Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 1).djvu/242

 mule was in his place, munching straw and the withered leaves of cane.

She went thence into the room of Joconda; Leone did not cease to howl, although he saw her. Joconda still lay sleeping.

'She must be ill,' thought Musa, with a sudden pang, and the chillness of a new vague terror falling on her.

She sprang to the bedside where the dog lay moaning. Joconda had not moved since the night; only on her face there was shining, instead of the silvery moonlight, the yellowish, sickly glare of the setting sun.

She had died in her sleep.

A terrible cry rang through the empty house out to the seashore.

Musa was left alone.