was only twelve years old--so long ago! And
here--they looked at each other and then quickly at the sea, for it was
here that Marcello, in a fit of boyish admiration, had once suddenly
kissed her cheek, telling her that she was perfectly beautiful. Even
now, he blushed when he thought of it, and yet he longed to do it again,
and wondered inwardly what would happen if he did.

As for Aurora, though she looked at the sea for a moment, she seemed
quite self-possessed. It is a strange thing that if a boy and a girl are
brought up in just the same way, by women, and without many companions,
the boy should generally be by far the more shy of the two when
childhood is just past.

"You are very fond of your stepfather, are you not?" asked Aurora, so
suddenly that Marcello started a little and hesitated slightly before he
answered.

"Yes," he said, almost directly, "of course I am! Don't you like him,
too?"

"I used to," answered Aurora in a low voice, "but now his eyes frighten
me--sometimes. For instance, though he is a good way behind, I am sure
he is looking at me now, just in that way."

Marcello turned his head instinctively, and saw that Folco had just
dismounted to tighten the girth of the Contessa's saddle. It was exactly
while Aurora was speaking that he had drawn his eyelids together with
such a strange expression--a mere coincidence, no doubt, but one that
would have startled the girl if she could have suddenly seen his face.

They rode on without waiting for the others, at an even canter over the
sand.

"I never saw anything in Folco's eyes that could frighten anybody,"
Marcello said presently.

"No," answered Aurora. "Very likely not."

Marcello had always called Corbario by his first name, and as he grew up
it seemed more and more natural to do so. Folco was so young, and he
looked even younger than he was.

"It must be your imagination," Marcello said.

"Women," said Aurora, as if she were as near thirty as any young woman
would acknowledge herself, "women have no imagination. That is why we
have so much sense," she added thoughtfully.

Marcello was so completely puzzled by this extraordinary statement that
he could find nothing to say for a few moments. Then he felt that she
had attacked his idol, and that Folco must be defended.

"If you could find a single thing, however small, to bring against him,
it would not be so silly to say that his eyes frighten you."

"There!" laughed Aurora. "You mi