The
roofs were large and overhanging. Some few windows were glazed, but not
many. Altogether the village was exceedingly like one of those that one
comes upon in descending the less known passes over the Alps on to
Lombardy. I will pass over the excitement which my arrival caused.
Suffice it, that though there was abundance of curiosity, there was no
rudeness. I was taken to the principal house, which seemed to belong to
the people who had captured me. There I was hospitably entertained, and
a supper of milk and goat's flesh with a kind of oatcake was set before
me, of which I ate heartily. But all the time I was eating I could not
help turning my eyes upon the two beautiful girls whom I had first seen,
and who seemed to consider me as their lawful prize--which indeed I was,
for I would have gone through fire and water for either of them.
Then came the inevitable surprise at seeing me smoke, which I will spare
the reader; but I noticed that when they saw me strike a match, there was
a hubbub of excitement which, it struck me, was not altogether unmixed
with disapproval: why, I could not guess. Then the women retired, and I
was left alone with the men, who tried to talk to me in every conceivable
way; but we could come to no understanding, except that I was quite
alone, and had come from a long way over the mountains.
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