Markham looked down the road, his narrowed eyes slowly relaxing and a smile growing under his small mustache.
"O Hermia,—what a frolic you've had! I feared—" He paused.
"What?"
"Anything—everything. You had no right—"
She raised a warning finger.
"We'll speak of it no more, Philidor," she said quietly.
His anger flared and died; for her eyes were soft with friendship, gentleness and compassion, and her bent head begged forgiveness. She had been unreasonable and would make him unhappy no more. All those things he read. It was quite wonderful.
She led him through the bushes to the fire where the Signora and Stella made him welcome with their kindest smiles and the bambino cried lustily. Cleofonte and Luigi presently emerged from the forest where they had gone in search of wood and deposited their loads by the fireside. They all made merry as befitted good comrades of the road, once more reunited, and when Philidor suggested going back to Verneuil for the night the jovial strong man would not have it, nor would Yvonne. So Luigi was dispatched on the gray horse to the town for Clarissa and the pack, but not until Philidor had privily given him some instructions and a piece of money which opened his sleepy eyes a trifle wider and increased the dimension of his smile.
When he returned later with both animals laden with packages deep was the joy and great the astonishment of the caravaners. With an air of mystery Luigi proudly laid his packages out in a row beside the fire and Yvonne opened them one by one, disclosing a chicken, a ham, three loaves of bread, butter, two cheeses, some marmalade, a quart of milk, a pound of coffee, a pound of tea, a tin of crackers and two bottles of wine.
"Jesu mio!" said Cleofonte, his eyes starting from his head. "It is beyond belief."