"And does your government do nothing to keep down such banditti?" said young Cleveland. "What are the soldiers about?"
"I soldati! Ah!" replied Giuseppina with an expressive nod. "There was a party of them here to-day, horsemen, on their way to Reggio; they had a prisoner with them, arms bound behind his back—" The girl put back her own elbows and scowled darkly, as if acting the part of a captured bandit.
"I hope that it was this Matteo!" cried Horace.
"Zitto! (Hush!)" again whispered the girl. "It was not Matteo—they said it was his son."
"I suppose that the soldiers were taking him to Reggio for trial!"
Giuseppina again nodded her head.
"And what is likely to become of him?"
The girl twisted her finger in the chain which she wore, tightening it round her neck, but only answered with a shrug, "Chi sa?" And quitted the room to bring in the rest of the dinner.
"Horace! What a dreadful place we have come to!" gasped Mrs. Cleveland.
The youth laughed as he seated himself at the table. "It is clear that one has some chance of an adventure in Calabria," said he.