. I wore fine clothes; the
table was always covered when I was hungry; and after I had said my
three prayers properly I was allowed to run about the woods and fields
just as I pleased. Close beside the villa there was a little wood of
sweet pines, cool and dark, and filled with sweet scents and songs.
There one evening, when the sun began to sink, I threw me down beneath
a big tree, tired with running and jumping about, and stared up at the
blue sky. Perhaps I was stupefied by the fragrant smell of the
flowering herbs in the midst of which I lay; at any rate, my eyes
closed involuntarily, and I sank into a state of dreamy reverie, from
which I was awakened by a rustling, as if some one had struck a blow in
the grass beside me. I started up into a sitting posture; an angelic
child with heavenly eyes stood near me and looked down upon me, smiling
most sweetly and bewitchingly. 'O good boy,' she said, in a low soft
voice, 'how beautiful and calmly you sleep, and yet death, nasty death,
was so near to you.' Close beside my breast I saw a small black snake
with its head crushed; the little girl had killed the poisonous reptile
with a switch from a nut-tree, and just as it was wriggling on to my
destruction. Then a trembling of sweet awe fell upon me; I knew that
angels often came down from heaven above to rescue men in person from
the threatening attack of some evil enemy. I fell upon my knees and
raised my folded hands. 'Oh! you are surely an angel of light, sent by
God to save my life,' I cried. The pretty creature stretched out both
arms towards me and said softly, whilst a deeper flush mantled upon her
cheeks, 'No, good boy; I am not an angel, but a girl--a child like
you.' Then my feeling of awe gave place to a nameless delight, which
spread like a gentle warmth through all my limbs. I rose to my feet; we
clasped each other in our arms, our lips met, and we were speechless,
weeping, sobbing with sweet unutterable sadness.

"Then a clear silvery voice cried through the wood, 'Annunciata!
Annunciata!' 'I must go now, darling boy, mother is calling me,'
whispered the little girl. My heart was rent with unspeakable pain.
'Oh! I love you so much,' I sobbed, and the scalding tears fell from
the little girl's eyes upon my cheeks. 'I am so--so fond of you, good
boy,' she cried, pressing a last kiss upon my lips. 'Annunciata,' the
voice cried again; and the little girl disappeared behind the bushes.
Now that, Margaret, was the m