that I am a wicked woman," Regina answered,
a slight blush rising in her cheeks. "And perhaps it is true. But it was
for him."

"I would take your hand anywhere, because you saved his life," said
Aurora, and her voice shook a little as she said the last words. "And
besides, no one has told me that you are wicked. Come, what is the use
of hating each other?"

Regina took her hand reluctantly, but not suspiciously, and held it a
moment.

"It does not mean that I shall not hate you if he ever loves you again,"
she said. "If I made you think that it would be treachery, and that is
the worst sin."

"It only means that I thank you now, quite honestly," Aurora answered,
and their hands parted.

"Very well." Regina seemed satisfied. "And I thank you for taking my
hand," she added, with something oddly like real gratitude, "and because
you said you would do it anywhere, even before other women. I know what
I am, and what people call me. But it was for him. Let us not talk of
it any more. I will help you down, and you shall go home alone."

"My mother is waiting for me far down, towards the village," Aurora
said.

"All the better. A young lady like you should not go about without any
one. It is not proper."

Aurora suppressed a smile at the thought of being reproved concerning
the proprieties by "Marcello's Regina," and she began the descent.
Regina went down first, facing the rock, and planting the young girl's
feet in the best stepping places, one after the other, with constant
warnings and instructions as to holding on with her hands. They reached
the bottom in safety, and came to the place where Regina had left her
hat and shoes. She sat down where she had been sitting when she had
first heard the cry, and began to put them on.

"I had taken them off for coolness as I sat here," she explained. "You
see, until I was fourteen I only wore them on Sundays."

"And yet you have such beautiful feet," Aurora said.

"Have I?" Regina asked indifferently. "I thought all feet were alike.
But I have torn my stocking--it is hard to get the shoe on."

"Let me help you." Aurora knelt down quickly, and began to loosen the
lacing further, but Regina protested, flushing deeply and trying to draw
her foot back.

"No, no!" she cried. "You are a lady!"

"What difference does that make?" asked Aurora, laughing and insisting.

"This is not right!" Regina still protested, and the blush had not left
her cheeks.

But Aurora smooth