Then we took leave of the kind Fra, and said we would come again. We went out by the west door under the fine window, and rejoiced in the very lovely view before us. We wished our guide a good appetite, and he stood watching us as we went down one flight of the double range of steps leading from the Piazza of the Upper Church to the Lower one.
We were tired when we came out into the sunshine, and we sat down in the shade opposite a fountain, at the foot of the steps.
A girl came presently up the hill behind us, her bare feet white with dust. She carried on her red-kerchiefed head a tall copper pitcher with dinges which bespoke it the worse for wear; her skirt was short and dark, and the light blue bodice laced up behind showed a white undervest. In a minute she began to run fast, deftly balancing the tall pitcher. Then we saw behind her a long-legged lad, evidently bent on arriving first at the fountain. The two figures seemed to fly along the dusty road; the lad outran the girl, and, when she reached him, panting and choking with laughter, he had the courtesy to fill her pitcher for her, and helped her in raising it to her head.
SAN FRANCESCO, THE UPPER CHURCH.
It is wonderful how these women can so surely support the loads they carry on their heads; the burden is sometimes a huge round basket, three feet across, full of grapes or heavy vegetables.
We rarely saw a man thus burdened; he seems to content himself in Italy, as he does in France, with looking on and admiring, while the women do the work.
CHAPTER XII
ASSISI—IN THE TOWN
Our little hotel, the Albergo Subasio, is close to San Francesco, and from its windows commands a most exquisite view of the valley and the richly-tinted hills. If time served, one could spend hours in enjoying the beauty of this landscape, so full of colour and of variety.