profit by his offer.




XIII


Peter was walking in the high-road, on the other side of the
river--the great high-road that leads from Bergamo to Milan.

It was late in the afternoon, and already, in the west, the sky
was beginning to put on some of its sunset splendours. In the
east, framed to Peter's vision by parallel lines of poplars, it
hung like a curtain of dark-blue velvet.

Peter sat on the grass, by the roadside, in the shadow of a
hedge--a rose-bush hedge, of course--and lighted a cigarette.

Far down the long white road, against the blue velvet sky,
between the poplars, two little spots of black, two small human
figures, were moving towards him.

Half absently, he let his eyes accompany them.

As they carne nearer, they defined themselves as a boy and a
girl. Nearer still, he saw that they were ragged and dusty and
barefoot.

The boy had three or four gaudy-hued wicker baskets slung over