I felt
that I could not be sure that the place was the same."
"Was there no fallen tree, no track of road, no specialty of weed or
flower, that the spot might be identified by?"
"None I think--none that I am aware of or can remember. There was a
little rising of the ground,--a sort of bank, and the grass was
sprinkled all over with wild flowers. There were violets close at
hand, I know, because I remember the scent of them! But when I came
to try, it seem'd to me that I found all these things in a dozen
other places."
"Nevertheless, you know at what point you entered the Pineta; it
cannot be very difficult to have the whole wood, within such a
distance as it is at all likely that she should have strayed to,
thoroughly searched. But the best men for the purpose would be some
of the foresters in the employ of the farmers of the forest. I dare
say that we might find--what is that coming along the road yonder?"
said the lawyer interrupting himself.
The two gentlemen had been standing during the above short
conversation just on the outside of the gate, and looking down the
stretch of long straight road towards St. Apollinare and the pine
forest.
"It is a knot of men coming along the road. They are likely enough
some of the very fellows we want. In that case we might get them to
go back with us without loss of time.
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