oat.

"No one has seen the holy saint except himself, but the blessed one has
appeared again to him. Antoli came back, afraid that the sheep were
scattered, afraid of being dismissed. He found his little tent in
order; food was there, and better food than shepherds have, eggs and
wine and bread. While he waited the blessed one himself came, with
light shining about his hair. He brought back the coat that he had
worn: see, is it not proof that he was there?"

"The coat was a new one," interrupted the shepherd.

Giacomo repeated, and went on.

"He smiled and talked most kindly, and when he went away--the Signorina
understands?"

Daphne nodded.

"He gave his hand to Antoli," said Giacomo breathlessly.

"I will make the wreath," said the Signorina, smiling. "It shall be of
these," and she held up a handful of pink daisies, mingled with bits of
fern and ivy leaves. "Assunta shall take it to the church when she
takes hers. I rejoice that you are well," she added, turning to Antoli
with a polite sentence from the phrase-book.

As she worked on after they were gone, Assunta came to her again.

"The Signorina heard?" she asked.

"Si. Is the story true?" asked Daphne.

Assunta's eyes were full of hidden meaning.

"The Signorina ought to know."

"Why?"

"Has not the Signorina seen the blessed one herself?" she asked.

"I?" said Daphne, starting.

"The night the lambkin was killed, did not the Signorina go out in
great distress, and did not the blessed one come to her aid?"

"Ma che!" exclaimed Daphne faintly, falling back, in her astonishment,
upon Assunta's vocabulary.

"I have told no one, not even Giacomo," said Assunta, "but I saw it
all. The noise had wakened me, and I followed, but I stopped when I
saw that the divine one was there. Only I watched from the clump of
cypress trees."

"Where was he?" asked Daphne with unsteady voice.

"Beyond the laurel trees," said Assunta. "Did not the Signorina see?"

The girl shook her head.

"How did you know that he was one of the divine?" she asked.

"Can I not tell the difference between mortal man and one of them?"
cried the peasant woman scornfully. "It was the shining of his face,
and the light about his hair, Signorina. Every look and every motion
showed that he was not of this world. Besides, how could I see him in
the dark if he were not the blessed Saint Sebastian? And who sent the
dog away if it was not he?" she added triumphantly.