"I should require another soul, and another heart," he replied gloomily, with lowered eyes.
"Change your country and your surroundings," she suggested energetically, as if she wished to inject some will into him.
"Perhaps I ought to come to America?" he asked, with a pale, ironical smile.
"Why not? John Clarke would do everything for you."
But suddenly she bit her lips, as she saw Vittorio's contracted face become disturbed with pallor, as if under an access of anger and grief.
"Oh, thanks!" he said, with deep irony. "One thing only John Clarke could do for me, and that I have renounced. Must I come to America like a wretched seeker after work, like an emigrant? Miss Mabel, we shall separate without your understanding me."
"Perhaps," she replied humbly, "it has not been vouchsafed me to understand you."
"Would you like me to be there, Miss Mabel, when you marry the American, some American, of your race and country?" he asked, with a sarcastic smile.
"Oh, this will only happen much later," she murmured, "very much later."
"But it will happen, Miss Mabel," he insisted bitterly.
"I believe so," she said simply; "not now, not for a year. Even later."
"Why should you wait, miss?" he asked sadly, with ever greater sarcasm.
"To forget you, dear," she replied frankly.
"You think us American women heartless, Vittorio. You will never understand us."
Worn down, he again made a vague gesture of excuse.
"On the contrary, Vittorio, I believe you will marry Livia Lante, much sooner than I shall marry an American."
"We are very poor, Livia and I. One can endure poverty when one is in love. I do not love Livia."
"Later solitude and boredom will oppress you. She is sweet and gracious. She will beautify your life."
"I could never endure poverty but on one condition, Mabel," he exclaimed suddenly, invaded by a new exaltation.
"With you, Mabel, with you! Ah, if only you were a poor woman with a halfpenny for a dowry, without a dress to your back, how I would dream of taking you, of carrying you away with me, to work for you, my companion, my spouse, my love, to look for work and riches for you, but with you and for you!"
Pale, absorbed, she listened to him. He drew near to her, took her hands, and spoke face to face.