“Because she never cries.”
Merthyr was on the point of saying, “Why should she cry?” His heart was too full, and he shrank from inquisitive shadows of the thing known to him.
“Sit down at this caffe with me,” he said. “It's fine weather for March. The troops will camp comfortably. Those Hungarians never require tents. Did you see much sacking of villages last year?”
“Padrone, the Imperial command is always to spare the villages.”
“That's humane.”
“Padrone, yes; if policy is humanity.”
“It's humanity not carried quite as far as we should wish it.”
Beppo shrugged and said: “It won't leave much upon the conscience if we kill them.”
“Do you expect a rising?” said Merthyr.
“If the Ticino overflows, it will flood Milan,” was the answer.