“I would surely say you were telling me fairy tales,” Lucia replied frankly.

The Captain laughed delightedly.

“But I’m not, Lucia,” he said seriously.  “I’m telling you the truth.  Down in the south I have a big house set in the very heart of a beautiful garden, and I live there all by myself.”

“Oh!” Lucia’s big eyes were full of genuine sympathy.

“A long time ago, I used to have a little sister like you, but she died, and since then I have been ever and ever so lonely.  How would you like to come and be my sister?  I’d take awfully good care of you, and Garibaldi.”

For an instant Lucia’s eyes danced with happiness, but it was only for an instant, then her face fell.

“Oh, I would like that Captain, so very much,” she said, “but I could not leave Beppino and Nana.”

Captain Riccardi looked at her in silence for a moment, then he said slowly, “Of course, you couldn’t.  I forgot them for the moment.  But of course I meant to include them in the invitation.  I am very fond of Beppino already.  We had quite a chat that day in the cave.”

“Oh, but you don’t mean it!” Lucia jumped up excitedly.  “To live with you and Nana and Beppi and Garibaldi in a garden,—­oh! but of course, it is not so, and I shall presently wake up.”

“Wake up in the little white cottage and milk the goats and trudge to town with the heavy pails?” the Captain said.

Lucia nodded soberly.

“Not it I can help it, you won’t,” he added with decision.  “You’ll never do another stroke of hard work again.”

“But are there no goats in your garden to milk, and no work to do?” Lucia looked bewildered.

“Yes, but there’s a lot of people to do it,—­so many in fact, that all you will have to do is to pick flowers and tell Beppi and me fairy stories.  Will you come?”

“Oh!” Lucia stamped her foot.  “If this is only a dream!” she exclaimed half angrily, “I shall surely die of misery when I wake up.”

“It’s no dream, little sister, it’s true, and it won’t be long before you realize it.  This leg is going to take a long time in healing, but as soon as it is better we will go home, then when I am well enough to go back to fight, you will stay in the garden and keep it looking beautiful for me until I return.”

For a full moment Lucia stared into the Captain’s eyes, while the wonderful truth dawned on her, then her emotion being far beyond words, she threw her arms around him and kissed him heartily.

CHAPTER XV

EXCITING NEWS

“Lucia, Lucia, such exciting news, come here at once!” Maria ran up the stairs excitedly.

Lucia, who was busy helping Sister Francesca put away the clean sheets, dropped what she was doing and ran down the corridor.

“What is it!” she demanded.  “Have the Austrians surrendered?”