The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-22

{ ter "It is true that people are i'll, but
your fruit is fresh and 1 am not afraid
r.; of it, My friend 'Cenzini of the greer
! boat is ill, like many others, though
! he ate no fruit. Besides, he will gel
better. I go every day to see him and
am sure he will get better"
/ Little Paolina said nothing, and he1
head was bent and her face hidden by
, the blue and white headdress; but, il
; it was not tear that splashed into the
: basket of fruit, l cannot say what il
might have been. Old Maria came out
! from her kitchen just then with a
clean dish for my grapes, and said
/ no more, but paid Paolina and sent
| her off Maria was always ready to
! be cross with her now-drst because
of the lost marriage fee, though that
was no fault of poor little Paolina- and
secondly, because would never let her
| beat down Paolina's price, and a bar
gain was almost as good as a gossip
to Maria
After that, every morning as l turned
over her fruit, l chatted with little Pao-
lima telling her the news of our side
of the bay, and especially my latest
impressions concerning the health Of
my friend 'Cenzini of the green boat
1t is one of my many failings, to chat
ter of what is interesting me at the
for my audience. 1t sometimes hap
pened that when 'Cenzini had threat
ened to have a bad night, / would even
stroll around in the early morning to
know how he had Jared Then, natu-
rally, my mind would tend still to be
full of the matter when / came back
for my fruit and my breakfast, and
little Paolina heard what there was to
hear
ers. never so very plentiful in that
place, were getting scarce. But [ still
got some occasionally with my fruit,
and they were none the rarer when
happened to say that rose or two went
to 'Cenzini of the green boat.
There came time just before the
breaking up of the hot weather, When
| 'Cenzini suddenly seemed to wonder in
a feeble faint-hearted way what he had
been fighting for, and to drift, weakly
careless. toward the Great Shadow.
The little black-eyed doctor, who had
walked a London hospital and loved
to talk of England with me, grew
graver and peered anXiously at him
| through gold-rimmed spectacles, with
out seeming to see anything very salts
! factory and shrugged his shoulders
discontentedly when we got outside the
room,
That night the strong tramontana
wind arose, bringing great waves roll
| ing into the harbor, and tossing little
PaoIna's skirts about her as she came
round the corner past my door in the
short twilight.
She fingered with a pretence of Of
fering to sell, though there was little
| in her basket. and nothing that l could
want
"Buona sera, Paolina,' I said, with
a clumsy attempt at cheerfulness. This
Blow all sickness out of the island, this
strong wind 1t will blow fresh life
into all of us"
1T is just in time to blow it out of
some, signor," said Benigno, the pilot,
passing by, with his eyes turned to the
open sea. Cenzini of the green boat
will go tonight. His anchor is up. Dom
Pedro, the Jesuit, has been seeing him,
and said he would go, but that he
calls, calls for something or some one
that he will not give a name to. But
this is a fair wind and a strong wind
and 'Cenzini is a boatman He will
hear it and his soul will go out on it
before morning
There was a gasping cry, and a sha-
dow fitted from my side and was gone.
"Who was that?" asked Benigno,
whiring round from his survey Of the
white water.
who knows?" 1 answered Grossly,
and having lost my temper, turned
and entered the house. slamming the
door after me and having no answer for
old Maria, who shuffied out of the
kitchen to know what was the matter.