rested gloomily on the house of the
enemy.

"You are so pretty, Colomba, that I wonder you are not married already!
Come, you must tell me about your suitors. And besides, I'm sure to hear
their serenades. They must be good ones to please a great _voceratrice_
like you."

"Who would seek the hand of a poor orphan girl? . . . And then, the man
for whom I would change my mourning-dress will have to make the women
over there put on mourning!"

"This is becoming a perfect mania," said Orso to himself. But to avoid
discussion he said nothing at all.

"Brother," said Colomba caressingly, "I have something to give you, too.
The clothes you are wearing are much too grand for this country. Your
fine cloth frock-coat would be in tatters in two days, if you wore it in
the _maquis_. You must keep it for the time when Miss Nevil comes."

Then, opening a cupboard, she took out a complete hunting dress.

"I've made you a velvet jacket, and here's a cap, such as our smart
young men wear. I embroidered it for you, ever so long ago. Will you try
them on?" And she made him put on a loose green velvet jacket, with a
huge pocket at the back. On his head she set a pointed black velvet cap,
embroidered with jet and silk of the same colour, and finished with a
sort of tassel.

"Here is our father's _carchera_"[*] she said. "His stiletto is in the
pocket of the jacket. I'll fetch you his pistol."

[*] Carchera, a belt for cartridges. A pistol is worn
fastened to the left side of it.

"I look like a brigand at the Ambigu-Comique," said Orso, as he looked
at himself in the little glass Saveria was holding up for him.

"Indeed, you look first-rate, dressed like that, Ors' Anton'," said the
old servant, "and the smartest _pinsuto_[*] in Bocognano or Bastelica is
not braver."

[*] Pinsuto, the name given to men who wear the pointed cap,
_barreta pinsuta_.

Orso wore his new clothes at breakfast, and during that meal he told his
sister that his trunk contained a certain number of books, that he was
going to send to France and Italy for others, and intended she should
study a great deal.

"For it really is disgraceful, Colomba," he added, "that a grown-up
girl like you should still be ignorant of things that children on the
mainland know as soon as they are weaned."

"You are right, brother," said Colomba. "I know my own shortcomings
quite well, and I shall be too glad to learn--especially if you are kind
enough