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334 man up there with them. They will be down next week. It is time they were sheared.”

Before he had finished speaking, Alessandro had vanished, bounding like a deer. Ysidro stared after him; but seeing him enter the doorway of the little tule hut, he understood, and a sad smile passed over his face. He was not yet persuaded that this marriage of Alessandro's would turn out a blessing. “What are a handful of sheep to her!” he thought.

Breathless, panting, Alessandro burst into Ramona's presence. “Majella! my Majella! There are cattle—and sheep,” he cried. “The saints be praised! We are not like the beggars, as I said.”

“I told you that God would give us food, dear Alessandro,” replied Ramona, gently.

“You do not wonder! You do not ask!” he cried, astonished at her calm. “Does Majella think that a sheep or a steer can come down from the skies?”

“Nay, not as our eyes would see,” she answered; “but the holy ones who live in the skies can do anything they like on the earth. Whence came these cattle, and how are they ours?”

When he told her, her face grew solemn. “Do you remember that night in the willows,” she said, “when I was like one dying, because you would not bring me with you? You had no faith that there would be food. And I told you then that the saints never forsook those who loved them, and that God would give food. And even at that moment, when you did not know it, there were your cattle and your sheep feeding in the mountains, in the keeping of God! Will my Alessandro believe after this?” and she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him.

“It is true,” said Alessandro. “I will believe, after this, that the saints love my Majella.”