"I dared not ask Guiseppe for money. You saw, carina, he is not yet himself."
Pappina's face was wreathed in smiles as she stooped down to bring up soldi she had hidden in her shoe the night before. It was not the cleanest hand in the world that handed the money to Marta, but the little grime on it did not prevent Marta from seizing it and covering it with kisses.
"I am so glad, so glad, carina!" she exclaimed. "Now you need not go hungry to church."
After a hasty breakfast they were soon in the celebrated St. Matthew's Cathedral. Marta, fearful of Guiseppe's displeasure if he were to awaken and be kept waiting too long, wished to say a short prayer and return at once, but Pappina was anxious to follow the people and see the things that interested them. She suddenly seized Marta by the arm and almost dragged her out of the church. There was a look of terror on the child's face.
"Carina, what is it?"
"Those ladies—you saw them, Marta! The man with them—you said he was a guide—didn't you hear what he was telling them?" She covered her face with her hands. "Oh, I cannot bear to think of it!"
"No, I did not hear. Tell me, what did he say that frightened you? Perhaps you didn't understand."
"Oh. I did. I heard every word. He told them that three saints' heads had been cut off right by that column where we were standing. It scared me so that now I am afraid to go back, and I wanted so much to go to the tomb of the Pope. The guide said one is buried in the church. You have seen so much, Marta—have you ever seen a Pope's tomb?"
"No, carina, but we must go back now, at once, to Guiseppe."