"
After a hasty conclave, the two herdsmen concluded their wisest plan
was to throw the dead pig into a bog, and this project they carefully
executed, after each had duly carved himself several slices out of the
body of this innocent victim of the feud between the Barricini and the
della Rebbia.
CHAPTER XVII
Once rid of his unruly escort, Orso proceeded calmly on his way, far
more absorbed by the prospective pleasure of seeing Miss Nevil than
stirred by any fear of coming across his enemies.
"The lawsuit I must bring against these Barricini villains," he mused,
"will necessitate my going down to Bastia. Why should I not go there
with Miss Nevil? And once at Bastia, why shouldn't we all go together to
the springs of Orezza?"
Suddenly his childish recollections of that picturesque spot rose up
before him. He fancied himself on the verdant lawn that spreads beneath
the ancient chestnut-trees. On the lustrous green sward, studded with
blue flowers like eyes that smiled upon him, he saw Miss Lydia seated at
his side. She had taken off her hat, and her fair hair, softer and finer
than any silk, shone like gold in the sunlight that glinted through the
foliage.
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