have been up there in my little room for so long, no one would tell me
anything. Sister Francesca would smile and say, 'Everything is for the
best, dear child,' when I asked for news of the front, and I was
ashamed to ask again, but you tell me."

"Oh, there is nothing but good news," Maria replied. "We are gaining
everywhere. The night after the battle, some of our soldiers built a
bridge over the river and crossed, and when the Austrians rallied for a
counter-charge they were ready for them and took them by surprise."

Maria paused, and her eyes filled with tears. "And only think, Lucia,
if you had not destroyed the bridge and warned the Captain of the
beggar man, we might have been taken by surprise, and Cellino would be
an Austrian village. Oh, I tell you the ward rings with your praise.
The men talk of nothing else."

"Nonsense, I did not do it alone. How about your Roderigo? He is the
one who deserves the praise. But tell me, how is my soldier of the
pennies? I am never sure that the Doctor tells me truly how he is."

"Why do you call him 'your soldier of the pennies'?" Maria asked. "His
name is Captain Riccardi, and he is very brave. Every one knows about
him, and some of the boys say he is the bravest man in the Italian
army."

"Perhaps he is," Lucia laughed, "but he is my soldier of the pennies,
just the same, that's the name I love him by."

"But I don't understand," Maria protested, "did you know him before?"