“He called her Love; nought else. We called her princess. How fair she was! If you should tell her a story, when you had ended, it would seem to you that she had been the one who talked, and not you. She has changes of expression, and little movements, so that she seems to have spoken when she has not uttered a word. At the castle they saved all the hairs that were in her combs and brushes, and I have a little lock of them that coils round so soft and shining!”
When they went in, the Italian lingered behind his companions, and detained the old woman. “Show me the lock of hair you told us of,” he said.
She brought it with pleasure, and carefully unfolding a paper by the light of a lamp hung against one of the pillars just inside the door, showed a glossy golden ring, and lifting it, let it drop in a long coil.
“I will give you a gold piece for one hair!” said Don Claudio.
“I do not want the gold,” she said; “but you shall have the hair.” She drew out two or three of the shining threads and gave them to him; and he laid them inside a clasped fold of his pocketbook.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Pierre was to go to the station the next morning to meet Elena; and in consultation with his advisers it was decided that he should set out early and alone. He could then warn her of the presence of these strangers. A considerable quantity of provisions would come by the same train; but as a part of them were to be left at the Pines, they would be brought later in the day.
The strangers could therefore go at any hour they might choose, needing no guide, and leave the donkeys at the station.
The gentlemen set out as soon as they had eaten their breakfast, and half way to the Pines met Pierre coming back on foot.
He had been taken sick on the way, he said, and a friend whom he had fortunately encountered would go to the station for him. It was a sickness he sometimes had, and it would last him several days. He declined their offer to return with him; and they took leave of each other, and went on their separate ways. But Pierre had not gone many steps farther before doubts began to assail him.