“ ‘That is your road, excellency, and now you cannot again mistake.’

“ ‘And here is your recompense,’ said the traveller, offering the young herdsman some small pieces of money.

“ ‘Thank you,’ said Luigi, drawing back his hand; ‘I render a service, I do not sell it.’

“ ‘Well,’ replied the traveller, who seemed used to this difference between the servility of a man of the cities and the pride of the mountaineer, ‘if you refuse wages, you will, perhaps, accept a gift.’

“ ‘Ah, yes, that is another thing.’

“ ‘Then,’ said the traveller, ‘take these two Venetian sequins and give them to your bride, to make herself a pair of earrings.’

“ ‘And then do you take this poniard,’ said the young herdsman; ‘you will not find one better carved between Albano and Civita-Castellana.’