And ever, it seemed to me from the
answers that I got, was I lessening the distance that separated us.
I was weak for want of food, for the last time that I had eaten was
yesterday at noon, at Mondolfo; and then but little. Yet all I had this
day were some bunches of grapes that I stole in passing from a vineyard and
ate as I trotted on along that eternal Via Aemilia.
It was towards noon, at last, that a taverner at Castel Guelfo informed me
that my party had passed through the town but half an hour ahead of me. At
the news I urged my already weary beast along, for unless I made good haste
now it might well happen that Parma should swallow up Gambara and his party
ere I overtook them. And then, some ten minutes later, I caught a flutter
of garments half a mile or so ahead of me, amid the elms. I quitted the
road and entered the woodland. A little way I still rode; then,
dismounting, I tethered my mule, and went forward cautiously on foot.
I found them in a little sunken dell by a tiny rivulet. Lying on my belly
in the long grass above, I looked down upon them with a black hatred of
jealousy in my heart.
They were reclining there, in that cool, fragrant spot in the shadow of a
great beech-tree. A cloth had been spread upon the ground, and upon this
were platters of roast meats, white bread and fruits, and a flagon of wine,
a second flagon standing in the brook to cool.
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