They pulled their horses to a walk at the gateway, and Sybert looked at her interrogatively. She took the lead and turned to the left along the winding roadway that led up into the mountains away from the Via Prænestina. He rode up beside her again, and they galloped on without speaking. Marcia did not propose to take the initiative in any conversation; he could introduce a subject if he wished, otherwise they would keep still. For the first mile or so he maintained the stolid reserve of a well-trained groom. But finally, as they slowed the horses to a walk on a steep hill-side, he broke the silence.
'Are we going anywhere, or just riding for pleasure?'
He waited until they had reached the top of the hill before renewing the conversation. Then, 'It is a pleasant day,' he observed.
Marcia regarded the landscape critically.
'Looks a little like rain, however,' he added, anxiously fixing his eye on a small cloud on the horizon.
Marcia studied the sky a moment with an heroic effort at seriousness, and then she began to laugh.
'I suppose we might as well make the best of it,' she remarked.
'Philosophy is the wisest way,' he agreed.
'I have not yet paid my respects to him. He is well, I trust?'
'I thought he showed a tendency that way. Mrs. Copley says that you have been suffering persecution for his sake.'
'Did she tell you about his stepfather? That's my story; she ought to have left it for me. I can tell it much more dramatically. It was quite an adventure, wasn't it?'
'It was. And you got off easily. It might have turned out to be more of an adventure than you would have cared for.'
'When they're ended safely, yes. But these Italian peasants are a revengeful lot when they get it into their heads that they have been mistreated. I don't believe you ought to drive about the country that way.'
'I should think that two boys and a groom might be escort enough--the pony-carriage doesn't accommodate many more.'
'Nevertheless, joking apart, I don't think it is safe. The country's pretty thoroughly stirred up just at present.'
'You're as bad as Aunt Katherine with her tattooed man! As for being afraid of these peasants, I know every soul in Castel Vivalanti, and they're all adorable--with the exception of Gervasio's relatives.'