the reeds of the Edera in a basket. This servant was the only male
who escaped slaughter.

"The river rushes were more merciful than man, they kept the little
new-born lordling safe until his faithful vassal, under cover of the
night, when the assailants were drunk and stupid with licence
gratified, could take him to a poor woman to be suckled in a cottage
farther down the river. How he grew up I know not, but certain it is
that thirty years later one Federigo Tor'alba was living where you
live, and your house and land have never changed hands or title
since; only your name has been truncated, as often happens in the
speech of the people. How this land called the Terra Vergine was
first obtained I cannot say; the vassal may have saved some gold or
jewels which belonged to his masters, and have purchased these acres,
or the land may have been taken up and put gradually into cultivation
without any legal right to it; of this there is no explanation, no
record. But from that time the mighty lordship of Tor'alba has been
extinct, and scarcely exists now even in local tradition; although
their effigies are on their tombs, and the story of their reign can
be deciphered by any one who can read a sixteenth-century manuscript,
as you might do for yourself, my son, had you been diligent."

Adone was silent. He had listened with attention, as he did to
everything which was said or read to him by Don Silverio. But he was
not astonished, because he had often heard, though vaguely, the
legend of his descent.

"Of what use is it?" he said, as he sat moving the bright water with
his bare slim feet. "Nothing will bring it all back."