"Stop crying and tell me!" cried Ragna, exasperated.
"Signora mia, Signora mia," sobbed the maid, "I do not want to tell you, I do not want to add to your troubles. Please don't ask me!"
Ragna's face grew hard, she more than guessed what was coming.
"I command you to speak out and hide nothing," she said in a tense voice.
"It is on account of the Signor Padrone, Signora."
"Ah!" said Ragna, "go on, what has he done?"
"Signora," said the maid hanging her head and working her toe in and out of the heelless slipper she still sometimes wore in the house. "The Signor Padrone used to say things to me when he passed me, and sometimes he would chuck me under the chin or pinch my arm, but I thought nothing of it, it is the way of many Signori and means nothing."
"Go on," said Ragna coldly, as the girl paused.
"Well, Signora, he got more pressing, and I kept out of his way all I could, and then one night he surprised me in my room—"
"Why did you not call out?"