Here Virginia
drew me back into the shadow of a great house. "That way is stopped.
They are watching the market. Come, we will try something else." I
admired her resourceful audacity, and followed whither she chose to
lead.
We ran up the Via Vecchietta without disturbance or alarm, and reached
the church of San Lorenzo. We entered the cloister, which breathed the
full summer, late as it was in the year. Bees hummed about the tree; the
glossy leaves of the great magnolia seemed to radiate heat and glitter;
above us the sky was of almost midsummer whiteness, and I could see the
heat-waves flicker above the dome. "You shall hide in the Sagrestia to-
night, if you will be ruled by me," Virginia said. "To-morrow morning
before first Mass we will gain the Ghetto. I know a woman there who will
keep us. My word, Don Francis, you little guess how near the Bargello
you have been!"
I think she was eager for my praises, poor soul, by the shy light in her
eyes--a kind of preparation for the blushes with which she always met
any warmth in my tone. If I gave her none it was because she had
displeased me by cheapening herself to the sbirri. But I was soon
ashamed of myself.
I asked her, "When did you find out that the sbirri were waiting for
me?"
"The second hour of the day, it was," she replied, "when I went out to
buy milk for your chocolate. There were but two of them then. They asked
me if you were in the house.
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