But again the thought of her sons, especially of Crispin, of
whose fate she was still ignorant, lightened the darkness of her night,
and she was able to murmur resignedly, "Afterwards--afterwards--
we'll go and live in the depths of the forest."
Drying her eyes and trying to look calm, she turned to her guards and
said in a low voice, with an indefinable accent that was a complaint
and a lament, a prayer and a reproach, sorrow condensed into sound,
"Now we're in the town." Even the soldiers seemed touched as they
answered her with a gesture. She struggled to affect a calm bearing
while she went forward quickly.
At that moment the church bells began to peal out, announcing the end
of the high mass. Sisa hurried her steps so as to avoid, if possible,
meeting the people who were coming out, but in vain, for no means
offered to escape encountering them. With a bitter smile she saluted
two of her acquaintances, who merely turned inquiring glances upon
her, so that to avoid further mortification she fixed her gaze on
the ground, and yet, strange to say, she stumbled over the stones in
the road! Upon seeing her, people paused for a moment and conversed
among themselves as they gazed at her, all of which she saw and felt
in spite of her downcast eyes.
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