Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 3).djvu/203



S she sat at the entrance of the tombs on the day of the vigil of St. John, watching—always watching—for the shadow she never saw, the step she never heard, there crept slowly over the pathless turf two large white bullocks yoked together.

There also was a group of men, seven in all, who led the oxen; and the ox-waggon bore loads of masons' implements and cordage, and empty sacks and baskets.

She did not notice them, except dully to wonder what they came to do there, and to be thankful that they had not come a year earlier, when he had hidden in the earth under their feet.

They crept on straight over the moor, and towards the hidden burial-place.