gathered her coarse skirt; then she stood still, lifted the
load from her head with both hands and without any apparent effort, and
set it down in its place on a stone slab near the hearth. Most women
need a little help to do that.

She laid aside the twisted cloth on which the conca had rested while she
carried it, and she smoothed her hair carelessly.

"There are beans," said Nanna, giving the girl one of the bowls. "There
is the bread. While they are cooling take the other portion upstairs."

The girl looked at the bowl, and at Nanna, and then at Paoluccio, and
stood stock still.

"Hey, there!" the man cried, with a rough laugh. "Hey! Reginella! Are
you going to sleep, or are you turning into a statue?"

"Am I to give him the beans to eat?" asked Regina, looking hard at the
innkeeper.

"You said he was hungry. That is what there is for dinner. We give him
what we have."

Regina's dark eyes lightened; her upper lip rose in a curve and showed
her closed teeth, strong and white as those of a young animal.

"Do as you are told," added Paoluccio. "This is charity. When you
examine your conscience at Easter you can say, 'I have fed the hungry
and cared for the sick.' The beans are mine, of course, but that makes
no difference. I make you a present of them."

"Thank you!"

"Welcome," answered Paoluccio, with his mouth, full.

Regina took the fourth bowl and a piece of bread and went out. The steps
to the upper part of the house were on the outside, as is common in the
houses of the Campagna.

"How old is she?" Paoluccio asked when she was gone.

"She must be twenty," answered Nanna. "It must be ten years since her
mother died, and her mother said she was ten years old. She has eaten
many loaves in this house."

"She has worked for her food," said the innkeeper. "And she is an honest
girl."

"What did you expect? That I should let her be idle, or make eyes at the
carters? But you always defend her, because she is pretty, you ugly
scamp!"

Nanna uttered her taunt in a good-natured tone, but she glanced
furtively at her husband to see the effect of her words, for it was not
always safe to joke with Paoluccio.

"If I did not defend her," he answered, "you would beat the life out of
her."

"I daresay," replied Nanna, and filled her mouth with beans.

"But now," said Paoluccio, swallowing, "if you are not careful she will
break all your bones. She has the health of a horse."

So the couple discussed mat