rywomen go forth in merry bands to pick the flower of May, and,
turning their eyes to the wayside shrine, or, if there be none near, to
the east and the rising sun, lift their hands full of the flowers above
their heads, and, making the sign of the cross, murmur devoutly:

"Divina Pruvidenza, pruvviditimi;
Divina Pruvidenza, cunsulatimi;
Divina Pruvidenza e granni assai;
Cu' teni fidi a Diu, 'un pirisci mai!"

[Illustration: "HER HEAD WAS THROWN BACK, AS IF SHE WERE DRINKING IN THE
BREEZE"]

Delarey knew neither song nor custom, but his ears were fascinated by the
voice and the melody. Both sounded remote and yet familiar to him, as if
once, in some distant land--perhaps of dreams--he had heard them before.
He wished the girl to go on singing, to sing on and on into the dawn
while he listened in his hiding-place, but she suddenly turned round and
stood looking towards him, as if something had told her that she was not
alone. He kept quite still. He knew she could not see him, yet he felt as
if she was aware that he was there, and instinctively he held his breath
and leaned backward into deeper shadow. After a minute the girl took a
step forward, and, still staring in his direction, called out:

"Padre?"

Then Delarey knew that it was her voice that he had heard when he was in
the sea, and he suddenly changed his desire. Now he no longer wished to
remain unseen, and without hesitation he came out from the trees. The
girl stood where she was, watching him as he came. Her attitude showed
neither surprise nor alarm, and when he was close to her, and could at
last see her face, he found that its expression was one of simple, bold
questioning. It seemed to be saying to him quietly, "Well, what do you
want of me?"

Delarey was not acquainted with the Arab type of face. Had he been he
would have at once been struck by the Eastern look in the girl's long,
black eyes, by the Eastern cast of her regular, slightly aquiline
features. Above her eyes were thin, jet-black eyebrows that looked almost
as if they were painted. Her chin was full and her face oval in shape.
She had hair like Gaspare's, black-brown, immensely thick and wavy, with
tiny feathers of gold about the temples. She was tall, and had the
contours of a strong though graceful girl just blooming into womanhood.
Her hands were as brown as Delarey's, well shaped, but the hands of a
worker. She was perhaps