Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 1).djvu/180

 to their mountains. There are broken hearts in Maremma when the threshing is done.'

'Yes,' said Musa again.

It was nothing to her, and she heeded but little.

'Yes, because men speak too lightly and women hearken too quickly; that is how the mischief is born. With the autumn the mountaineers come. They are strong and bold; they are ruddy and brown; they work all day, but in the long nights they dance and they sing; then the girl listens. She thinks it is all true, though it has all been said before in his own hills to other ears. The winter nights are long, and the devil is always near; when the corn goes down and the heat is come there is another sad soul the more, another burden to carry, and he—he goes back to the mountains. What does he care? Only when he comes down into the plains again he goes to another place to work, because men do not love women's tears. That is how it goes in Maremma.'

'Yes,' said Musa for a third time.

'Child, do not let a man touch you till you have had the blessing of Church upon you. Remember that. Whilst I am here,