ming back to
supper when it was dark. A particularly fat and quiet pony was kept for
Marcello's mother, who was no great rider, but the Contessa and Aurora
rode anything that was brought them, as the men did. To tell the truth,
the Campagna horse is rarely vicious, and, even when only half broken,
can be ridden by a lady if she be an average horsewoman.

Everything happened as usual. The party reached the cottage in time for
a late luncheon, rested afterwards, and then rode out. But the Signora
Corbario would not go.

"Your pony looks fatter and quieter than ever," said Maddalena dell'
Armi with a smile. "If you do not ride him, he will turn into a
fixture."

"He is already a very solid piece of furniture," observed Folco, looking
at the sleek animal.

"He is very like the square piano I practise on," said Aurora. "He has
such a flat back and such straight thick legs."

"More like an organ," put in Marcello, gravely. "He has a curious,
half-musical wheeze when he tries to move, like the organ in the church
at San Domenico, when the bellows begin to work."

"It is a shame to make fun of my horse," answered the Signora, smiling.
"But really I am not afraid of him. I have a little headache from the
drive, that is all."

"Take some phenacetine," said Corbario with concern. "Let me make you
quite comfortable before we start."

He arranged a long straw chair for her in a sheltered corner of the
verandah, with cushions and a rug and a small table beside it, on which
Marcello placed a couple of new books that had been brought down. Then
Folco went in and got a little glass bottle of tablets from his wife's
travelling-bag and gave her one. She was subject to headaches and always
had the medicine with her. It was the only remedy she ever carried or
needed, and she had such confidence in it that she felt better almost as
soon as she had swallowed the tablet her husband gave her.

"Let me stay and read to you," he said. "Perhaps you would go to sleep."

"You are not vain of your reading, my dear," she answered with a smile.
"No, please go with the others."

Then the Contessa offered to stay, and the good Signora had to use a
good deal of persuasion to make them all understand that she would much
rather be left alone. They mounted and rode away through the trees
towards the beach, whence the sound of the small waves, breaking gently
under the afternoon breeze, came echoing softly up to the cottage.

The two young peop