صفحة 904 من 1118

Our fugitives remained three or four and twenty days in the

castle, in the midst of continual bustle and alarm. Not a day

passed without some reports; at each account, the Unknown,

unarmed as he was, led his band beyond the precincts of the

valley to ascertain the extent of the peril; it was a singular

thing, indeed, to behold him, without any personal defence,

conducting a body of armed men.

Not to encroach too far on the benevolence of the Unknown, Agnes

and Perpetua employed themselves in performing services in the

household. These occupations, with occasional conversations with

the acquaintances they had formed at the castle, enabled them to

pass away the time with less weariness. Poor Don Abbondio, who

had nothing to do, was notwithstanding prevented from becoming

listless and inactive by his fears: as to the dread of an attack,

it was in some measure dissipated, but still the idea of the

surrounding country, occupied on every side by soldiers, and of

the numerous consequences which might at any moment result from

such a state, kept him in perpetual alarm.