A Heart Most Worthy Read Online Free PDF Page B

heads being so heavy, hers crashed right down onto the table as her eyes rolled back into her head.

5
    “Che rumore!” Julietta jumped at the thump Luciana’s head made as it hit the table.
    Annamaria slid out of her chair and knelt beside the unconscious girl. “Forget the noise. Help me!”
    Julietta came around the worktable, curious but not wanting to get involved if things became very messy. “Do you think she’s . . . sick?”
    Annamaria slid a hand beneath Luciana’s shoulder and pushed the girl back against the chair. They could both see her face now; her cheeks had gone pale. “No. She’s just hungry. Here – take an arm. Help me lower her to the floor.”
    As the two girls moved her from the table, a necklace slipped from the collar of Luciana’s gown. Its lavaliere glinted rubies and diamonds before it slid around its chain and disappeared behind Luciana’s neck as they lowered her to the floor.
    “Go down to the second floor and ask one of the girls for a cushion.”
    Julietta’s nose wrinkled at the thought of associating with the second-floor girls. “You go.”
    “Sometimes when people faint like this, they vomit when they wake.”
    Julietta disappeared faster than a plate of cookies at a festa. She returned, several minutes later, bearing a small pillow in her arms. She handed it down to Annamaria, who tucked it under Luciana’s head. “Why don’t you wet your scarf? We can lay it across her forehead.”
    Julietta’s hand went up to the scarf that encased her neck. “Why can’t we use yours?”
    “Because I put it away in the cupboard, but if it’s easier for you to find it . . . !”
    Julietta wasn’t used to being talked to in that sort of tone by Annamaria. And you mightn’t have liked it much either. Madame, of course, used that tone all the time. But Madame was formidable with her dark-colored gowns and dignified ways. Annamaria was not. At least not normally, though just now she looked as if she might like to strangle Julietta with the very scarf she was wearing. Quickly, Julietta stripped it from her neck and dipped it into the wash basin in the corner, wringing it out before offering it to Annamaria.
    It was several minutes before Luciana began to stir. “Papa? Papa!”
    Annamaria handed the scarf back to Julietta. “Wring it out again and bring it back.”
    “No! Assassino! Fermati assassino! ” Though she hadn’t yet opened her eyes, her voice had become louder.
    Julietta brought the scarf back to Annamaria, who placed it once more on the girl’s forehead. “What do you think she’s talking about?”
    Annamaria shrugged. “Her papa?”
    Luciana’s eyes opened, her gaze traveling about the ceiling before coming to rest upon the two girls. Her eyes grew wide, her hand went to her head, and she tried to sit.
    Annamaria wouldn’t let her. “Lie there a moment. Take a rest. Will you eat something?”
    Luciana started to shake her head, but stopped with a wince.
    “Just to take the edge off the ache in your head? Sometimes it helps.”
    Luciana considered this for a moment. Maybe it would help. And she could accept a bit of bread if it helped. She wouldn’t accept it for hunger, wouldn’t accept that the house of the counts of Roma had been brought to the brink of poverty, but she would accept anything that would help her keep her job.
    Under Annamaria’s watchful eye, she ate the bread that was offered. And when color had begun to seep back into her cheeks, Luciana took the hand that Annamaria offered and was helped back to the table.
    “Is your father all right?” The girl had seemed so distraught that Julietta couldn’t keep herself from asking.
    The color that had just come back into Luciana’s face drained out, and Annamaria scowled at Julietta, afraid the girl would faint again. “Why do you ask?”
    “You mentioned him. While you were on the floor.”
    “What did I say?” Her eyes burned with an unearthly intensity in her pallid face.
    “You cried