Daniel did not wish to take the mask of Zingarella with him on his
tours. To expose the fragile material to all the risks associated with a
fortuitous life on the road seemed to him an act of impiety. He had
consequently promised Eleanore to leave the mask with her in Jordan's
house during his absence.
Eleanore opened the door; Daniel entered. Gertrude arose from her seat
at the table, and came up to meet him. Her face showed, as it always did
when she saw him, unmistakable traces of resignation, willingness,
submissiveness.
Daniel walked over to the table, took the newspaper wrapping from the
mask, and held it up in the light of the lamp.
"How beautiful!" exclaimed Gertrude, whose senses were now delighted at
the sight of any object that appealed to one's feelings.
"Well, take it, then, Gertrude," said Eleanore, as she leaned both
elbows on the top of the table. "Keep it with you," she continued
somewhat tensely, when she noticed that Gertrude was looking at Daniel
as if to say, "May I?"
"But won't he give it to both of us?" replied Gertrude with a covetous
smile.
"No, no, he simply mentioned me for courtesy's sake," said Eleanore,
quite positively.
"Eleanore, I can scarcely tell you how I feel toward you," said Daniel,
half confused, half angry, and then stopped with conspicuous suddenness
when the fiery blue of her eyes fell upon him.
"You?" she whispered in astonishment, "you?"
"Yes, you," he replied emphatically. "Later I can tell everybody; to-day
it is true in a double sense: you seem to me just like a sister."
He had laid the mask to one side and extended his left hand to Eleanore,
and then, hesitating at first, he gave Gertrude his right hand with a
most decisive gesture.
Eleanore straightened up, took the mask of Zingarella, and held it up
before her face. "Little Brother," she cried out in a teasing tone. The
pale, sweet stone face was wonderful to behold, as it was raised above
the body that was pulsing with life.
And Gertrude--for one second she hung on Daniel's gaze, a sigh as deep
as the murmuring of the sea sounded in her bosom, and then she lay in
his arms. He kissed her without saying a word. His face was gloomy, his
brow wrinkled.
"Little Brother" sounded out from behind the mask. But there was no
banter in the expression; it was much more like a complaint, a
revelation of anguish: "Little Brother!"