It would be
a pity to throw it away, for it seemed to be a good knife, and her
father could not have had it very long.
She fastened her frock under her mantle and went a few steps down the
little slope towards the Colosseum. To go on meant to go home, and she
stopped again. The place was very lonely and peaceful, and the light on
the great walls was quiet and good to see. Though she had stood so
still, waiting to die, and had said her little prayer so calmly, her
brave heart had been beating slow and hard as if it were counting the
seconds before it was to stop; and now it beat fast and softly, and
fluttered a little, so that she felt faint, as even brave people do
after a great danger is past. I have seen hundreds of men together, just
escaped from destruction by earthquake, moving about listlessly with
veiled eyes, yawning as if they were dropping with sleep, and saying
childish things when they spoke at all. Man's body is the part of
himself which he least understands, unless he has spent half his life in
studying its ways. Its many portions can only telegraph to the brain two
words, 'pain' and 'pleasure,' with different degrees of energy; but that
is all. The rest of their language belongs to science.
Regina felt faint and sat down, because there was no reason for making
any effort to go home. Perhaps a cab would pass, returning from some
outlying part of the city, and she would take it.
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