Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 3).djvu/218

 they uncovered the poor, withered, lifeless frame of her that was untouched by corruption as yet, being so shrivelled and fleshless with old age, and further preserved by the dry aromatic air of the painted chamber.

'It is a woman. It is Joconda Romanelli!' he said gasping; and his men shrank together awed and frightened, and shut the coffin down and stood staring.

A thrust of the knife in a brawl, a shot on a lonesome hill, and fierce vengeance deftly worked out—these they were well used to in Maremma, and they saw no great harm in them. But this body, torn from Christian burial and sanctified ground, and shoved away with these Etruscan mummies, seemed to them a ghastly horror; for had not the girl taken all the gold?

Meanwhile, outside in the sunshine, Musa lay with bound limbs, strained ears, and aching eyes; powerless to move, not knowing what they did, judging only of their violence by the broken lute and the heap of broken Etruscan ware that were thrown out beside her on the sand.

'It is God's mercy he is gone,' she thought; that was her chief remembrance.