In the little piazza above they found the fiaccheraio asleep on a stone bench, a straw protruding from his mouth, his rusty hat pulled over his eyes. The horse munched at the oats in his nose-bag, in great contentment, as he slouched between the shafts. On being hailed, the man sat up, rubbing his eyes with grimy knuckles.
"Scusino, Signori," he said, "schiacciavo un sonnellino. I did not think the Signori would be ready to leave so soon. Quando si e giovini—when one is young,—" he gave a broad wink. "Do the Signori wish to return by the same way as we came?"
"No," said Ragna, "go round the other way by the Villa Fensi and the Barriera S. Niccolo."
"Benone!" said the Jehu, as he stowed the nose-bag under the seat. He scrambled to the box with an agility astounding in one of his bulk, and with a crack of his whip they were off.
The road wound sharply down away from the church, past white fattorie and peasant-farmers' houses. The hill above cast a soft purple shadow over the road and down into the valley.
"Now, darling," said Angelescu, "I have been thinking about how we are to get away. There is a train to-morrow afternoon at three,—before midnight we can be in Switzerland, out of reach. I shall not try to see you in the morning, it is better to be prudent, but I shall be at the railway station at half past two. I shall wait for you in the first class Sala d'aspetto. You must arrange things so that your absence will not be noticed before we shall have crossed the frontier—after that je ne crains pas le diable en personne!" he ended gaily.
Ragna smiled up into his face.
"Bien, I understand. The first class waiting room at half past two or a quarter to three."
"You must take with you only what you can't do without for a day or two," he added, "just a dressing case, if you can get it out unnoticed. We will get everything else you need."
She saw that he wished her to leave behind all that she owed to Valentini's grudging liberality. And he, reading her unspoken answer to her thought, said,