Page:In a winter city, by Ouida.djvu/284



arrived in time for Madame Mila's dinner. He was an affectionate and sunny-tempered man; he did not notice that his sister did not once say she was glad to see him.

Della Rocca did notice it, with that delicate unerring Italian perception, which is as fine as a needle and as subtle as mercury.

He saw, too, that something had come over her; some cloud; some change; she had lost much of her proud serenity, and she looked at him now and then with what seemed to him almost like contrition; she avoided being alone with him; he was troubled at it, but not alarmed; he knew very well that she loved him. He let her be.