ich makes the entire circuit of the town, leaving
outside only the rim of houses that rise from the edge of the mountain,
some of them founded on the natural rock, others stretching roots of
masonry far down into the earth.

One of these houses on the Giro had for generations been in the
possession of the Guai family. One after another had held it at an easy
rent from Prince Borghese, the owner of the town. The vineyard and
orchard below in the Campagna they owned, and from those their wealth
was derived. For it was wealth for such people to have a house full of
furniture, linen and porcelain--where, perhaps, a connoisseur might have
found some rare bits of old china--besides having a thousand scudi in
bank.

In this position was the head of the family when he died, leaving a
grown-up son and daughter, and his wife about to become a mother for the
third time.

"Pepina shall have her portion in money, since she is to marry soon,"
the father said. "Give her three hundred scudi in gold and a hundred in
pearls. The rest of the money shall be for my wife to do as she likes
with. For the little one; when it shall come, Matteo shall put in the
bank every year thirty scudi, and when it shall be of age, be it girl or
boy, he shall divide the land equally with it."

So said Giovanni Guai, and died, and his wife let him talk
uncontradicted, since it was for the last time. They had lived a stormy
life, his heavy fist opposed to her indefatigable tongue, and she
contemplated with silent triumph the prospect of being left in
possession of the field. Besides, would he not see afterward what she
did--see and be helpless to oppose? So she let him die fancying that he
had disposed of his property.

"The child is sure to be a girl," she said afterward, "and I mean her to
be a nun. The land shall not be cut up. Matteo shall be a rich man and
pile up a fortune. He shall be the richest man in Monte Compatri, and a
girl shall not stand in his way."

Nature verified the mother's prophecy and sent a little girl. Silvia
they called her, and, since she was surely to be a nun, she grew to be
called Sister Silvia by everybody, even before she was old enough to
recognize her own name.

The house of the Guai, on its inner wall, opened on the comparatively
quiet Giro. From the windows and door could be heard the buzz and hum of
the Lungara, where everybody--men, women, children, cats and dogs--were
out with every species of work and play when