Page:In Maremma, by Ouida (vol 3).djvu/252

 'Thou also!' said the scorn and sorrow of her grand calm eyes.

When he recovered a little from that trepidation of terror, he swore glibly enough that on the first day when she had taken him down into the tombs there had been much gold, much; it lay in heaps and heaps, so he affirmed; and when he had returned thither the next day by himself—not meaning to touch it, oh no! only to look if it were safe—he saw none there, none at all; it must have been carried away in the night. He declared that she had the mal' oechio, and that she had threatened his life because he took two travellers to see the buche delle fate, and that he had gone to dwell at Populonia because he went in perpetual peril from her vengeance. He told his tale very convincingly, and with pretty childish innocence of bearing.

When he had quite ended, her voice rang out like a clarion in defiance of him, of her accusers, of her judges, of all the listening people.

'You are a miserable traitor,' she cried to him. 'I sheltered you from the storm; I fed you often; I was attached to you; I dealt honestly and well with you always;