Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 3).djvu/215

 It seemed to her as if every sound fell on her breast, on her brain.

The men were angry because, entering, they found no metal-work of value, no platters or vases, or cups, or chains, or bracelets of the virgin gold of Etruria, such as were yielded mm such rich harvest by the famous necropoles of Palestrina, of Cervetri, of the Montarozzi.

They were bitterly irritated, the steward most so of all; he having been sure to make a fine gleaning there, a tithe of which he would have given to his master who knew nothing of this day's work, though his name was used so glibly.

It was yet very early.

The old man sat in the shade of the tomb and drank the clear red wine that she had bought for Este, and cast his cunning eyes about in search for some gold or silver or amber that might be hidden in the sand, or lost in the dark where the bats clung. He saw none; all the gold-work that had ever been there had been taken by Saturnino, and finding none, despite all his pains and diligence, he grew more and more angry, more and more suspicious; he had had visions of such wealth within these graves as that which