Lucia Rudini | Page 6

seven years between them, for there was
something protective in her expression.
"Little lazy bones, asleep again!" she said, shaking him gently.
Beppi stirred, one eye opened, and then with a sudden rush of memory
he sat up and began excitedly: "I just this minute fell asleep, just this
very second, truly, Lucia! I have watched the goats, oh, so carefully,
and they have not stirred,--see there they are only a little farther away
than when you left. I only closed my eyes because I thought I might go
on with that nice dream, but I didn't," he finished sorrowfully.
Lucia laughed.
"Look at the sun," she pointed. "It is late, you should have driven the
goats home long ago. But I knew you would go to asleep after you ate
up all the candy, such a naughty little brother that you are. What kind
of a soldier would you make, I'd like to know, dreaming every few
minutes? Come along, get up,--we must hurry back to Nana, or she will
be worried."
She took his hand and together they drove the goats before them to the
cottage.
[Illustration: "Together they drove the goats before them."]
Nana Rudini was waiting for them at the door. She was a little,
wrinkled-up, old woman with bright blue eyes and thin gray hair. She

spoke very seldom and always in a high querulous voice.
"So you're back at last, are you?" she greeted, when the children were
within hearing. "Supper's been on the stove for too long. What kept
you?"
"Very busy day, Nana," Lucia spoke in much the same tone she had
used towards Beppi. "I had to help Aunt and Maria at market. More
troops have arrived and the streets are crowded."
"Oh, sister, you never told me that!" Beppi said accusingly. "Where are
they from?"
"The south mostly," Lucia replied, "fine soldiers they are too, if you
can judge by their looks."
"Which you can't," old Nana interrupted shortly. "Stop your talking and
come in to supper."
"Right away," Lucia promised, and hurried off to shut up her goats in
the small, half-tumbled-down shack at the back of the cottage.
Supper at the Rudinis consisted of boiled spaghetti, black bread and
cheese, with a cup full of milk apiece. It was not a very tempting meal,
but Lucia was hungry and ate with a hearty appetite.
After the three bowls had been washed and put away in the cupboard,
she helped her grandmother undress, and settled her comfortably in the
green enameled bed with its brass trimmings, that occupied a good part
of the small room. Lucia's mother had brought it with her from Naples,
and it was the most cherished and admired article of furniture that the
Rudinis owned.
"Are you comfortable, Nana?" Lucia inquired gently, as she smoothed
the fat, hard pillows in an attempt to make a rest for the old gray head.
"Yes, go to bed, child," Nana replied, and without more ado she closed
her eyes and went to sleep.

Lucia climbed up the ladder to the loft, and was soon cuddled down
beside Beppi in a bed of fresh straw. Though she persisted in her
determination that her grandmother sleep in state in the best bed, she
herself preferred a simple and softer resting place.
"Tell me a story," Beppi demanded; "not about fairies and silly make
believes, but about soldiers."
"But there are no pretty stories about soldiers, Beppino mio," Lucia
protested.
"Who wants pretty stories!" Beppi replied scornfully. "I don't--tell me
an exciting one about guns and war."
"Very well I'll try, but be still," Lucia gave in, well knowing that she
would not have to go very far.
"Once upon a time," she began, "there was a soldier. He had very big
eyes, and he came from the south where the sun is very warm and the
sky and the water are very, very blue."
"Was he brave?" Beppi interrupted sleepily.
"Oh, yes, he was very brave," Lucia replied hurriedly, "very brave, and
he loved his country more than anything else in the world."
She waited but Beppi's voice commanded.
"Go on, don't stop."
"Well, one day he was sent to guard a gate of a city, and he walked up
and down before it with his gun on his shoulders, and no one could
pass him unless it was a friend."
She paused again. Beppi was breathing regularly.
"Old sleepy head!" Lucia whispered, and kissed him tenderly.
The story was not continued and before many minutes she was fast

asleep herself.
It was an hour before sunrise when she awoke. The air that found its
way into the little attic was damp and chill. Lucia crept out of bed,
being very careful not to disturb Beppi, and slipped hurriedly into her
clothes. With