Lucia Rudini | Page 4

with cheese and
sausage. The profits wore not great, but they wore enough.
"Is that the milk I brought in this morning?" Lucia asked incredulously
as she approached the stall.
"No, no, my dear," her aunt replied, shaking her head. "You brought
scarcely two full pails, and they were gone before you had reached the
gate. We have had a great day, so many soldiers, it is a shame that you
cannot bring in more, for we could sell it. Just see, we had to send to
old Paolo's for this, and it is not as rich as yours of course, for his poor
beasts have only the weeds between the cobblestones to eat."
"That is because he is a lazy old man and won't take the trouble to lead
his herd out on the slopes to graze," Lucia replied. She put her hands on
her hips and swayed back and forth as she talked. It was a little trait she
had inherited from her mother, and one of her most characteristic poses.
"How well you look to-day!" Maria said, smiling. "I have been wishing
you would come, we are so busy--see, here come a group of soldiers all
together. Will you help me?" She held out a dipper with a long handle,
which Lucia accepted critically.

"I don't like charging full price for this milk which is more like water,"
she said.
"Nonsense, child, it is business, the soldiers know no difference; it is
only your silly pride," her aunt scolded. She was a little in awe of her
determined niece, and very often she was provoked at her.
"If you can't bring us more milk, we must do the best we can," she said
meaningly. "You used to bring us twice this much."
Lucia shrugged her shoulders and tossed her head. "I can bring no more
than I bring," she said, and turned her attention to the soldiers before
her.
But the explanation did not satisfy her thrifty aunt. She was no
authority on goats, but she had enough sense to know that the supply of
milk does not dwindle to one-half the usual quantity over night. Still
she did not voice her suspicions.
Lucia and Maria were busy for the rest of the afternoon. Lucia's
flowered dress and brilliantly-colored bandana that she wore tied over
her head, were added attractions to Señora Rudini's stall, and the
soldiers from the south came and chattered and laughed.
[Illustration: "The soldiers came and chattered and laughed."]
"What a pity we have no more," Maria said as the last crock was
emptied, and they set about preparing to return home. "We could go on
selling all night now that Lucia is here."
"Well, it is high time to go home, I am tired," her mother replied
crossly. "Hurry with what you are doing."
Lucia was busy closing the big umbrella.
"It is late, I will have to hurry, or Beppi will have let all my goats run
away--he and his dreams. He is a lazy little one, but I can't bear to scold
him," she said. "He is too little to understand."

Her aunt nodded. "Let him dream, but if you are not careful, he will be
badly spoiled."
"No fear of that," Lucia replied, "while Nana has a word to say. She is
always for bringing him up properly, but little good it does. Now we
are ready, I will help you carry home your things, if you will let Maria
walk with me to the gate," Lucia bargained.
"Oh, she may I suppose, though she should be at home helping me
prepare the dinner. I suppose you have some secrets between you that
an old grayhead can't hear," she grumbled good-naturedly.
"Oh, yes a fine secret!" Lucia replied laughing, as she picked up the
greatest share of the burden and led the way.
Maria and her mother lived in an old stone house that had once been a
palace. It was hardly palatial now, but it was very picturesque. It
housed five families besides the Rudinis, and in spite of the many lines
of wash that floated from its windows, it still retained enough of its old
grandeur to be an interesting spot to the occasional tourist who visited
Cellino. Maria and her mother were very proud of this distinction. It
made up somewhat for the loss of their house, which they had been
forced to leave, when six months before Maria's two brothers had gone
off to fight.
The new quarters were not far from the market place and they soon
reached them. Their rooms were on the ground floor, and Lucia and
Maria made haste to drop what they were carrying and start off again at
a much slower pace for the gate. The sun was low in the