human
I saw nothing of any such person either in the Pineta or on the road, said Ludovico.
gpt
Who could it have been?
human
There is a young lady, resumed Ludovico, after some minutes of thought,
gpt
The plot seems to thicken with a vengeance, said the lawyer, with an impatient shrug, and a slight sneer of ill-humour, provoked by the multiplicity of his young client's lady friends.
human
I daresay, he added,
gpt
But what had I better do? said the young Marchese, looking with increased anxiety into the lawyer's face;
human
Do you mean, said the lawyer, with a sneer in his voice, but at the same time looking into his companion's face with a shrewd expression of investigation in his eye,--
gpt
For God's sake don't speak in such a tone, Signor Giovacchino. I tell you I am seriously uneasy. Should they have met under such circumstances--God only knows--What would you advise me to do, Signor Giovacchino?
human
It is ill giving advice without knowing all the circumstances of a case, Signor Marchese, returned Fortini, somewhat drily, looking hard at the young man as he spoke, and putting a meaning emphasis on the word
gpt
You do know all the circumstances as far as I know them myself. The thing happened exactly as I told you,
human
You left her sleeping on a bank in the forest, and have never seen her since?
gpt
Exactly so! I returned to the spot where I had left her--at least as far as I could tell it was the same spot--and she was no longer there,
human
But you were not sure that you did return to the same spot? You could not recognise it again with certainty?
gpt
So it seemed to me when I was there. I think it must have been the same place. But when I did not find her, I could not feel sure of it. Every spot in the Pineta is so like all other spots. One pine-tree is just like another; and the grassy openings, and the little thickets of underwood, are all the same over and over again. I felt that I could not be sure that the place was the same.
human
Was there no fallen tree, no track of road, no specialty of weed or flower, that the spot might be identified by?
gpt
None I think--none that I am aware of or can remember. There was a little rising of the ground,--a sort of bank, and the grass was sprinkled all over with wild flowers. There were violets close at hand, I know, because I remember the scent of them! But when I came to try, it seem'd to me that I found all these things in a dozen other places.
human
Nevertheless, you know at what point you entered the Pineta; it cannot be very difficult to have the whole wood, within such a distance as it is at all likely that she should have strayed to, thoroughly searched. But the best men for the purpose would be some of the foresters in the employ of the farmers of the forest. I dare say that we might find--what is that coming along the road yonder?