"
"My dear Agostino, my good Agostino," continued Chiquita, in her most
coaxing tones, and without paying any attention to his mutterings, "will
you give me the beautiful, shining things if you kill that lady?"
"They would go so well with your rags and tatters!" he answered
mockingly.
"But I have so often kept watch for you while you slept, and I have run
so far to tell you when any one was coming, no matter how cold it was,
nor how my poor, bare feet ached--and I have never once kept you waiting
for your food, when I used to carry it to you in your hiding places,
even when I was bad with the fever, or my teeth chattering with the
chill, and I so weak that I could hardly drag myself along. Oh Agostino!
do remember what I have done for you, and let me have the beautiful,
shining things."
"Yes, you have been both brave and faithful, Chiquita, I admit; but we
have not got the wonderful necklace yet, you know. Now, tell me, how
many men were there in the party."
"Oh! a great many. A big, tall man with a long beard; an old, fat
man--one that looked like a fox--two thin men, and one that looked like
a gentleman, though his clothes were very old and shabby."
"Six men," said Agostino, who had counted them on his fingers as she
enumerated them, and his face fell.
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