Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 2).djvu/102

 with some bread beside the bed; she lit a little wick in a little oil in one of the Etruscan lamps, and set it in the place; she went to the spring that welled through the passage beyond, and filled a big copper vessel with it for a bath.

'That is all I can do,' she thought, intent on her preparations as Nausicaa for her hero from the sea.

It was a pleasure to have some one to serve and to defend.

'Can you walk to the spot?' she said to him. 'If not, lean on me; I am strong.'

'I think I can walk,' he said, embarrassed somewhat because she was not so; and he rose and dragged himself feebly into the third chamber.

'I am so tired,' he muttered. 'I think I should let the carabineers take me now as easily as a stunned hare.'

'The carabineers will not come here,' said Musa. 'Do not think of them. Sleep, and if you want any aid give a shout, and I shall hear.'

'You are good to me,' murmured the stranger with a little confusion, looking at her as she stood with the light of her own lamp shed on her dark level brows,