Colomba ate
heartily, and made great fun of the prefect, the public prosecutor,
and the soldiers. The colonel ate too, but never said a word, and gazed
steadily at his daughter, who would not lift her eyes from her plate. At
last, gently but seriously, he said in English:
"Lydia, I suppose you are engaged to della Rebbia?"
"Yes, father, to-day," she answered, steadily, though she blushed. Then
she raised her eyes, and reading no sign of anger in her father's face,
she threw herself into his arms and kissed him, as all well-brought-up
young ladies do on such occasions.
"With all my heart!" said the colonel. "He's a fine fellow. But, by
G--d, we won't live in this d---d country of his, or I'll refuse my
consent."
"I don't know English," said Colomba, who was watching them with an air
of the greatest curiosity, "but I'll wager I've guessed what you are
saying!"
"We are saying," quoth the colonel, "that we are going to take you for a
trip to Ireland."
"Yes, with pleasure; and I'll be the Surella Colomba. Is it settled,
colonel? Shall we shake hands on it?"
"In such a case," remarked the colonel, "people exchanges kisses!"
CHAPTER XX
One afternoon, a few months after the double shot which, as the
newspapers said, "plunged the village of Pietranera into a state of
consternation," a young man with his left arm in a sling, rode out of
Bastia, toward the village of Cardo, celebrated for its spring, which
in summer supplies the more fastidious inhabitants of the town with
delicious water.
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