Lucia Rudini | Page 9

only
expression he could find in them was envy. He turned away in disgust.
He did not admire too much courage in girls, for he was very young
and very sentimental, and he enjoyed being cried over.
A bugle sounded from the other end of the street, and in an instant
everything was in confusion. The soldiers hurried to answer, and the
people crowded about to see what was going to happen.
Lucia, eager and excited, snatched Maria's hand and pulled her into the
very center of the crowd. An officer, with the bugler beside him, read
an order from the steps of the town hall, an old gray stone building that
had stood in silent dignity at the end of the square for many centuries.
The girls were not near enough to hear the order, but they soon found
Roderigo in the excited mass of soldiers, and he explained it to them.
"We are to leave for the front at once," he cried excitedly. "We have
not a moment to spare. Tavola has been captured by the enemy, and our
troops are retreating through the Pass."
"The Saints preserve us!" Señora Rudini covered her face with her
apron and cried. "My sons! My sons! Where are they, dead or
prisoners?"
"No, no, they are safe," Lucia protested. "They are with the Army.
Don't worry, when the reënforcements reach them they will go forward
again."
But her aunt refused to be comforted. Everywhere in the street women
were calling excitedly, and a number of them besieged the officers for
information.
The soldiers hurried to their billets and got together their kits. The
square buzzed and hummed with excitement and the guns kept up a
steady bass accompaniment.
The bugle sounded a different order every little while. Some of the

more prudent women went home and began packing their household
treasures, but for the most part every one stayed in the market-place
and argued shrilly.
"Come!" Lucia exclaimed, catching Maria's hand. "We can watch them
march off from the top of the wall by the gate."
They ran quickly through the side streets, and by taking many turns
they at last reached the broad top of the wall, which they ran along until
they were just above the north gate.
"Here they come!" Maria exclaimed. "I can hear them."
The paved streets of the town rang with the heavy tramp, tramp of men
marching, and before long they appeared before the gate. The order to
walk four abreast was given. The men took their places, and then at a
brisk pace they marched through the old gate, a sea of bobbing black
hats and cock feathers.
The townspeople followed to cheer them excitedly. Lucia and Maria
leaned dangerously over the edge of the wall in their attempt to
recognize the familiar faces under the hats.
The soldiers looked up and called out gayly at sight of Lucia. She had
taken off her flowered kerchief and was waving it excitedly. The wind
caught her dark hair and blew it across her face, and her bright skirts in
the sunshine made a vivid spot of color against the stone wall. The men
turned often to look back at her as they marched along the wide road.
Maria did not lift her eyes from the sea of hats beneath her. She was
waiting for one face to look up. At last she had her wish. Roderigo's
place was towards the end of the column; when he walked under the
gate he looked up and smiled. It was a sad smile, full of regret.
Without exactly meaning to, Maria dropped the flower she was wearing
in her bodice. Roderigo caught it and tucked it, Neapolitan fashion,
behind his ear, then he blew a kiss to Maria and marched on.

Lucia watched the little scene. She was half amused and half
contemptuous. Her little heart under its gay bodice was filled with a
fine hate that left no room for pretty romance.
CHAPTER IV
LOST
When the soldiers had climbed out of sight into the mountains, Maria
walked slowly back to find her mother, and Lucia after a hurried
good-by ran home to tell Nana and Beppino the news.
She was far more worried over the possible order to evacuate than she
would admit. As their cottage was the farthest north on the road, it
would be the nearest to the Austrian guns. Personally Lucia scorned the
very idea of the Austrian guns, but she could not help realizing the
danger to Nana and Beppino and Garibaldi. She was still undecided
what to do when she reached the cottage.
Nana Rudini was standing in the doorway, shading her eyes with her
withered old hand, and staring intently in the direction that the soldiers
had taken.
"Did you see