Page:Poor Cecco - 1925.djvu/87



wanted to take to the open country, but Jensina was all for the road. She was used to roads, she said, and felt at home on them.

“Are you afraid we can’t defend you?” Poor Cecco asked.

“It isn’t so much that,” said Jensina, pausing to brush the dust off her shoes, which, being painted directly on her feet, were extremely comfortable for walking. “It isn’t so much that, as that there’s more life going on along the road. It seems years since I saw a wagon or an automobile, and if we are going to bury ourselves in the wilderness again I might as well have stayed on my ash-heap, where at least there was comfort!”

It was plain that the incident of the rats had upset her more than she would admit. So the others took no notice of her snippiness, but walked along on either side of her, affecting to admire the scenery.

There was very little passing certainly on this road. It was wide and bare and empty, and extremely hot, the sun by now being high above them, and not a cloud in the sky. Even the weeds along the roadside hung their heads. But