Part 10 (1/2)
The ap.r.o.n fell, and Tessa's face began to look as contented as a cherub's budding from a cloud. The diabolical conjuror, the anger and the beating, seemed a long way off.
”I think I'll go home, if you'll take me,” she said, in a half whisper, looking up at t.i.to with wide blue eyes, and with something sweeter than a smile--with a childlike calm.
”Come, then, little one,” said t.i.to, in a caressing tone, putting her arm within his again. ”Which way is it?”
”Beyond Peretola--where the large pear-tree is.”
”Peretola? Out at which gate, pazzarella? I am a stranger, you must remember.”
”Out at the Por del Prato,” said Tessa, moving along with a very fast hold on t.i.to's arm.
He did not know all the turnings well enough to venture on an attempt at choosing the quietest streets; and besides, it occurred to him that where the pa.s.sengers were most numerous there was, perhaps, the most chance of meeting with Monna Ghita and finding an end to his knight-errant-s.h.i.+p. So he made straight for Porta Rossa, and on to Ognissanti, showing his usual bright propitiatory face to the mixed observers who threw their jests at him and his little heavy-shod maiden with much liberality. Mingled with the more decent holiday-makers there were frolicsome apprentices, rather envious of his good fortune; bold-eyed women with the badge of the yellow veil; beggars who thrust forward their caps for alms, in derision at t.i.to's evident haste; dicers, sharpers, and loungers of the worst sort; boys whose tongues were used to wag in concert at the most brutal street games: for the streets of Florence were not always a moral spectacle in those times, and Tessa's terror at being lost in the crowd was not wholly unreasonable.
When they reached the Piazza d'Ognissanti, t.i.to slackened his pace: they were both heated with their hurried walk, and here was a wider s.p.a.ce where they could take breath. They sat down on one of the stone benches which were frequent against the walls of old Florentine houses.
”Holy Virgin!” said Tessa; ”I am glad we have got away from those women and boys; but I was not frightened, because you could take care of me.”
”Pretty little Tessa!” said t.i.to, smiling at her. ”What makes you feel so safe with me?”
”Because you are so beautiful--like the people going into Paradise: they are all good.”
”It is a long while since you had your breakfast, Tessa,” said t.i.to, seeing some stalls near, with fruit and sweetmeats upon them. ”Are you hungry?”
”Yes, I think I am--if you will have some too.”
t.i.to bought some apricots, and cakes, and comfits, and put them into her ap.r.o.n.
”Come,” he said, ”let us walk on to the Prato, and then perhaps you will not be afraid to go the rest of the way alone.”
”But you will have some of the apricots and things,” said Tessa, rising obediently and gathering up her ap.r.o.n as a bag for her store.
”We will see,” said t.i.to aloud; and to himself he said, ”Here is a little contadina who might inspire a better idyl than Lorenzo de'
Medici's 'Nencia da Barberino,' that Nello's friends rave about; if I were only a Theocritus, or had time to cultivate the necessary experience by unseasonable walks of this sort! However, the mischief is done now: I am so late already that another half-hour will make no difference. Pretty little pigeon!”
”We have a garden and plenty of pears,” said Tessa, ”and two cows, besides the mules; and I'm very fond of them. But my father-in-law is a cross man: I wish my mother had not married him. I think he is wicked; he is very ugly.”
”And does your mother let him beat you, poverina? You said you were afraid of being beaten.”
”Ah, my mother herself scolds me: she loves my young sister better, and thinks I don't do work enough. n.o.body speaks kindly to me, only the Pievano (parish priest) when I go to confession. And the men in the Mercato laugh at me and make fun of me. n.o.body ever kissed me and spoke to me as you do; just as I talk to my little black-faced kid, because I'm very fond of it.”
It seemed not to have entered Tessa's mind that there was any change in t.i.to's appearance since the morning he begged the milk from her, and that he looked now like a personage for whom she must summon her little stock of reverent words and signs. He had impressed her too differently from any human being who had ever come near her before, for her to make any comparison of details; she took no note of his dress; he was simply a voice and a face to her, something come from Paradise into a world where most things seemed hard and angry; and she prattled with as little restraint as if he had been an imaginary companion born of her own lovingness and the suns.h.i.+ne.
They had now reached the Prato, which at that time was a large open s.p.a.ce within the walls, where the Florentine youth played at their favourite _Calcio_--a peculiar kind of football--and otherwise exercised themselves. At this mid-day time it was forsaken and quiet to the very gates, where a tent had been erected in preparation for the race. On the border of this wide meadow, t.i.to paused and said--
”Now, Tessa, you will not be frightened if I leave you to walk the rest of the way by yourself. Addio! Shall I come and buy a cup of milk from you in the Mercato to-morrow morning, to see that you are quite safe?”
He added this question in a soothing tone, as he saw her eyes widening sorrowfully, and the corners of her mouth falling. She said nothing at first; she only opened her ap.r.o.n and looked down at her apricots and sweetmeats. Then she looked up at him again and said complainingly--
”I thought you would have some, and we could sit down under a tree outside the gate, and eat them together.”
”Tessa, Tessa, you little siren, you would ruin me,” said t.i.to, laughing, and kissing both her cheeks. ”I ought to have been in the Via de' Bardi long ago. No! I must go back now; you are in no danger.