"And only two half-full pails again," Señora Rudini grumbled. "But no matter, we can get more from old Paolo. Have you heard the news?" she asked abruptly.
"No," Lucia replied indifferently. "What is it?"
"A big gain by the enemy. They have taken thousands of our men, and they say we may be ordered to leave Cellino at any minute."
"Think of it! They are as near as that!" Maria said excitedly. "Oh if we must move, where can we go to? I am so frightened."
"Nonsense," Lucia spoke shortly. There was an angry gleam in her big eyes and her cheeks flushed a dark red.
"Leave Cellino, indeed! The very idea! Since when must Italians make way for Austrians, I'd like to know?"
"But if the enemy are advancing as they say," Maria protested nervously, "we will either have to leave, or be shelled to death by those dreadful guns."
"Or be taken prisoners, and a nice thing that would be," her mother added. "No, if the order to evacuate comes we must go at once. There will be no time to spare. Other towns have been captured, and there is only that between us."
She pointed to the zigzag mountain peaks so short a distance beyond the north gate. As if to give her words weight, a heavy thunder of guns rumbled ominously.
Maria shuddered. "There, that is ever so much nearer. Oh, I am frightened,—something dreadful is happening over there just out of sight."