not know that! I always said, 'This boy
will be my consolation!' And now you are killing me! I would willingly
give the little life that remains to me if I could see you become a good
boy, and an obedient one, as you were in those days when I used to lead
you to the sanctuary--do you remember, Ferruccio? You used to fill my
pockets with pebbles and weeds, and I carried you home in my arms, fast
asleep. You used to love your poor grandma then. And now I am a
paralytic, and in need of your affection as of the air to breathe, since
I have no one else in the world, poor, half-dead woman that I am: my
God!"

Ferruccio was on the point of throwing himself on his grandmother,
overcome with emotion, when he fancied that he heard a slight noise, a
creaking in the small adjoining room, the one which opened on the
garden. But he could not make out whether it was the window-shutters
rattling in the wind, or something else.

He bent his head and listened.

The rain beat down noisily.

The sound was repeated. His grandmother heard it also.

"What is it?" asked the grandmother, in perturbation, after a momentary
pause.

"The rain," murmured the boy.

"Then, Ferruccio," said the old woman, drying her eyes, "you promise me
that you will be good, that you will not make your poor grandmother weep
again--"

Another faint sound interrupted her.

"But it seems to me that it is not the rain!" she exclaimed, turning
pale. "Go and see!"

But she instantly added, "No; remain here!" and seized Ferruccio by the
hand.

Both remained as they were, and held their breath. All they heard was
the sound of the water.

Then both were seized with a shivering fit.

It seemed to both that they heard footsteps in the next room.

"Who's there?" demanded the lad, recovering his breath with an effort.

No one replied.

"Who is it?" asked Ferruccio again, chilled with terror.

But hardly had he pronounced these words when both uttered a shriek of
terror. Two men sprang into the room. One of them grasped the boy and
placed one hand over his mouth; the other clutched the old woman by the
throat. The first said:--

"Silence, unless you want to die!"

The second:--

"Be quiet!" and raised aloft a knife.

Both had dark cloths over their faces, with two holes for the eyes.

For a moment nothing was audible but the gasping breath of all four, the
patter of the rain; the old woman emitted frequent rattles from her
throat, and her eyes were