These things I made ready before I went to bed, and I slept with the two waistcoats and the thousand francs under my pillow, though I suppose nobody would have chosen that particular night for robbing me.
All these preparations had occupied me so much that I had not found any time to grieve over my poor little vineyard that I had sold; and, besides, I was thinking all the while of Nino, and how glad he would be to know that I was really searching for Hedwig.

But when I thought of the vines, it hurt me; and I think it is only long after the deed that it seems more blessed to give than to receive.
But at last I slept, as tired folk will, leaving care to the morrow; and when I awoke it was daybreak, and Mariuccia was clattering angrily with the tin coffee-pot outside.

It was a bright morning, and the goldfinch sang, and I could hear him scattering the millet seed about his cage while I dressed.

And then the parting grew very near, and I drank my coffee silently, wondering how soon it would be over, and wishing that the old woman would go out and let me have my house alone.

But she would not, and, to my surprise, she made very little worry or trouble, making a great show of being busy.