He looked shrewdly and earnestly into her face for a moment; and
then turning his eyes to the stretch of road below, answered her:
"Certainly, my daughter, that is the Marchese Ludovico. The lady I
never saw before as far as I am aware. They are going towards
Cervia."
"No! See, father! They are turning off from the road to the left.
Where does that turning to the left go?"
"Only into the forest, daughter,--or to that little farm-house you
see there just at the edge of it. You may get as far as the sea-
shore through the Pineta; but the road is very bad for a carriage."
"To the sea-shorn!" said Paolina, dreamily.
"Yes, by keeping the track due east. The shore is not above a couple
of miles away. But there is no port, or even landing-place there.
And there are many tracks through the forest. You may get to Cervia,
too, that way. But it is hardly likely that any one would leave the
road to find a longer way by worse ways through the forest. More
likely the object of the Signor Marchese is only to show the lady
the famous Pineta."
Paolina, while the monk was thus speaking, had kept her eyes fixed
upon the little carriage, which was making its way along a by-road
constructed on the top of a dike by the side of one of the numerous
streams that intersect all the district; and she continued to watch
it till she saw it stop at the entrance to the yard of the little
farmhouse, to which the monk had called her attention.
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