they are turned out of their course, they overflow and do damage,
and surely there used to be river gods. I do not know; I cannot
tell. The priest says they are all gone since the coming of our
Lord, but I wouldn't, not for all the gold in Rome, I wouldn't
see this stream of the waterfalls turned away from flowing down
the hill and through the house. What there is in it I do not
know, but in some way it is alive."

"Thank you!" said Daphne. The look on her face pleased the old
man.

"I think I prefer her to the Contessa after all," said Giacomo
that afternoon to Assunta as he was beating the salad dressing
for dinner.

"She is simpatica! It is wonderful how she understands, though
she cannot yet talk much. But her eyes speak."

They served her dinner with special care that night, for kindness
to an unfortunate fellow peasant had won what still needed
winning of their hearts. She sat alone in the great dining-hall,
with Giacomo moving swiftly about her on the marble floor. On
the white linen and silver, on her face and crimson gown, gleamed
the light of many candles, standing in old-fashioned branching
candlesticks. She pushed away her soup; it seemed an intrusion.
Not until she heard Giacomo's murmur of disappointment as she
refused salad did she rouse herself to do justice to the dressing
he had made. Her eyes were the eyes of one living in a dream.
Suddenly she wakened to the fact that she was hungry, and Giacomo
grinned as she asked him to bring back the roast, and let him