“Of course, darling,” Lucia answered for the Captain, “but you must tell Nana where you are going.”

“No, I will tell you I think,” Beppi said gravely.

The Captain got up and he walked beside him to the house.  There was a chance that the bright sword might be taken from its chamois case, and Beppi never missed a chance of seeing it if he could help it.

Lucia, left alone in the garden, looked out over the low wall to the west.  The bay of Naples stretched out blue and glistening in the last rays of the sun, and the gray of the old house took on a soft pink tint.

“It is a fairy palace, I believe.”  Lucia buried her face in her basket and whispered to the flowers.

“I wonder if it will disappear when my fairy godfather goes away, or if it will stay and be ours to keep for him until he comes back, for he must come back, he must, he must, he must,” she finished almost angrily.

CHAPTER XIX

BACK TO FIGHT

A big gray car, very like the one that had come to Cellino, drove up before the door of the Riccardi villa two days later.

The Captain, once his mind was made up, did not waste any time in carrying out his plans.  He was eager to rejoin his comrades in the north, but when the time came to leave he was very sorry to say good-by to Lucia.  She had found a warm and secure spot in his big heart, and he knew he would miss her gay chatter and the laughing expression of her eyes.

All the household were on the steps to say good-by, even Nana had been prevailed upon to leave her seat in the garden by the well, and her lace bobbins, long enough to see him off.

Beppi danced about excitedly.  “Oh, please hurry up and end the old war,” he cried impatiently, “and come back, we will be so lonely without you.  I promise to be very, very good.”

“That’s right, and when I come home I shall bring you all the souvenirs I promised; an Austrian helmet and a piece of shell,” the Captain replied.

“And your sword, don’t forget that,” Beppi reminded him.

“Oh no, of course I won’t forget that,” the Captain swung Beppi high in the air above his head and kissed him, then he turned to Lucia.

“I will be good too,” she promised, laughing.

“Of course you will, but you must be happy too, that is the most important of all,” the Captain said seriously.  “Be sure and pick all the flowers in the garden and stay out in the sunshine all day.”

“And may I take the flowers to the hospital?” Lucia asked, “we have so many in the house, and the sick soldiers would love them so.”

“Yes, do what you like with them,” the Captain replied, “but be careful, don’t do anything dangerous, you are such a spunky little fire-brand, that I can’t help worrying.”

“Oh, but you mustn’t, I will be so very careful.  Besides there is nothing to do down here, it is not like Cellino.”