Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 2).djvu/103

 her lustrous eyes, her up-thrown masses of bronze-hued hair, and the form that was clad in the white lambs'-wool as the fauns and nymphs of old may have been clad in Tempe and Arcadia when through the gladness of the woods the winds of winter rustled.

'I will say of you as the angel Gabriel said of Madonna Lisa,' he said with a little smile, 'that you are the fairest thing that ever was seen in Mondo or Maremma.'

'Oh, not I, said Musa, with a little displeasure. 'When the rose and crimson flamingoes come like a cloud red with the sun's setting, they are much more beautiful than I. Do the angels ever remember Maremma? I think not. Who could tell you they did? Good-night to you; good repose.'

Then she went across the other chambers, crossing herself as she passed the coffin of Joconda, and in time laid herself down on her own bed as calmly as though no human intruder had disturbed her solitude.

Only, every now and then she kept awaking with a start, and, sitting up on her rough couch, listened with ears as eager and sure as the deer's to hear whether any sound