II + 

A new idea came to Gian-Luca that night, and he sat up suddenly in bed. “When I go she will miss me,” he thought triumphantly. “She shall find out for herself what it means to be without me, how lonely it will feel not to have the Gian-Luca who was always so ready to serve her.” + 

He pictured the Padrona sitting behind the bar, with her face in her hands⁠—weeping. “Gian-Luca, Gian-Luca, I want you!” she wailed. “I cannot get on without you!” + 

He would go there and see her, in a suit of fine clothes, they paid high for good service at the Doric. He would say: “I have come!” And she would reply: “Oh, but I am glad, Gian-Luca! I will meet you tomorrow between luncheon and dinner. Where can we go to be alone?” + 

“Gia,” thought Gian-Luca, nodding very wisely, “that is the way with women; when they have you they despise you, but when they have you not, then it is they find out that they want you.” He was very near tears in this moment of triumph, but his fighting instinct held. “I will go to the Doric,” he told himself bravely. “I am glad that I have come to a decision.” + 

This of course was the purest make-believe, for he knew that he had no choice in the matter; Fabio might be weak, but he would not consent to the loss of a fine job like this. Moreover, there was Millo’s custom to consider⁠—that might mean fame for the Casa Boselli. And then there was Teresa, the ambitious, the strong-minded, the dominating woman of affairs. + 

Nevertheless, he went on repeating: “I will certainly go to the Doric.” And he added: “Tomorrow I tell the Padrone, then we shall see what we shall see.” + 