The Princess was silent for a moment.
'One grasps at straws,' she said presently, in a low voice.
He understood that she had really cared for his brother, and looked at her with more interest than he had hitherto shown.
'I am afraid that there is not the slightest possibility of his being alive,' he said, with a sadness in which there was also some sympathy for her.
She had hoped for an indiscreet question, which would allow her to say something more.

It was of no real importance to her to know whether he bore her any grudge or not, but since she had taken so much trouble to see him she did not mean to go away without knowing the truth, and though her curiosity was a mere caprice, it was perhaps not a very unreasonable one.
'Had you seen much of him during the last months before he went to Africa ?' she asked.

'I did not know you till long after that, you know.

I think you were always away ?' 'I was stationed in Pavia,' the Captain answered.

'Giovanni joined the expedition at short notice and I was not able to see him before he started.