Marta likened her to a humming–bird, as she flitted in song from flower to flower, plucking first one for Marta, then one for Guiseppe.
Pappina was too full of life and joy to–day to plod along with Marta behind Guiseppe. She kept running ahead of the two. Something unusual attracted her notice and as she did not have the patience to stand and wait for them, she ran back to meet them, exclaiming as she seized their hands:
"Hurry! There's the cutest little church down the road. Come quickly! We must all pray."
"It's a wayside shrine," Marta told her.
"Not a church? Then can't we go there and pray?" Pappina said with a disappointed look.
"Yes, dear. Everywhere through this country we find these shrines. They are built for just such wanderers as we, that we may always remember to pray."
"There's a light. See, Marta."
"There is always a candle or a little lamp burning at the altar, where we pray to either a picture or a statuette of the Madonna."
By this time they were at the entrance. Pappina turned to Guiseppe and took his hand.
"If you hadn't given me the beads," she said, "I shouldn't want to pray."