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"Signor della Rebbia," she said, and her voice shook, "should I have come here at all if " and as she spoke she laid the Egyptian talisman in Orso's hand. Then, with a mighty effort to recover her usual bantering tone "It's very wrong of you, Signor Orso, to say such things!
Some people asserted that in the sixteenth century a della Rebbia had seduced a lady of the Barricini family, and had afterward been poniarded by a relative of the outraged damsel. Others, indeed, told the story in a different fashion, declaring that it was a della Rebbia who had been seduced, and a Barricini who had been poniarded.
Then he remembered the Colonel della Rebbia who would put him under arrest for some blunder, and who never called him anything but Lieutenant della Rebbia. "Lieutenant della Rebbia, you are not in your right place on parade. You will be confined to barracks three days." "Your skirmishers are five yards too far from your main body five days in barracks."
Once upon a time, Colonel della Rebbia sent a small sum of money to the Municipal Council of his commune to help to provide a fountain. The lawyer Barricini hastened to forward a similar gift, and to this generous strife Pietranera owes its water supply. Round about the evergreen oak and the fountain there is a clear space, known as "the Square," on which the local idlers gather every night.
If you really can read my thoughts I don't know whether I should be glad or sorry." "M. della Rebbia," went on Miss Lydia, with a blush, "we have only known each other for a few days. "Ah, do not say that word, Miss Nevil. I like the other far better." "Well, then, monsieur, I must tell you that without having tried to find out your secrets, I have learned some of them, and they grieve me.
It was quite clear that Agostini did not write the threatening letter to the mayor. The della Rebbia accused the Barricini of it and vice versa. Both parties broke into open threats, and the authorities did not know where to find the culprit. In the midst of all this Colonel Ghilfuccio was murdered. Here are the facts, as they were elicited at the official inquiry.
It is hardly necessary to mention that an official statement was at once drawn up, or that the mayor sent the prefect a report, in his sublimest style, describing the manner in which all laws, human and divine, had been trodden under foot how the majesty of himself, the mayor, and of the priest had been flouted and insulted, and how Colonel della Rebbia had put himself at the head of a Bonapartist plot, to change the order of succession to the throne, and to excite peaceful citizens to take arms against one another crimes provided against by Articles 86 and 91 of the Penal Code.
Colomba ate heartily, and made great fun of the prefect, the public prosecutor, and the soldiers. The colonel ate too, but never said a word, and gazed steadily at his daughter, who would not lift her eyes from her plate. At last, gently but seriously, he said in English: "Lydia, I suppose you are engaged to della Rebbia?" "Yes, father, to-day," she answered, steadily, though she blushed.
"Tom-cat yourself, old gray-beard!" said Orso. "What's your name?" "What! don't you remember me, Ors' Anton'? I who have so often taken you up behind me on that biting mule of mine! You don't remember Polo Griffo? I'm an honest fellow, though, and with the della Rebbia, body and soul.
"You know," he said, "that the fight took place without witnesses, and the reputation of these two unhappy men stood so high, both for bravery and cunning, that nobody will believe Signor della Rebbia can have killed them without the help of the bandits with whom he is now supposed to have taken refuge." "It's not possible," said the colonel. "Orso della Rebbia is a most honourable fellow.
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