But I beg you never to address me again. It is the only kindness you can do to me.' 'Why?' ' For a thousand reasons. You may have seen, or guessed, that I work for my bread, and—and I do not always gain it. If you notice me you can only hurt me. I have promised one whom I love dearly, and who has but little time left on earth, never to speak to you ; and though I break the promise to-night in order to thank you for your le...« less