Page:Francesca Carrara 2.pdf/278

Rh "Nothing, nothing!" exclaimed Guido; "we left nothing behind us but the grave!" Then, ashamed of this passion before a stranger, he said, taking out his purse, and pouring its contents into the woman's hand, "we will not tax your skill; but take this for the sake of the land we have alike left, and the tongue we have alike spoken."

The amount of the gift for the moment put to flight even the ready wit of the gipsy; and she let them pass on in silence; but they moved slowly, for the least excitation was too much for Guido, and he leant faintly on Francesca. With the tenderness of feminine tact, she only followed them for an instant with a whispered and earnest blessing, and then left them. "They might well say," murmured she, as they passed through the thicket, "that I could tell them nothing; for the death-damp is on his hand; and she—there is that in her face which never boded happiness!"