Martha Trent

“ Garibaldi submitted to her caress with a condescension worthy of the position her name gave her, and the other goats crowded to the open door, eager to leave their cramped quarters.
"Not yet, my dears," Lucia said softly, "it isn't time. Here, Esther, I will milk you first. You must all be good to-day, and Garibaldi, I don't want you to go running away if I have to leave you with Beppi," she continued. "You're nothing but goats, of course, but you know perfectly well that we are at war, and that you are very important, and must do your part. ”

“ Lucia protested, "I am too young and Nana is too old, and Beppi—"
"Beppi is too lazy," the Captain laughed, "he is always asleep under the flower bushes, but tell me," he continued gravely, "are you ever homesick?"
"Homesick." Lucia considered for a moment, "For Maria, yes, but for Cellino, no. I like to think of it, but I want always to live here."
"Good," the Captain smiled, "then you won't mind my going away?"
"Back to fight?" Lucia inquired.
The Captain nodded. "My wound is healed and I am well enough; they need all the men they can get up there, you know." ”

“ Captain Riccardi shook his head. "But I might have known better."
"Ribbons!" Lucia scorned the idea. "What do I need with such foolishness, with a war going on just under my nose! I had other things to think about, I can tell you, and other ways to spend my pennies."
The Captain looked at her gravely. Then he took her hand and patted it gently.
"You are a brave and true little Italian," he said, "and I can never hope to pay you for what you have done. You will have to look for your reward in your own heart. It ought to be a very happy and contented heart, I should think." ”

“ I dream sometimes that I am a princess and that a wicked fairy has turned me into a goat-herder and forced me to live here where it is so very cold sometimes, and then I wish hard for a good fairy to come and set me free, and take me on a magic carpet away to a garden full of flowers. There," she smiled shyly, "that is what I was thinking of out loud when you came a minute ago."
The Captain did not laugh, except with his eyes. His voice was very grave as he asked.
"Wouldn't a prince or a fairy godfather do just as well?"
"Oh, yes, even better," Lucia replied seriously. ”

“ Nana turned. She was in a flutter of excitement, although she would not have admitted it for the world.
"Don't waste any more time over an old woman," she said, sharply. "I am tidy and that is enough."
"You are more than tidy, Nana, you look beautiful," Lucia exclaimed. "Now do sit still and don't do anything."
"There's nothing to be done that has not already been done," Nana replied as she sat on the edge of the green bed and folded her hands on her lap. Lucia nodded in satisfaction and turned her attention to Beppi. ”

“ Lucia said practically. "Anyway, he will get a chance to do a little killing first, and surely that is enough to satisfy any one, or ought to be."
"Oh, Lucia you are cruel sometimes," Maria protested. "Who wants to kill? Surely not these happy boys, and they don't want to be killed either. It is all too terrible to think about, and you are an unnatural girl to talk as you do. Why, I don't believe you have cried once since the war began, even when the poor wounded were brought here, and we saw their faces all shot away."
Maria's anger rose as she talked, and Lucia listened curiously. ”

“ Lucia was busy closing the big umbrella.
"It is late, I will have to hurry, or Beppi will have let all my goats run away—he and his dreams. He is a lazy little one, but I can't bear to scold him," she said. "He is too little to understand."
Her aunt nodded. "Let him dream, but if you are not careful, he will be badly spoiled."
"No fear of that," Lucia replied, "while Nana has a word to say. She is always for bringing him up properly, but little good it does. Now we are ready, I will help you carry home your things, if you will let Maria walk with me to the gate," Lucia bargained. ”

“ Lucia protested, "they must all be Austrians or Germans."
"They are, of course, but they have lived here among us for so long that it is hard to tell them from ourselves; they speak, act and look as we do."
"But they think as our enemies," Lucia added, "I understand. What very bad men they must be, just to think that but for them we might have won this horrible war by now." ”

“ Lucia shook her head sadly.
"No, my mother came from Napoli. When I was a little girl she used to tell me all about the sunshine and the flowers, and the blue water in the bay, and old grandfather Vesuvius always frowning and puffing in the distance. Oh, I tell you I feel sometimes as if I had been there, but, of course, that is silly," she broke off, laughing, "for I have never been away from Cellino."
"Would you like to go away to the south and live there?" Captain Riccardi asked slowly. ”

“ All the sounds together seemed to rock Lucia in a sort of lullaby, and it was not many minutes before she was asleep.
When she awoke it was quite dark and she was conscious of a difference in the voice of the water. A heavy regular splash, splash, grew nearer and nearer as she listened. If she had been accustomed to living near the water she would have recognized it as the rhythmic stroke of oars, but she did not, and it was not until a shape loomed up in the dusk a little farther down the beach that she realized it was a boat. ”

“ Lucia said wonderingly. "Why should he laugh because of Garibaldi's name?"
"Oh, he meant no disrespect," Maria reasoned. "Americans all laugh at everything. The nurses are the same, they are always laughing. If anything goes wrong and I want to stamp my foot, they laugh."
Lucia was somewhat mollified. "What is the news?" she demanded, "I 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." ”

“ Lucia was well enough now to go wherever she pleased, and after she had talked for a few minutes with Captain Riccardi, and made sure that Maria had not exaggerated, she went out of the convent with the intention of going into town. Some of the refugees had returned, but so far there had been no news of Señora Rudini, Nana, or Beppi, and she was growing anxious.
As she walked down the broad steps, she saw Lathrop coming towards her. Lucia was particularly fond of the big American, and she smiled as she saw him. ”

“ Lucia protested as she tied the flaring red tie, with loving fingers, "I thought you were going to be a soldier like our Captain."
Beppi thrust his small hands in his trouser pockets.
"I am when I grow up," he replied seriously, "but I can be a sailor in the meantime, can't I?"
"Yes, of course," Lucia agreed, "and now put on your shoes, dear, it must be late, and it would never do to keep the Captain waiting."
"Go and dress yourself then," Nana said, "and don't make yourself look too gay, it is not seemly." ”

“ Do you hear?"
"But how?" the boatman wrung his hands desperately. "I do not know how to swim. I will die. Santa Lucia, Saint of sailormen, spare me," he screamed as the man lifted his heavy cane to strike him.
"Don't you dare strike that man!" Lucia exclaimed, "he did pull his boat up on shore, but I pushed it off. I heard you this afternoon, and I knew you wanted to go away to that big ship out there, and perhaps sail to Austria. I know what you are, you two-faced man. You speak, you laugh, you scold in Italian, and all the time your black heart is Austrian." ”

“ Beppi begged. "I will take such good care of them, I promise, and if you like, I will pick the tenderest grass for old crosspatch," he added grudgingly.
Lucia smiled in triumph, and from the pocket of her dress she pulled out a small pink paper bag.
"Here you are then," she said; "and I won't be away very long. I am just going to see Maria for a few minutes."
Beppi caught the bag as she tossed it, and lingered over the opening of it. He wanted to prolong his pleasure as long as possible. Candy in war times was a treat and one that the Rudinis seldom indulged in. ”

“ What do big men know of fairy stories!"
"Lots, sometimes—I believe in fairies."
Lucia looked into the smiling eyes incredulously, "You, a soldier!"
"Of course, haven't I told you that I thought you were a fairy when I first saw you, and by the Saints, I did too. Do you know, I first discovered you way down in the valley. You were with your goats. I looked at you through my glass, and your pretty flowered dress, and the kerchief you wore over your hair, made me think of the little girls at home."
"Ah, then you come from the south, too?" Lucia laughed. "I knew it." ”

“ Maria, in a white apron and cap, helped her dress, and went with her down the stone steps and out into the convent garden.
The first thing that met her eye was Garibaldi, clean and lazy, lying contentedly in the sun. She came over and seemed delighted to see her mistress once more.
"But you are so clean, my pet!" Lucia exclaimed. "And your coat looks as if it had been brushed," she added, wonderingly.
Maria laughed.
"It was. The big American, Señor Lathrop, makes so much fuss over her, you would think she was a fine horse." ”

“ The terrible jolting had been agony for the soldier. He regained consciousness on the way, and from time to time a groan escaped him. But when he was in the house he did his best to smile, and crawled onto the mattress that Lucia had pulled to the floor.
She made haste to take off his knapsack, and under his direction she dressed the ugly wound in his thigh. Her fingers, only used to rough work, moved clumsily, but she managed to make him a little more comfortable. He smiled up at her bravely.
"Poor little one, you are tired. Go and eat," he whispered. ”

“ Roderigo shook his head, "she will not be near them, but perhaps—" He turned to Lucia, "if you are ever walking along the shore below Captain Riccardi's place, you may meet a soldier, an old man with a scar on his face; if you do, he is my uncle Enrico."
"But what does he do on the beach?" Maria inquired.
"Oh, he watches to see that no one rows out to the boats in the bay without a passport, there are plenty of men who would like to leave without permission," Roderigo explained, "My uncle is there to keep them safe in Italy." ”

“ Maria said, smiling. "I have been wishing you would come, we are so busy—see, here come a group of soldiers all together. Will you help me?" She held out a dipper with a long handle, which Lucia accepted critically.
"I don't like charging full price for this milk which is more like water," she said.
"Nonsense, child, it is business, the soldiers know no difference; it is only your silly pride," her aunt scolded. She was a little in awe of her determined niece, and very often she was provoked at her.
"If you can't bring us more milk, we must do the best we can," she said meaningly. ”

“ We had quite a chat that day in the cave."
"Oh, but you don't mean it!" Lucia jumped up excitedly. "To live with you and Nana and Beppi and Garibaldi in a garden,—oh! but of course, it is not so, and I shall presently wake up."
"Wake up in the little white cottage and milk the goats and trudge to town with the heavy pails?" the Captain said.
Lucia nodded soberly.
"Not it I can help it, you won't," he added with decision. "You'll never do another stroke of hard work again."
"But are there no goats in your garden to milk, and no work to do?" Lucia looked bewildered. ”

“ And the bad girl when she saw the poor soldier wounded was sorry she had teased him, and she never did it again. And because she was good all kinds of nice things happened to her. She found her fairy godfather, and he had a magic carpet, and first thing you know she was in the middle of a beautiful garden with her little—"
"Oh, bother, I knew that wasn't a real story," Beppi protested. "It's just about Roderigo and Maria and the Captain and you. And oh, Lucia, how silly you are, you called yourself the bad girl when really you're the goodest in the whole world." ”

“ Lucia's brown eyes opened wide in surprise. "But there are no soldiers near here. They are miles away with the guns. How could I reach them? My home is over there," she pointed in the opposite direction from the cave, "and I think I will go back to it, now that it is day."
"Oh, no, you won't," the Austrian replied. "You'll come with me."
"But why, what have I done?" Lucia inquired.
"That's not the point," the soldier replied. "You're an Italian, and if I let you go you'll run home and tell all the troops in the town that I was here. ”

“ Roderigo blushed. A soldier does not like to be made fun of, particularly when some one else is present.
"Pass," he said gruffly.
Lucia laughed provokingly.
"Good night, Maria," she said as she kissed her cousin. "Sweet dreams. I may not be in very early in the morning, there is so much to do, you know, but I will bring as much milk as possible," she finished. Then without even a glance at Roderigo she walked through the gate and down the wall.
When she had walked for a little distance she looked back. Maria and the soldier were in earnest conversation. ”

“ The sound came from directly over her head, and she climbed up the steep rock as fast as she could. Garibaldi was standing at the opening of a cave. Lucia ran to her.
"Oh, my pet, I have found you at last. Where is Beppi?" she cried. Garibaldi did not exactly reply, but she stepped a little to one side, and Lucia saw Beppino curled up on a bed of dry leaves sheltered and snug from the storm, and sleeping quite as contentedly as he did on the mattress in the attic at home. ”