52 THE BIRTH OF PICCIOLA. 



to think that a tiny animal, a mole that had lost 

 its way, a field-mouse scratching up the earth 

 beneath his feet, had made him believe for an 

 instant in the fidelity of men and the overthrow 

 of a great empire. 



He wished to satisfy himself, however, and bend- 

 ing down, he pushed away the earth on either side 

 of the cleft hillock. He saw then with astonish- 

 ment that his foolish emotion had been caused not 

 even by a sentient being, armed with claws and 

 teeth, but by a feeble plant, hardly able to germi- 

 nate, pale and languishing. Profoundly humiliated, 

 he rose and was about to crush it under his heel, 

 when a fresh breeze, laden with the odor of honey- 

 suckle and of syringa, blew across his face as if to 

 ask mercy for the poor plant, which perhaps some 

 day would also be able to offer him perfumes. 



An idea struck him which arrested his movement 

 of disgust. 



How had this tender herb, so fragile that it 

 might be broken at a touch, been able to pierce 

 the dry, sun-hardened earth, trodden by his foot- 

 steps, and almost cemented to the granite flags. 

 He bent again and examined the plant with more 

 attention. 



He saw at its upper extremity a sort of double 



