elf down and hid her
shame-stricken face in her hands. He threw himself down beside her, and
pressed her passionately to him; she gasped for breath as she lay
nervously waiting, and all at once she gave a loud cry as though
thunderstruck by the sensation she had invited. It was a long time
before they reached the top of the mountain, so fluttered and exhausted
was Jeanne, and it was evening when they got to Evisa, and went to the
house of Paoli Palabretti, a relation of the guide's. Paoli was a tall
man with a slight cough, and the melancholy look of a consumptive; he
showed them their room, a miserable-looking chamber built of stone, but
which was handsome for this country, where no refinement is known. He
was expressing in his Corsican patois (a mixture of French and Italian)
his pleasure at receiving them, when a clear voice interrupted him, and
a dark little woman, with big black eyes, a sun-kissed skin, and a
slender waist, hurried forward, kissed Jeanne, shook Julien by the hand
and said: "Good-day, madame; good-day, monsieur; are you quite well?"
She took their hats and shawls and arranged everything with one hand,
for her other arm was in a sling; then she turned them all out, saying
to her husband: "Take them for a walk till dinner is ready."

M. Palabretti obeyed at once, and, walking between Jeanne and her
husband, he took them round the village. His steps and his words both
drawled, and he coughed frequently, saying at each fit, "The cold air
has got on my lungs." He led them under some immense chestnut-trees,
and, suddenly stopping, he said in his monotonous voice:

"It was here that Mathieu Lori killed my cousin Jean Rinaldi. I was
standing near Jean, just there, when we saw Mathieu about three yards
off. 'Jean,' he cried; 'don't go to Albertacce; don't you go, Jean, or
I'll kill you:' I took Jean's arm. 'Don't go Jean,' I said, 'or he'll do
it.' It was about a girl, Paulina Sinacoupi, that they were both after.
Then Jean cried out, 'I shall go, Mathieu; and you won't stop me,
either.' Then Mathieu raised his gun, and, before I could take aim, he
fired. Jean leaped two feet from the ground, monsieur, and then fell
right on me, and my gun dropped and rolled down to that chestnut there.
Jean's mouth was wide open, but he didn't say a word; he was dead."

The young couple stared in astonishment at this calm witness of such a
crime.

"What became of the murderer?" asked Jeanne.

Paoli coughed for some tim