Thus
he told me the name for a knife was _cultello;_ for a room, _camera
par domire;_ for 'what is it called?' _'come si chiama?';_ for 'what
is the road to?' _'quella e la via a ...?'_ and other phrases wherein,
no doubt, I am wrong; but I only learnt by ear.
Then he said to me something I did not understand, and I answered,
_'Pol-Hercle!'_ at which he seemed pleased enough.
Then, to make conversation, I said, _'Diaconus es?'_
And he answered me, mildly and gravely, _'Presbyter sum.'_
And a little while after he left for his house, but I went out on to
the balcony, where men and women were talking in subdued tones. There,
alone, I sat and watched the night coming up into these Tuscan hills.
The first moon since that waning in Lorraine - (how many nights ago,
how many marches!) - hung in the sky, a full crescent, growing into
brightness and glory as she assumed her reign. The one star of the
west called out his silent companions in their order; the mountains
merged into a fainter confusion; heaven and the infinite air became
the natural seat of any spirit that watched this spell. The fire-flies
darted in the depths of vineyards and of trees below; then the noise
of the grasshoppers brought back suddenly the gardens of home, and
whatever benediction surrounds our childhood.
