Part 58 (1/2)

'To whom is your letter addressed, my son?' said the Fra, in a more gentle voice.

With difficulty did Gerald repress the sharp reply that was on his lips, and say--

'It is for one that neither you nor I know much of--Il Pastore.'

'I know him well,' said the friar boldly; 'and say it without fear of contradiction, I am the only one he makes a shrift to--ay, that does he, ill as you think of him,' added he, as if answering the half-contemptuous smile on Gerald's face. 'Let's see your letter.'

With an awkward reluctance Gerald drew forth the letter and showed it.

'Ah!' cried the Fra eagerly, 'he had been looking for that letter this many a day back; but it comes too late now.'

As he said this he pressed eagerly forward and whispered to the nun who was walking at the side of the mule. She looked back hurriedly for an instant, and then as rapidly turned her head again. They continued now to converse eagerly for some time, and seemed totally to have forgotten Gerald, as he walked on after them; when the Fra turned suddenly round and said--

'I 'll take charge of your letter, my son, while you guide our sister down to Cheatstone, a little cl.u.s.ter of houses you 'll see at the foot of the mountain; and if there be an answer I 'll fetch it to-morrow, ere daybreak.'

'Nay, Fra, I promised that I would deliver this with my own hands, and I mean to be no worse than my word.' 'You 'll have to be at least less than your word,' said the friar, 'for the Pastore would not see you.

These are his days of penance and mortification, and I am the only one who dares to approach him.'

'I am pledged to deliver this into his own hand,' said Gerald calmly.

'You may have said many a rash thing in your life, but never a rasher than that,' said the Fra sternly. 'I tell you again, he 'll not see you.

At all events, you 'll have to find the road by your own good wits, and it is a path that has puzzled shrewder heads.'

With this rude speech, uttered in the rudest way, the Fra moved hastily on till he overtook his companion, leaving Gerald to follow how he pleased.

For some time he continued on after the others, vainly straining his eyes on every side for any signs of a. pathway upward. The way which he had trod before, with hope to cheer him, became now wearisome and sad.

He was sick of his adventure, out of temper with his want of success, and dissatisfied with himself. He at last resolved that he would go no farther on his track than a certain little olive copse which nestled in a cleft of the mountain, reaching which he would repose for a while, and then retrace his steps.

The sun was strong and the heat oppressive, insomuch that when at length he gained the copse, he was well pleased to throw himself down beneath the shade and take his rest. He had already forgotten the Franciscan and his fellow-traveller, and was deeply musing over his own fortunes, when suddenly he heard their voices, and, creeping noiselessly to the edge of the cliff, he saw them seated at a little well, beside which their breakfast was spread out. The woman had thrown back her hood and showed now a beautiful head, whose long black hair fell heavily on either shoulder, while her taper fingers, covered with many a splendid ring, plainly showed that her conventual dress was only a disguise. Nor was this the only sign that surprised him, for now he saw that a short bra.s.s blunderbuss, the regular weapon of the brigand, lay close to the friar's hand.

'It is the Pastore himself,' thought Gerald, as he gazed down at the brawny limbs and well-knit proportions of the stranger. 'How could I ever have mistaken him for a friar?' The more he thought over the friar's manner--his eagerness to get the letter, and the careless indifference afterward with which he suffered Gerald to leave him--the more he felt a.s.sured that this was no other than the celebrated chief himself.

'At least, I have succeeded in seeing him, thought he; 'and why should I not go boldly forward and speak to him? 'The resolve was no sooner formed than he proceeded to execute it. In a moment after he had descended the cliff, and, making his way through the brushwood, stood before them.

'So, then, you _will_ track me, youngster,' said the friar angrily.

'Once--twice--to-day the road was open to you to seek your own way, and you would not take it. How bent you must be to do yourself an ill turn!'

'You are ”II Pastore,”' said Gerald boldly.

'And thou art _Gherardi mio!'_ cried the woman, as she rushed wildly toward him and clasped him in her arms. It was Marietta herself who spoke.

How tell the glorious outburst of Gerald's joy, as he overpowered her with questions--whence she came, whither going, how and why, and wherefore there? Was she really and truly the Egyptian who had visited him on his sick-bed, and not a mere vision?

'And was it from thy lips, then,' cried he, 'that I learned that all this ambition was but a snare--that I was destined to be only the tool of crafty men, deep in their own designss? At times the revelation seemed to come from thee, and at times a burst of heart-felt conviction.

Which was it, Marietta _mia_?'