Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 3).djvu/130

 'How did you know of that?' she asked, with terror at her heart.

'Saturnino himself told me. He told me that you showed him a place in the earth—a buca delle fate—and that there were gold toys there and armour, and he stole them, and they led to his own undoing.'

'As he merited,' she said between her lips. She breathed again at ease, remembering that Saturnino had not known she lived there.

'Did ever he speak to you of one who escaped with him,' she asked, desiring to know the worst; 'a noble, sentenced for murder, for whom reward is offered?'

'No; he never spoke of him. Why?'

'There would be money to be made if you knew where he was,' she said, with the subtlety of her race, which ran side by side with their bold passions.

'I am not a bloodhound to track him,' said Daniello Villamagna, with contempt. 'No, I know nought of him, and would not use my knowledge if I did. Nor would you, I think?'

'They offer money,' said Musa, with feigned avarice; 'but I, too, am not a spy.'

'If you love money, look at this,' said the sailor, deceived by her apparent greed.