Very quickly, without seeming to do it, she touched the padlock; it
swung on the catch, and then fell into the mud. Lucia put her foot
over it and ground it in with her heel.

When the soldier remembered her a few minutes later, and came over to
shut the door, he grumbled at the loss of the lock, but he did not
apparently connect her with its disappearance, nor did he bother much
about looking for it. He shut the door and walked back to join the
group that still surrounded the messenger.

Lucia sat down again and watched the door of the Captain's dugout. She
had wondered all day what the smiling Italian soldier and Beppi had
done after she left. She knew that Beppi could easily find his way
back to the cottage, and in case Nana had already gone, and Lucia knew
that in spite of her threats she would not go off alone, he would go
into the town and some one would take care of him.

As for the soldier, he would hear the rat, tat, tat, and know what it
meant, and return to his comrades for help. She listened, but there
was no sound of guns near enough to mean a fight close at hand.

The thought puzzled her, but she dismissed it as the Captain and the
two soldiers came out of the dugout. The men looked cross and sullen,
but the Captain was still smiling. He walked over to the messenger,
handed him a folded paper, and the man disappeared as mysteriously as
he came.

Lucia did not pay any attention to him, however, for she was interested
in the two soldiers. They were very busy buckling on their kit bags in
preparation for a departure. When they were ready, they stood at