hastily into the Place. He saw the stones lying there and the two women
standing alone in the sunlight. He looked towards the trees, and then
round at the closed houses. With a shrug of the shoulders, he rode
towards Denise and dismounted.

"Mademoiselle", he said, "they have been frightening you."

"Yes", she answered. "They are not men, but brutes."

The colonel, who was always gentle in manner, made a deprecatory gesture
with the great riding-whip that he invariably carried.

"You must remember", he said, "that they are but half civilized. You know
their history--they have been conquered by all the greedy nations in
succession, and they have never known peace from the time that history
began until a hundred years ago. They are barbarians, mademoiselle, and
barbarians always distrust a new-comer."

"But why do they hate me?"

"Because they do not know you, mademoiselle," replied the colonel, with
perhaps a second meaning in his blue eyes.

And, after a pause, he explained further.

"Because they do not understand you. They belong to one of the strongest
clans in Corsica, and it is the ambition of every one to belong to a
strong clan. But the Peruccas are in danger of falling into dissension
and disorder, for they have no head. You are the head, mademoiselle. And
the work they expect of you is not work for such hands as yours."