I
had reckoned that they would bring no lantern, for they had none
with them before.
To their eyes I was only a dark blur in the corner.
"Bring a light," said one of them.
"No, no; curse it!" cried a rough voice, which I knew to be that
of the ruffian, Matteo. "It is not a job that I like, and the
more I saw it the less I should like it. I am sorry, signora,
but the order of the tribunal has to be obeyed."
My impulse was to spring to my feet and to rush through them all
and out by the open door. But how would that help Lucia?
Suppose that I got clear away, she would be in their hands until
I could come back with help, for single-handed I could not hope
to clear a way for her. All this flashed through my mind in an
instant, and I saw that the only course for me was to lie still,
take what came, and wait my chance. The fellow's coarse hand
felt about among my curls--those curls in which only a woman's
fingers had ever wandered. The next instant he gripped my ear
and a pain shot through me as if I had been touched with a hot
iron.
Pages:
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59