Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 1).djvu/148

 suing shadow, yet an immense longing, an intense eagerness, were with her toa; if only she could go where he was gone, if only she could know that mystery!

But she could only bend over her oars and send her boat through the phosphorescent calm of tranquil water. Neither sea nor sky answered her.

When she reached Santa Tarsilla, the village was all dark. It was midnight. The fishing smacks were still out, far away by many a mile, and the men with them. The women and children slept. She fastened the boat to its iron ring in the stone landing, and went slowly ashore.

On the edge of the little water-worn low pier an old woman stood and a white dog; the dog rushed to her, the woman cried angrily, 'Why give us this fright? I bid you always be in at moonrise. I have been here for hours, looking, looking, looking, while Leone howled'

'It was not my fault,' said the child in a low tone. 'I have seen strange things.'

'Pray God you have not seen your father,' thought Joconda, as she said aloud, 'Come to the house; you must be hungry.'

'No,' said Musa; but she went with Jo-