orso had been parted from his father at so early an age that he had scarcely had time to know him. he had left pietranera to pursue his studies at pisa when he was only fifteen. thence he had passed into the military school, and ghilfuccio, meanwhile, was bearing the imperial eagles all over europe. on the mainland, orso only saw his father at rare intervals, and it was not until 1815 that he found himself in the regiment he commanded. but the colonel, who was an inflexible disciplinarian, treated his son just like any other sub-lieutenant—in other words, with great severity. orso’s memories of him were of two kinds: he recollected him, at pietranera, as the father who would trust him with his sword, and would let him fire off his gun when he came in from a shooting expedition, or who made him sit down, for the first time, tiny urchin as he was, at the family dinner-table. then he remembered the colonel della rebbia who would put him under arrest for some blunder, and who never called him anything but lieutenant della rebbia.
“lieutenant della rebbia, you are not in your right place on parade. you will be confined to barracks three days.”
“your skirmishers are five yards too far from your main body—five days in barracks.”
“it is five minutes past noon, and you are still in your forage-cap—a week in barracks.”
only once, at quatre-bras, he had said to him, “well done, orso! but be cautious!”
but, after all, these later memories were not connected in his mind with pietranera. the sight of the places so familiar to him in his childish days, of the furniture he had seen used by his mother, to whom he had been fondly attached, filled his soul with a host of tender and painful emotions. then the gloomy future that lay before him, the vague anxiety he felt about his sister, and, above all other things, the thought that miss nevil was coming to his house, which now struck him as being so small, so poor, so unsuited to a person accustomed to luxury—the idea that she might possibly despise it—all these feelings made his brain a chaos, and filled him with a sense of deep discouragement.
at supper he sat in the great oaken chair, blackened with age, in which his father had always presided at the head of the family table, and he smiled when he saw that colomba hesitated to sit down with him. but he was grateful to her for her silence during the meal, and for her speedy retirement afterward. for he felt he was too deeply moved to be able to resist the attack she was no doubt preparing to make upon him. colomba, however, was dealing warily with him, and meant to give him time to collect himself. he sat for a long time motionless, with his head on his hand, thinking over the scenes of the last fortnight of his life. he saw, with alarm, how every one seemed to be watching what would be his behaviour to the barricini. already he began to perceive that the opinion of pietranera was beginning to be the opinion of all the world to him. he would have to avenge himself, or be taken for a coward! but on whom was he to take vengeance? he could not believe the barricini to be guilty of murder. they were his family enemies, certainly, but only the vulgar prejudice of his fellow-countrymen could accuse them of being murderers. sometimes he would look at miss nevil’s talisman, and whisper the motto “life is a battle!” over to himself. at last, in a resolute voice, he said, “i will win it!” strong in that thought, he rose to his feet, took up the lamp, and was just going up to his room, when he heard a knock at the door of the house. it was a very unusual hour for any visitor to appear. colomba instantly made her appearance, followed by the woman who acted as their servant.
“it’s nothing!” she said, hurrying to the door.
yet before she opened it she inquired who knocked. a gentle voice answered, “it is i.”
instantly the wooden bar across the door was withdrawn, and colomba reappeared in the dining-room, followed by a little ragged, bare-footed girl of about ten years old, her head bound with a shabby kerchief, from which escaped long locks of hair, as black as the raven’s wing. the child was thin and pale, her skin was sunburnt, but her eyes shone with intelligence. when she saw orso she stopped shyly, and courtesied to him, peasant fashion—then she said something in an undertone to colomba, and gave her a freshly killed pheasant.
“thanks, chili,” said colomba. “thank your uncle for me. is he well?”
“very well, signorina, at your service. i couldn’t come sooner because he was late. i waited for him in the maquis for three hours.”
“and you’ve had no supper?”
“why no, signorina! i’ve not had time.”
“you shall have some supper here. has your uncle any bread left?”
“very little, signorina. but what he is most short of is powder. now the chestnuts are in, the only other thing he wants is powder.”
“i will give you a loaf for him, and some powder, too. tell him to use it sparingly—it is very dear.”
“colomba,” said orso in french, “on whom are you bestowing your charity?”
“on a poor bandit belonging to this village,” replied colomba in the same language. “this little girl is his niece.”
“it strikes me you might place your gifts better. why should you send powder to a ruffian who will use it to commit crimes? but for the deplorable weakness every one here seems to have for the bandits, they would have disappeared out of corsica long ago.”
“the worst men in our country are not those who are ‘in the country.’”
“give them bread, if it so please you. but i will not have you supply them with ammunition.”
“brother,” said colomba, in a serious voice, “you are master here, and everything in this house belongs to you. but i warn you that i will give this little girl my mezzaro, so that she may sell it; rather than refuse powder to a bandit. refuse to give him powder! i might just as well make him over to the gendarmes! what has he to protect him against them, except his cartridges?”
all this while the little girl was ravenously devouring a bit of bread, and carefully watching colomba and her brother, turn about, trying to read the meaning of what they were saying in their eyes.
“and what has this bandit of yours done? what crime has driven him into the maquis?”
“brandolaccio has not committed any crime,” exclaimed colomba. “he killed giovan’ oppizo, who murdered his father while he was away serving in the army!”
orso turned away his head, took up the lamp, and, without a word, departed to his bedroom. then colomba gave the child food and gunpowder, and went with her as far as the house-door, saying over and over again:
“mind your uncle takes good care of orso!”
