to
be a slight, graceful form, straight as an arrow, and having a wiry
energy and resolution in her every movement which betrayed unusual
self-reliance in one so young.

She was very light in complexion, having yellow hair, black eyes, and
bright, rosy cheeks, a somewhat unusual combination in one who was a
native of that Southern clime.

She was dressed in the costume of the country, and with a neatness and
trimness that made her seem almost dainty in the homely dress, while on
her head she wore a large, coarse straw hat, over which a bright
handkerchief had been thrown, and was tied under her pretty, rounded
chin.

She softly approached and leaned over the sleeper, astonishment depicted
upon every feature of her young face; and well she might look surprised,
for the lovely girl who lay upon that wretched bed of sea-weed was
richly and tastefully clad, and bespoke the petted child of luxury and
fortune.

She knelt beside her, and, laying her hand lightly upon her shoulder,
said, in low, musical Italian:

"Wake, signorina."

The touch aroused the fair sleeper, and she started up affrighted; but,
upon seeing the kindly face of a young girl about her own age bending
above her, her expression of terror changed to one equally surprised
with that of her companion.

"Why is the signorina sleeping here in this miserable place?" the
peasant girl asked.

But her companion could not understand or speak Italian, and shook her
head, intimating that she did not know what she had said.

To her surprise the girl then addressed her in broken French, repeating
her question, and then the fair stranger, appearing to think it best to
confide in her, answered, though with some embarrassment:

"I am in great trouble, and I am running away from it. I have walked a
long distance, but became so weak and faint I could go no farther, and
stumbled in here to rest, and must have fallen asleep from weariness."

A look of pity and sympathy swept over the peasant girl's face.

"Mademoiselle is hungry, perhaps?" she remarked.

"Yes; I had no supper. I could not eat and am faint. I have been ill and
am far from strong."

The girl stuck her candle upon a rock and then, going outside the shed,
brought in her own lunch which she had left lying upon the bench. It
consisted of some coarse bread and cheese, some cakes fried in olive
oil, with a few dried figs, and all wrapped in a clean linen cloth.

"Eat, mademoiselle," she said, as she