“I will go,” said the girl. “You two, in the meanwhile, carry the master to Treppi, and lay him on the bed which Nina will show you. She must call the surgeon, the old woman, and have the master healed and bandaged by her. Lift him up, you, Tommaso, by the shoulders; you, Beppo, by the feet. So, lift him! Softly! Softly! But stop--dip this in water and lay it on his brow and wet it again at every spring. Do you understand?” She tore from her head a great piece of the linen kerchief, soaked it and bound it about the bloody head of Filippo. Then he was lifted up, the men bore him on to Treppi, and the girl, gazing after him with the life entirely gone from her eyes, picked up her skirts quickly and went along the rough path down the mountain. * * * * * It was about three o’clock in the afternoon when she reached Pistoja. The Fortuna inn lay some hundred feet beyond the city, and at this, the hour of siesta, there was but little sign of life within. In the shadow of the broad overhanging eaves wagons were standing, unhitched, while the drivers were asleep on the cushions; in the great smithy opposite, all work was at rest, and through the thickly dusted trees along the highway not a breeze was stirring. Fenice went over to the spring in front of the house, whose stream, the only busy thing about, was pouring down into the great stone trough, and refreshed her hands and face. Then she drank, slow and deep, to still both thirst and hunger, and went into the tavern. The landlord lifted himself sleepily from the bench in the wine-room, but lay down again when he saw that it was a girl from Treppi that disturbed his rest. “What do you want?” he addressed her sharply. “If you want something to eat or some wine, go into the kitchen.” “Are you the landlord?” she asked quietly. “Who else but me? You know me, I should think--Baldassare Tizzi of the Fortuna. What have you got for me, my pretty daughter?” “A message from Signor Filippo Mannini, the lawyer.” “Eh, eh, that’s it, is it? That’s something different, to be sure,” and he got up quickly. “Didn’t he come himself, child? There are some gentlemen over there waiting for him.” “Then bring me to them.” “Ei, ei, the sphinx! Can’t a man know what he has to say to the gentlemen?” “No.” “There, there, very good, child, very good. Every one has his own secret, this pretty stubborn-head as well as the tough skull of old Baldassare. Eh, eh, so he is not coming; that will be very displeasing to the gentlemen; they appear to have important business with him.” He became silent and looked at the girl sidewise. But as she gave no sign of taking him into her confidence, but opened the door, he put on his straw hat and went out with her, shaking his head.