Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 2).djvu/78

 'Then he has taken the mule to Bolsena!'

'No, no; your mule be burnt! My little lad went away with a good sensale'

'To whom he has sold it!' she cried, beside herself with powerless rage.

The man's face turned red, but he only swore at her.

'If you say more about that, I will say something to you,' he said savagely. 'Who stole the gold out of the tombs? The tombs were ours as much as yours.'

'I stole nothing,' said Musa; 'but your little liar has robbed me of my mule, and you know it very well, and you have the sensale's silver in your house now, and you are all of you wicked and accursed; and sooner would I that you had cut off my right arm rather than that you had taken that poor beast to misery in its old age.'

She felt a sob choke her as she spoke, thinking of the patient beast that she had known and eared for all her life, and of the baseness and the vileness with which the child she had trusted had rewarded her trust.

She knew her own impotence. She could prove nothing, and she was full sure that Zirlo and the dealer were far away—no